- Synced and corrected by chamallow - - www.addic7ed.com -
I'm in France, the home of fine wine,
gay Paris, and nude beaches.
I'm in France.
And Ellen couldn't be here, so I'm on my own for this one.
It's my second time here,
and it's my first time being out and open with my sexuality,
and I'm excited to look at the country
with a new perspective and new eyes.
First time I was here, I was studying abroad.
I think I romanticized Paris and France.
Paris represented something different
than my Indiana upbringing.
There was this whole component to my life which was hidden.
It's actually really powerful for me to come back.
I get to look at Paris and France in a whole new way.
I just feel like, you know, sometimes you just got to
get a little loose when you are in Paris.
_
I'm in the Le Marais,
the famous gay district in Paris,
and I'm really excited to talk to more gay people in the area
and see what's going on tonight.
- We're wearing matching outfits I think. - Yeah.
When you're going out, you mainly see
just gay men around this area, yeah?
_
What're you doing tonight?
_
In your opinion, what is it like to be gay in France?
_
Would you say that it's easy to be gay in France?
_
Thanks so much. I'll let you get back to your party.
Wow! Ooh, wow! Ooh, sensual.
A little sensual kiss there.
It's been a long time since I've been here,
so I'm kind of having a flashback
- _ - and I'm thinking about
the young Ian and when I studied abroad here
and about the times when I would...
I would just kind of experiment with what it would mean
to go into a gay bar. What do gay bars look like here?
I would kind of just roam the streets
and think about going in, and, um...
I'm going to go into the gay bar this time.
Hi, guys.
- Hi. - Hi.
- And you? - Gregory.
- Gregory, Ian. - Nice to meet you.
And do you all live in Paris?
- Yes. - Yes.
I'm just, like, wandering around the streets of Le Marais...
I can practice my French a little.
I only know certain phrases.
_
Good!
Whoo!
- I like your accent. - Yeah, I practice the accent.
- It's sexy. - Sexy.
That's what I like to hear, boys. Tell me more.
- You are hetero? - Huh?
- You are hetero? - No, no.
- No? You are gay? - I'm gay, yeah.
Oh!
Welcome!
What is it to be like gay in Paris?
- Oh. - Ooh.
- That's the question. - Hard question.
Actually, it's easy.
Because no...
- It's open. - Yes, it's open.
It's open, so it's cool,
but after, that depends where you are.
Like you're from...
Your place in Paris, to be gay it's out.
I live in Boulogne, so it was very difficult to be gay
to assume that I'm gay.
Is it just the... Is it just the area that...
the people in the area are closed minded to it?
Yeah, because I live in the 93 so it's a hard city.
Right. And so you just come into the city to party?
- And to be with people and hang out. - Yeah. Always here. Never in my city.
Are we doing arm in arm? Let's not cozy up.
- Okay come on boys. - Come on.
What is this next bar that we're going to, what is it like?
You want to meet daddy...
That's it.
Sometimes the daddies are what you need.
Yeah, it's good.
Le Marais is one of the great gayborhoods in the world
and since the '80s, it's been the epicenter
of the LGBTQ culture in Paris.
It's great seeing young people have spaces like this,
where they can be themselves,
but it really is a predominantly male scene.
I'm here during Gay Pride Week,
and the Rainbow Flag is flying high.
Right now Parisian Pride is happening
right across the river from here.
There is a lot to celebrate.
Marriage equality was just legalized in 2013
after a long, hard fight.
This party of thousands of spectators and participants
moving through the center of the city,
Paris would seem to be accepting.
But I want to find out if this is the case
for the entire LGBTQ community.
Pride got really depoliticized over the years in France.
- _ - It was just like this...
an excuse to celebrate more and more. I mean,
I'm all for dancing and celebrating but
Pride should be focused more on political issues.
I'm meeting with journalist and activist,
Edwin Nasr.
Originally from Lebanon, he's now based in Paris
and has become a rising voice within a new queer movement
that's trying to make minority issues more visible.
This movement is putting on an alternative
to Paris's Gay Pride called Pride De Nuit
or Night Pride.
I think we should focus more on political issues.
That's why events such as the Night Pride, if you wish,
focus on visibility and politicization and, like,
asking the government to recognize trans-rights,
to focus on what's been going on in the projects.
How LGBTQ people of color feel stuck there.
_
Wow.
_
- Well, homophobia is are alive and well. - Yes, everywhere.
In the same sentence where you're talking about homophobia...
- Exactly. Being structural. - ... homophobia has risen
and landed right in front of us.
How often does that...
- That happen in France? - No, that happens quite often.
People like me get both.
People will just, like, spew out racist rhetoric.
But we get that a lot. Yeah, of course.
