#France #appoint #LGBTQ #ambassador #defend #rights
The French government will create an ambassadorship to promote LGBTQ rights worldwide, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Thursday.
The new envoy will coordinate foreign ministry policy and act as “France’s voice” for promoting LGBTQ rights, Borne told an audience on the 40th anniversary of the repeal of a World War II-era law discriminating against gays.
The ambassador, who is due to be appointed by the end of the year, “will campaign for the decriminalization of homosexuality and trans identity everywhere,” she said during a visit to an LGBTQ center in Orleans, central France.
Borne also announced a €3 million ($3.1 million) fund to add 10 new LGBTQ centers to the 35 already existing in France that have been set up to accommodate lesbian, gay, bi and trans people -To help people and those with other sexual identities “who don’t know who to turn to”.
Borne said discrimination “continues to exclude, hurt and sometimes even kill” LGBTQ people.
She added, “The battle for heads is not yet won.”
Borne insisted there was “no ambivalence” among members of President Emmanuel Macron’s government about their commitment to LGBTQ rights.
However, she acknowledged that there had been “hurtful comments” towards LGBTQ people, a reference to Regional Affairs Minister Caroline Cayeux, who joined government in a reshuffle last month and accused homophobia of comments against same-sex marriage and adoption was charged.
In a Senate speech in 2013, Cayeux said plans to legalize gay marriage went “against nature” at the time.
She then sparked outrage last month when, in an apparent attempt to defend herself, she said: “I have to say I have a lot of friends among these people.”
The 73-year-old later apologized on Twitter, saying her comments were “inappropriate”.
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