Advertising posters for a book deemed “transphobic” quickly removed from Parisian streets

The Paris town hall denounced on Wednesday, through its first deputy, the promotion on billboards in the capital of a book propagating hate speech against transgender people. The operator JCDecaux says it quickly removed the posters.

“I had the misfortune to discover, in the streets of Paris, a series of advertisements on flagpoles promoting the book Transmania“, writes Emmanuel Grégoire in a letter addressed to Jean-Charles Decaux, boss of the eponymous advertising billboard group, and sent to AFP.

Contacted by AFP, JCDecaux said it had already “removed posters” because of “comments conveyed on the visual, on which the City of Paris has also questioned us.” The visual “is also contrary to our charter of ethics for external communication“, adds the group, which presents its “apologies” to the people “whom these posters may have offended”.

On the poster in question, the book, released on April 11, is presented as a “investigation into the abuses of transgender identity” Who “infiltrates all spheres of society“. On the X network, Kam Hugh, drag queen who participated in the first season of the show Drag Race France, denounced Tuesday evening a “openly transphobic advertising“.

“Transphobia is a crime. Hatred of others has no place in our city“, agreed on X Emmanuel Grégoire, asking JCDecaux “removal of this advertisement“.

In this book, the authors, Dora Moutot and Marguerite Stern, “known for their transphobic antics“, propagate”once again their hate speech“, affirms the elected socialist in the letter. In the feminist movement, these activists have become known for their repeated criticism of gender transitions, which has earned them several complaints.

“Sexual orientation and gender identity are not an ideology“, recalls Mr. Grégoire, for whom “the dissemination and promotion of such speeches goes against the values ​​held by the City of Paris“.

“Our book is not transphobic, in no case does it advocate hatred of others and trans people“, replied Dora Moutot on X, for whom it is a “sourced investigation“, particularly on “certain actors who push gender transitions and make profits from them“She denounced.”an act of censorship based on assumptions rather than content analysis“, and a “obscurantism which seeks to muzzle all critical thinking“.

The Magnus publishing house, which also mentioned “censorship“, deplored that JCDecaux had removed the posters, “without even warning its own customers” and indicated that she “wouldn’t stop there“, in a press release. For Marguerite Stern, Mr. Grégoire “doesn’t know what he’s doing“but acted under pressure from”15 trans associations“followers of”harassment“and”threat“.