I mean, it's part of everyday life I guess for everyone.
Paris is known as the City of Love,
and it has a reputation for being liberal and progressive
when it comes to sexuality.
_
And while I'm still learning about how much of that
is true today, in the 1920s,
a vibrant subculture for queer artists emerged
albeit in the underground world of the Parisian night life.
I'm meeting with Bambi, a trans-cabaret performer
who rose to stardom in the 1950s
after leaving her home in Algeria.
- Bonjour. - Bonjour.
_
Thank you for coming here.
Oh, thank you. Thanks for having me.
Can I help in any way?
- You carry the cups? - I'll carry the cups.
- And where are we going? Into the room? - Oh, to the saloon.
Here and here.
There we go.
63 years ago when you were performing in Paris Night life,
can you help paint that picture for me?
What life was like then? What it was like for you?
_
When did you decide, I want to perform on the stage?
_
And in your everyday life, did you feel you were in danger?
_
Reflecting on your personal experience
and what you've been through, do you feel like it's better to be public
with who you are and more visible, or do you think
it's better to keep it hidden, to keep it quiet.
I think it's better to keep hidden
because you live your own life.
Ah! Bravo!
_
- _ - For you.
So, what do we say again, I forgot.
- Santé! - Santé!
Santé.
That's the last time I was on a beach in my life.
How old are you here?
I was 41.
When you think about your performing prime in Paris,
do you think life is less or more interesting
when you were young versus today?
It's different.
At that time, I wanted to realize
the person I was, in myself.
That is today forgotten.
I don't think of that anymore.
I'm Marie-Pierre Pruvot, and that's all.
And I just live.
_
The artists and activists from Bambi's era
took a defiant stance.
They carved out their own space for the queer community
since they didn't have one in society.
And today, across town, a new generation
of queer feminists are doing the same.
_
To make sure the party is welcoming for the LBT community,
few men are invited,
so I'm grateful to be joining in tonight.
_
I'm wondering, do you wish for more spaces
in the mainstream arena,
or do you like having these more underground parties?
_
I would love to know from both of your perspectives
what it means to be a queer woman in France?
_
Being private does not mean being quiet.
And while Prude Pride is underground,
it's by no means in hiding.
_
It's been three years since the marriage equality ruling in France.
Many had hoped it would bring further progress
for LGBTQ rights,
but change hasn't happened so quickly.
I'm on my way now to meet
with French artist, Emily Jouvet.
- Bonjour! - Bonjour!
She uses her art as activism
and encourages members of the queer community
to voice the issues that they still face.
_
Emily invites me to participate in her new project.
By touching her belly and discussing family,
this peace response to French law that prohibits
assisted reproduction for single and queer women.
_
It's been a while. It's probably been like three years.
_
You know, I think if I were
so deeply connected to a lesbian couple
that really wanted to have a child,
let's say like my friend Ellen,
if she decided that she wanted to have a kid
and she needed sperm,
I have thought about, would I give her my sperm?
I would potentially think about donating.
Okay,
- thank you. - Was that good? Okay.
Superb!
Can you tell me more about the project you are working on?
_
I would love to know more
about your personal experience with getting pregnant
and the things you had to go through to
sit here with that belly?
_
Can you tell me more about
what's going on with the reproductive rights in France?
_
When you think about France in the future,
do you see that LGBTQ people and other minorities
will actually get to full equality?
_
Control over one's body without government or social stigma,
is a fight shared by countless queer women
as well as transgender people in the country.
Today, there is still legislation in place
that demands sterilization
in order to legally confirm one's gender.
A new wave of transgender activists in France
are fighting against this law
through participation in marches
like the upcoming Night Pride
and through smaller gatherings
that aim to strengthen and empower the trans community.
There is this association in Paris called Acceptess Trans,
and they host this weekly meet-up at a pool
where queer and trans people can get together
and swim in a judgment-free zone,
and I'm going to go in now and check it out.
It's run by trans-activist, Giovanna Rincon.
The meet-up that you're having this evening,
what is it exactly?
_
Why the pool?
_
Let's do it, yeah.
I'm ready.
Can you describe your experience
of being trans and young and male
in Paris and in France?
_
Within the LGBT community,
do you feel that you're seen and that you're heard
and that you are part of the community?
_
There is some acceptance
for the gay community within France.
But other LGBTQ people are still fighting
for a place within the mainstream.
I'm meeting up again with my friend,
journalist Edwin Nasr to continue our conversation
about the minority experience within France
and the LGBTQ community.
- Allow me. - Okay, thank you.
What do you think are the biggest issues
that the LGBTQ community faces in France?
It's LGBTQ people of color because they're never
a part of a conversation.
