French people convicted of homosexuality between 1942 and 1982 could be rehabilitated

There are 10,000 people convicted of homosexuality in France between 1942 and 1982. Very few are still alive. A bill is being examined in the Senate on Wednesday to provide them with compensation.

A bill to rehabilitate people convicted of homosexuality in France between 1942 and 1982 is being debated on Wednesday November 22 in the Senate. The text is supported by the elected socialist Hussein Bourgi and aims to recognize the responsibility of the State in this discrimination, and to provide reparation to the approximately 10,000 people concerned at the time. Today there are only a few hundred left, still alive, including Michel Chomarat, a homosexual activist from Lyon, aged 75.

He is pleased that this repair is finally on the agenda: “I’ve been waiting for it for so long.” Michel Chomarat is one of these men, victims until 1982 of what he calls state homophobia: “Queers had to stay in closets. Dead or in closets, but especially not in public spaces. So most of the time, homosexuals went out at night, razed the walls…” He was arrested in 1977 in Paris, while he was having a good time in the back room of a private homosexual club, “Le Manhattan”: “We were among ourselves, of course adults. And suddenly, the light comes on, I hear ‘Police, police, police!'” Plainclothes agents had infiltrated into the heart of the antics: “And we are loaded into salad baskets. Handcuffed, that’s my claim to fame!” Arrested, with eight other customers and the two club owners. All eleven arrive at the Quai des Orfèvres, the headquarters of the judicial police.

Michel Chomarat was tried, then sentenced in 1978 to a fine of a few hundred francs for public outrage of modesty. “Can there be public outrage of modesty in a private space? he protests. It’s like having an orgy at home. Good…” The conviction was confirmed on appeal, then on appeal, two years later: “I felt humiliated, despised. It’s state contempt, that’s what bothers me the most.” Many of these condemned people saw their lives shattered: “When you were in the provinces, when you were arrested, you were entitled to half a page in the local newspaper with your name and all the details. Most of them lost their jobs, their apartments… Socially, they were completely destroyed.”

“Most of the people who were convicted are no longer here”

Hence this need for repair today. The bill also provides for compensation of 10,000 euros: “It makes all my friends laugh, as I have been fined three times: 30,000 euros, it’s going to be a party!” But Michel Chomarat is above all concerned with the symbol, that the State recognizes its responsibility: “It is the honor of a great democracy to recognize its mistakes!” Especially since he fears that very few people will come forward: “Who will ultimately ask for compensation? Because I’m a kid, I’m only 75 years old. But most of the people who were convicted, they are no longer here, unfortunately.” In Spain, the first of our neighbors to offer such repair, only around a hundred people came forward. Great Britain, Germany and Austria have already rehabilitated people convicted of homosexuality.