Hello everybody, I'm 16 and I'll be going to live in a small town in France ( 20 000 people I guess) near Lyon, and I'm really scared that people might be very homophobic there. Let me explain you where I'm coming from. I went on an exchange program to Argentina for 5 months ( I'm from Brazil ) and had some REALLY bad experiences there. I got my first everything with a boy while there and that was cool, but it was terrible when my host-mother found out that I even had to move to another city... The guys at my school were all homophobic, it was terrible. Because of all those things I had to be closeted for the rest of my stay. I'm out to my parents and twin sister ( we don't really talk about it though, it's not important, lol) and to my close friends. I'm going to be living there for a year and I don't want no longer to have to be closeted, I mean, I can't stand anymore having to say " Yeah, I like her/ I'd make out with her" and some indecent things regarding the female body every time a guy asks me if I like one girl... So that leads to the title question, how is it to be gay in France? ( when you are in high school). I don't want to shout out my sexuality from the hilltops there but if someone asks me if I'm gay I wouldn't want to lie... Thanks everyone
i don't know, I'm just an angry American. Grr! haha! but i wanted to ask did you choose that name from a poem: I Sing the Body Electric? I recalled vaguely that line from reading it as a kid. I thought it was weird when I was 7. And welcome to EC bro!
hahaahah I got it from a song by Lana Del Rey, but she was inspired by Walt Whitman's I Sing the Body Electric poem And no French guys to help me?
urm i was thinking of going to france a while back. still might and i research everywhere before i go just incase its illegal to be in gay in a country. i found out that the pope or something in france is gay and french people are supposedly quite accepting of gays, that being said i have never been but the interwebs say they are okay with lgbt. that being said there WILL be homophobic people everywhere you go, just gotta stay strong
Yeah, I've also read that people are usually pretty accepting but I didn't find anything about how the social life in schools is. I know there will be homophobes everywhere, and as long as it is not 80% of the school like in my last one, I'd be ok And thanks
I met a gay couple from France last summer and I got the impression from them that France is very very liberal. That said, they did come from Paris, and I'd imagine that like in most countries, small rural towns are going to be less accepting. (I did a quick search online though, and Lyon comes up on wikitravel as one of 6 particularly gay friendly towns listed in France. I know you're in a smaller town beside Lyon, but that's still a good sign). As for school life, I can't really help you there, but I wouldn't imagine the reaction would be anywhere near as bad as you got in Argentina. If you are really worried about how people will react, perhaps you could wait for a few weeks before coming out there, give yourself time to get a feel for the place first.
From my knowledge of French culture and society, I think France is pretty open minded and liberal a country and you might not have too much to worry about. While larger cities such as Paris will probably be the most open minded, you will always find conservative and homophobic people everywhere. But I would say that France in general is a very open minded country. Have a great time while you're there!
That's what I plan to do, I mean, I want to be known for who I am, not as the foreign gay guy... Thanks everybody
Ummm, I don't know who you're thinking of, but it's definitely not the pope. The pope is in Rome, and would never be openly gay. But you're right: the French seem to be pretty accepting of gays. I took a few French classes in high school, and I could see that they're pretty liberal in a lot of aspects just from learning about their culture.
I have been to France twice and found the people there just wonderful. *But*, I was doing tourist things and they (just as we or anyone would) treat tourists very well. I was with 2 other gay guys and we didn't advertise, but, well, you know. I have been to 3 different gay bars there. Not so different from here. This is not much help to you I know, but I think that over all, they are not so different from the U.S. in respect to accepting gays. I do NOT think you will encounter anything like you did in Argentina. The current mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, came out in 1998, before his first election in 2001. He did so in a TV interview. He still got elected, so that says something. From the Wiki: In March 2008, Xavier Darcos, Minister of Education, announced a policy fighting against all forms of discrimination, including homophobia, in schools, one of the first in the world. It was one of 15 national priorities of education for the 2008–2009 school year. The Fédération Indépendante et Démocratique Lycéenne (FIDL) (Independent and Democratic Federation of High School Students) – the first high school student union in France – has also launched campaigns against homophobia in schools and among young people. In December 2006, an Ipsos-MORI Eurobarometer survey conducted showed: 62% support same-sex marriage, while 37% were opposed. 55% believed gay and lesbian couples should not have parenting rights, while 44% believe same-sex couples should be able to adopt. In June 2011, an Ifop poll found that 63% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage, while 58% supported adoption rights for same-sex couples. I think you'll be fine. The attitudes of the parents are most often reflected by the younger generation.