It's also visibility.
It's harder to talk about these things in France because
identity politics isn't really
that respected. So, even like seeing people of color
is offensive to a normal French person.
So they don't speak of...
They have a color-blind attitude.
They don't acknowledge multiple narratives.
There is one national common narrative,
which is like this constant universalist,
you're either French or you're not, and that's it.
You don't get to have your own experiences.
And people who don't fit into this
are usually just
- marginalized. - Mm-hmm.
Are you one of the rare voices in that conversation?
Are there a lot of people talking about that?
There are some people talking about that,
they aren't much.
I focus on LGBT people who do not live in the city
but who live in, like,
what you American folks would call the projects, I guess,
on the outskirts of Paris, people who haven't been given
a chance to be really be open about their sexuality because
they live in very disenfranchised places
where the government has completely forgotten about them.
And why do you feel personally connected to that kind of work?
When I first came here and gay marriage was legalized,
I saw lot of gay people just telling themselves,
"Well, let's just stop there, we got all our rights,
- we are equal now." - Mm-hmm.
But then I saw how, like, LGBTQ people
lived in the suburbs and the projects basically.
And so I just really wanted to find the intersection between,
like, poverty and LGBTQ issues
because they do really intersect and because
coming out really is a privilege,
and living your life as a free gay man
or a free gay woman really is a privilege, as well.
So that's why I wanted to write about this stuff.
I know your boyfriend's here,
not that we have to put him on camera,
but I want to know... See, what a cute couple.
- Hi. - Hello.
What's your name?
- Basim. - Basim. Ian.
- So nice to meet you. - You too.
- And are you openly walking around... - Yes.
- ... and holding hands and hanging out... - In Paris we are. Yes, yes.
A way to protect ourselves from racism
is to basically be very, very gay together
in public spaces so that we aren't seen
as this potential threat. We aren't bestialized or demonized
as these, like, masculine, Arab men.
It's a race issue, as well. It's not only a like anti-Islam thing.
I'm leaving the center of the city
and headed to the suburbs of Paris,
known here as the banlieue.
These areas are home to the majority
of Paris' ethnic and religious minority communities.
Those to the northeast of the city
have come to be associated with
what the French government calls "sensitive urban zones"
or areas where there is high unemployment
and poverty rates.
And so, the residents of the banlieue
often deal with intersecting cultural stigmas
against immigration, religion, and poverty.
_
I'm going to a class held by Abdelkader Railane,
who grew up in the suburbs and now teaches a course
aimed at deconstructing discrimination.
Young people from the area who apply for government aid
attend the class.
_
And she said what?
_
Mm-hmm.
_
No.
_
I'm just curious about people's families
and what if you went home
and told your family that you were gay?
What would their reaction be?
_
What about you? What would your family say?
_
How long? My whole life.
_
I think the important thing for me to say
is that I don't live here.
I don't know about your lives necessarily
but I'm from a small town,
so I'm used to this conversation, right.
To me, the things that people are saying here
are actually pretty typical.
I studied abroad in Paris when I was
young, I was 20 years old,
and I was not out with my sexuality,
I was in fact struggling with it,
struggling with what people would say
and how I would be treated?
And so I'm imagining my old self sitting in this room
and hearing the things that I heard today,
and I think maybe there's actually someone in here
who is also in that same struggle.
But think about everybody in the room
and how they might potentially be offended
or hurt by what you say.
Those kind of words and those kind of statements
actually do lead to the killing and murder
and violence of other people,
and we should reflect on that more.
_
Nice meeting you. Good luck to you.
So, you put me on the spot there.
I was not... I truthfully was not expecting that.
But, you know, I am actually really happy that you did that.
It was a very eye-opening experience for me
and surely for them, I'm thinking.
- Hopefully. - _
_
You were talking about your past
and your past being racist and homophobic.
What was the turning point
for you towards a more accepting attitude?
_
I thank you so much for the experience that I had today,
and thank you for all the work you're doing
and for sharing your change of heart and working so hard
to help other people change their hearts and their minds.
_
French colonial policy
was rooted in the concept of assimilation,
and that history has created a population of people
who have been born into French culture
though they were not born on its soil.
Immigration from French speakin nations in North Africa
has made the Muslim community in France
one of the largest in Western Europe.
The recent wave of terrorist attacks
as well as the European refugee crisis
has inflamed national debate
about what it means to be French.
I'm meeting with Nassr Eddine, a Moroccan-born Imam
to hear about how being an immigrant, Muslim, and gay
have affected his experience within France
and the LGBTQ community.
In the street I'm not really profiled as gay,
so I'm facing more Islamophobia in the street.
