“It was traumatic for me, abhorrent.” Bernard Bousset recounts the life-altering sequence of events with a candid voice. Although years have passed, he still visibly grapples with these memories.
In 1964, following a night together, a man absconded with his watch and a sum of money. Mr. Bousset faced an ordeal after filing a report with the police, who pinned him for sexual activity involving a minor under a controversial Vichy France law that imposed distinct age of consent restrictions for homosexual versus heterosexual relationships.
Now 82, Mr. Bousset was ultimately slapped with a “substantial” fine. However, the true tragedy stemmed from the resulting news coverage of his conviction, exposing his personal life to the public. The repercussions proved catastrophic, he recalls. “During that time, homosexuality was perceived exceedingly negatively. I was alienated from my family. I was so deeply embarrassed.”
“For being gay, you could lose your job, your home, and your rights.”
Mr. Bousset is just one of approximately 10,000 individuals, primarily gay men, who faced convictions between 1942 and 1982 under discriminatory laws aimed at the homosexual community.
On Wednesday, the French Senate is set to deliberate a bill that would offer a formal apology to the victims of these homophobic statutes.
If approved, the bill would provide financial restitution to victims of two prejudicial laws. The first was a Vichy-era legislation that established a minimum age of 21 for homosexual engagements, compared to 13 for heterosexual relationships. Even after the war’s conclusion in 1945, this law was not rescinded.
The second law, established in 1960, condemned homosexuality as a “social ill,” alongside alcoholism, drug use, and prostitution. Authorities were given broad discretion to target individuals under existing lewdness laws, explains Antoine Idier, an associate professor at Sciences Po Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a political sciences university.
Victims of the discriminatory legislation often faced devastation, according to Mr. Idier. Several were fined or imprisoned for several months. Upon release, numerous endured social exile, job loss, or relocation. “In a few instances, we even see cases of suicide,” he adds.
Notable figures, such as Charles Trenet, the renowned singer behind classics La Mer and Douce France, were also impacted. In 1963, Mr. Trenet was imprisoned for 28 days under charges of attempting to engage young men. While the allegations were eventually dismissed, the episode publicly exposed his homosexuality, an aspect of his life he had discreetly kept private.
Hussein Bourgi, a Socialist lawmaker who proposed the bill, said: “It is high time to bring justice to the living victims of legislation which served as the basis for a politics of repression with brutal and punishing social, professional and familial consequences.”
If the proposed law passes, it would bring France into line with other European countries, which in recent years have officially apologised to the victims of homophobic legislation.
The UK’s “Turing Law,” which received royal assent in 2017, pardoned gay men convicted under some discriminatory legislation. In the same year, Germany apologised to the victims of anti-gay laws adopted under the Nazis and maintained by the authorities of post-war West Germany.
“France is later than other countries on this issue,” says Régis Schlagdenhauffen, an assistant professor at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) who has researched the persecution of gay people in France. “But it should officially recognise the injustice while some victims are still alive.”
“France will be greater for it,” he adds.
The bill is not certain to pass. In its initial stages, it received a mixed reception from senators, who were sceptical of proposals to pay living victims €10,000 (£8,730). Even if passed by the Senate, it would also need to be approved by the National Assembly before becoming law.
Mr. Idier says the bill as it stands does not go far enough. He argues the law should also recognise people who were convicted under pre-1942 laws, which did not explicitly target homosexuals but gave judges discretion to enforce them against gay people.
As for Mr. Bousset, although he welcomes the bill, he believes that efforts to come to terms with France’s past have come too late.
“It will not erase [the pain] I lived with and which many homosexuals still live with,” he says. “It is incredible to say, but even today, I am still ashamed when I am in straight environments.”
“I never could erase this conviction. It lives within me.”
