How do the French feel about homosexuality?

Question

How do the French feel about homosexuality?

Answer 1

My impression was always that they were very friendly about it.

Answer 2

those frogs love it!

Answer 3

Let me interject a small note of disagreement with Millie's answer above.

Politically, Millie is right to say that the French are generally less concerned about the key issue of Civil Unions  than are Americans. On the other hand, there is still a distinction to be made between marriage and civil unions and there is still no g*y marriage permitted. So one might say that Massachusetts is more advanced than France on this issue even tho the rest of the United States is not.

Moreover, the debate in the Chambre of Deputies concerning g*y marriage made it clear that it is not just a handful of extreme right wing deputies that are anti-g*y.

Now it is true that the mayor of Paris is g*y and that there is a large district, the Marias,  that is generally considered very g*y friendly but that should not be taken as proving that g**s are fully accepted.

Public displays of affection (PDA) between heterosexuals are commonplace in Paris. Indeed, it is soemthing that visitors often remark on. But outside of the Marais and even in it, French g**s do not engage in such PDA. I doubt  this is a matter of choice but rather reflects an understanding that such PDA between g**s is seen as unacceptable and exposes them to risks.

EDIT@Millie I only wanted to make it clear that France is not utopia for g**s and that while most of America is probably less "g*y Friendly" than Paris there are certainly parts of American, including, by the way, Austin Texas, which are more so. So my disagreement was  more with the broad opening sentance of your answer which could be read as suggesting that people in France simply don't care.

Answer 4

g*y marriage per se isn't allowed; civil union (called PACS) is, although a significant number of couples who get PACS-ed are actually straight couple. All in all, it depends on which part of France and who you talk to. The more right-wing/conservative areas disapprove, the more left-wing/alternative French support. The mayor of Paris is g*y, for example, is g*y. Other statesmen/politicians may also be g*y, but the French are, generally-speaking, less interested in other people's personal lives than Americans are, for example (current interest in the President aside...).

If I had to give an average, I would guess that the national French tendency disapproves. France is still fairly conservative, and parts of it are still very Catholic.

EDIT: Regarding the comments below, I beg to differ. Although statistics show that a minority of French believe in God and a majority support g**s, there is a vast difference between published statistics and the general feeling here. I am talking about the general feeling when you talk to people. Catholic France doesn't mean that they believe in God, it means that they follow a lifestyle heavily and historically influenced by Catholic values. In some areas of major cities, there are very pro-g*y policies. But go to any village of rural France, any non-touristic area with a strong French identity, and you will indeed find a certain feeling of homophobia. Making fun of g**s is still acceptable, and President Sarkozy did declare during the campaign that he was firmly against g*y marriage.

Furthermore, although 54% are in favour of g*y mariages, 52% are against adoption by g*y couples. From this, you could argue that the French are in favour of g*y rights socially, but still are in favour of "traditional" heterosexual family values. This is the Catholic influence I was talking about.

A couple more errors: regarding the comment that it is well-known that France is considered a country of atheists, again, I beg to differ. A January 2007 poll found that 51% of the French population describe themselves as Catholics (and only half of those said they believed in God), 31% as atheists, 4% as Muslims, 3% as Protestants and 1% as Jews. There is a difference between atheist and secular.

And the mayor of Paris hasn't announced that he is running for the Presidency in 2012.

Answer 5

They just don't care. As said above, the French typically don't care about other people's personal life, whether they are politicians or next-door neighbors.

It is untrue however that the majority disapproves. Civil union was approved by a vast majority from the beginning, long before the law was passed. As for same-s*x marriage, 62% of the French approve (whereas a majority of Americans disapprove) according to November 2006 polls published in the most famous g*y magazine in France.

In 2002, 71% of the French said they would have no problem with having a g*y president (number would probably be higher now). The Mayor of Paris is actually running for President in 2012.

