“This is a symbolic bill to repair a mistake made by society at the time”. These are the words of the socialist senator Hussein Bourgi, promoter of a bill examined this Wednesday 22 November 2023 in the Upper House. The text aims to rehabilitate and compensate people convicted due to their sexual orientation before August 4, 1982, the year of “decriminalization” of homosexuality. And recognize, in fact, the responsibility of the State in their persecution.
“These laws have crushed people”
As told AFP, this new bill aims to make the State recognize its discriminatory policy against homosexual people between 1942 and 1982, based on two articles of the Penal Code – one which establishes a specific age of consent for homosexual relations and the other which aggravates the repression of public indignation towards modesty committed by two people of the same sex. Read they had “repercussions much more serious than we can suspect today: they have crushed people, some have lost their jobs or had to leave their city”, claims Hussein Bourgi.
The bill proposes to create an independent national commission, responsible for ruling on compensation for those affected. The amount can reach up to 10,000 euros and a fixed compensation will be provided “variable depending on the number of days of deprivation of liberty, set at 150 euros per day”, can we read it in the invoice? To which would be added the reimbursement of fines previously received.
As told by our colleagues atWestern France, “The text also wants to condemn, like the Gayssot law, those who deny the deportation of homosexual people during the Second World War, “both in the occupied zones and in the free zones”. They would therefore risk a year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros.”
Recognition of the “indispensable” state
HAS AFPMichel Chomarat, 74, arrested by police in May 1977 in a gay bar, welcomes an important bill even if it is late, many of those affected by the convictions are already dead. “ State homophobia meant hunting homosexuals everywhere “, he remembers.
For the lawyer Joël Deumier, co-president of the SOS Homophobia association, this ” recognition » of the role of the State is However ” essential “, Why “if homophobia still exists in today’s society it is also because state laws, regulations and practices have legitimized this discrimination in the past”.
Although data on this matter is lacking, it is estimated that at least 10,000 convictions were carried out in France between 1942 and 1982, according to research by Régis Schlagdenhauffe, professor at the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS).
If the bill were adopted, France would not be a pioneer in the matter. Last week, Austrian Justice Minister Alma Zadic announced that the country would allocate 33 million euros to compensate people wrongly convicted for their homosexuality between 1971 and the 2000s.
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Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