For example, when something,
a terrorist attack happens in Paris,
people pointing, like, looking at me
as a stranger or as an enemy
or someone who doesn't fit in this secular society.
And in France, we have secularism,
and some interpretations of this are very narrow-minded.
And this is for me, an Islamophobic,
Neo-colonial thought, which is happening
in the LGBT community, also.
You're saying, though, that the LGBT community
is not giving you space in that conversation.
When you read a statement for the 2016 Pride, for example,
they don't talk about racism we face,
they don't talk about Islamophobia we face,
they don't talk about police violence,
they don't talk about ethnic profiling,
they don't talk about refugees and asylum seekers.
So for me, very
important to talk about intersectionality
because we face it.
How do you feel about the same sex marriage
being legalized here?
I'm happy that it is legalized.
Works for some people, but because France
signed before years ago kind of bilateral conventions,
11 nationalities are still excluded from that,
from that law.
So me being Moroccan, I cannot marry, for example, my partner.
This is very contradictory, that a law that
normally brings equality
still actually being discriminatory against,
I mean, a few nationalities.
And what do you think exactly has to change in France
for you to be more accepted
and not face so much discrimination?
What I advocate or fighting for is
to educate people on intersectionality.
It's a double duty. Me being Muslim, I have to actually
feel others struggles and have to be with them.
My challenge is to build bridges
so that people can teach themselves
but also teach others
because if we are not enough empowered
on a civil society level,
we cannot actually have weight
towards politicians, and this is actually the biggest challenge.
There is a rising political tide
that's against multi-culturalism
led by the National Front, France's conservative party.
They believe in a massive reduction of immigrants,
promotion of traditional family values,
and maintaining an undivided France.
_
The recent wave of terrorist attacks in France
has fueled the National Front's popularity.
And surprisingly, a recent survey pointed out
that 32% of gay couples
voted for the FN during the regional elections in 2015.
That year, the party won 12 cities,
one of which was Beaucaire in the south of the country.
I'm on my way there to meet its mayor, Julien Sanchez,
a rising star within the FN.
Thank you so much for talking with me today,
and you're a very young mayor, yes?
_
Being such a young mayor, do you think it's important
for young people to get involved in politics?
_
Tell me more about the National Front.
What does the National Front stand for?
What are its ideologies?
_
I'm wondering how diversity fits into
what you are talking about?
_
I think on the one hand, maybe some people would say
that your party is homophobic
because of its stance originally on gay marriage
and some of the anti-LGBT laws that are in place
and potentially going to be put into place.
And at the same time, there is support
from the LGBTQ community for your party.
How is that possible, and why do you think that is?
_
Hm.
_
What do you say to a woman who
is a lesbian and wants to have a child?
She would be a beautiful mother, but she can't...
She can't do that here and she has to go to another country.
_
I'm interested in the conversation around LGBTQ people,
and I'm wondering how minorities have a voice then
if they... if they feel like they need to be heard
to make changes for their lives
but they don't have a place to do that?
And they are not considered in the conversation,
how do you think they get a voice?
_
There are things that you say just in their subtlety
that is a disregard for the issues that people face.
_
- Let's cook a fish, Matty! - Okay!
I am here
experiencing Paris in a new way and France in a new way,
and I think the interesting part is,
is that I've been meeting so many
radical, intelligent, passionate young people
that were my age when I studied here,
and they have been teaching me so much.
And they are really helping me understand
how to politicize your experience.
And they realize that if they have a voice in politics,
it can change things.
When Pride started, it was a protest.
They risked a lot stepping out into the street,
asserting their sexuality,
making it political,
and making what was invisible visible.
That energy is being reclaimed through Pride De Nuit,
and the march is today.
Pride De Nuit brings the issues
of marginalized queer communities to the forefront.
It's a place where those voices who have been silenced
can be heard, and this year's is bigger than ever.
I mean, how are you feeling right now?
Describe to me what you think the energy in the air is like?
I'm very happy to see just how, like, diverse the crowd is,
because I did not expect this two to three years ago.
I thought the LGBT community was a lost cause
in terms of politicization. And just to see them all
very, like, excited to be here
and vocalizing very radical demands is just... yeah,
it fills my heart with joy.
_
Pride De Nuit is saying,
"You're not listening to us,
you're not giving us a platform to be heard
even within the LGBTQ community.
And we need to now create a space
where we can shout that out.
Where we can be political, we can be loud,
and we can be aggressive with our politics.
_
France is really diverse.
Really interesting because of its diversity.
And just looking around that crowd
and seeing so many young, vibrant,
passionate, beautiful people.
I think it really helps to make people have to face things
that they're uncomfortable facing,
and that's how real progress happens.
- Synced and corrected by chamallow - - www.addic7ed.com -