Now it doesn't mean that people are fully accepting deep in their hearts but most don't mind or care. Homosexuality is less accepted in rural regions than in cities and less among older people than young to middle-aged people. When it comes to rights, a majority are for equal rights,  but many disapprove of a certain image of homosexuality conveyed by g*y pride parades (I personally don't think either these help the cause towards acceptance) and do not like "community lobbying" in general.

As for conservatism in France, there is no equivalent to what it means in America, the only small party that could be somewhat close to American conservative ideas is the 'Mouvement pour la France' which only gets a few % of votes and campaigning against g*y marriage is not their priority, although it is in their program (their motto is more about controlling immigration from Islamic countries and rejecting European control over France's policies). And to reply to the comment on the influence of Catholicism, it is very weak. Only 38% of the French in general believe in God but among Catholics by cultural belonging, only 12% believe in God and less than 5 % go to church. It is well-known that France is considered a country of atheists.

EDIT: I don't see how Rillifane and I are in disagreement, personally I agree with what he says. My last paragraph has nothing to do with the g*y issue, it's just an answer to the notion of conservatism mentioned by the previous respondent (only that party and some minor fringes of other far-right parties could compare with American conservatives in the sense that they make family values or abortion political issues). I thought I said the same thing as Rillifane when I said that still a lot of people do not fully accept to see homosexuality displayed even though theoretically they are for equal rights. Actually the French attitude about many things is "do what you want as long as it's not right in my face" so things that they are not used to seeing because it's not the norm are still hard for them to fully accept  (in the same way, people are shocked by obesity, tattoos, etc and can stare disapprovingly at anyone looking different). Of course this attitude makes improvements slow to achieve in a media society where visibility and image are everything. Living in Boston, MA I find people here more accepting and comfortable with homosexuality than even in Paris. But the French are not so much against (as can be the case in the US) as they are uncomfortable (you'll still see and hear educated people giggle and make silly, immature jokes about g*y people for instance! But then if you ask these same people how they feel about equal rights for g**s, they're all for it. So there is a marked difference between the intellectual response and the more personal, affective response to the issue).

@ Scotchorama: I agree with you on several points and pointed out myself that acceptance was far lower in rural France. However 80% of the French live in urban areas and I disagree with the conclusion that a majority of the French are hostile to homosexuals. Figures of pro same-s*x marriage people change constantly between about 50% to 60% on average (so how can you say that a large majority are hostile) and got at their lowest right after the mayor of Bègles celebrated a g*y wedding illegally. The less agressively people lobby, the higher the positive opinions get (opinions change quickly based on what is in the media).

As for figures on religion I am referring to the same study as you in which half of the French declare themselves Catholic by culture, which is my case, but only 12% of those Catholics believe in the existence of a God. And it is also easy to see that on Sundays churches are often half to 2/3-empty even in rural France. I could observe it myself when trying to find church services in Paris and Brittany (considered one of the most Catholic regions) last Christmas vacation for an old person (American) traveling with us. And one of my friends who is very religious was telling me how hard it is for him to be the subject of so much mockery in France just because he is a minority (as a believer and church goer). Since we worked in the same school I had many occasions to see and hear how true it was as most people would talk behind his back about him being religious (even though he was no freak and he was very intellectual). Being an atheist myself (since I was never exposed to religion growing up outside Paris) I am still shocked at the lack of tolerance of most atheists in France, agnostics and atheists being the majority and bashing on the minority. Of course I agree with you that our cultural heritage has a strong influence on what people regard as a "traditional family", which is only natural and not specific to France, it is far more pronounced in America for instance. If you read carefully what I wrote in my first edit you will find a lot of similarities in what you and I wrote.

Answer 6

Unlike Spain, by example, we do not approve g*y marriage. And we are much old-school, unlike a lot of americans think. In fact, France is as conservative as Poland or Ireland, but, because of our "froggy" reputation, we are called f**s for you americans. In my opinion, France is not really tolerant with g**s, and with our president, who is a Bush fan, it will not change before a long time...

EDIT : I agree Rilifan : in Paris, the vision of homosexuality is not the same than in smallest towns. You know, differences between dandies and rednecks ;)