Isabelle Rome, a magistrate by training, was visiting Toulouse this Friday. She entered the government a little over a month ago as Minister Delegate in charge of Equality between Men and Women. Since then, she has been plowing the field to meet actors and associations in order to develop, by 2023, a national anti-LGBT hate plan (Lesbians, Gays, Bis and Trans). Isabelle Rome met the associations based in the Secular Diversity Space on rue d’Aubuisson in Toulouse.
Forty associations are grouped in this building in the city center. The public is received there as part of a permanence every Saturday afternoon. A confidentiality office is also set up. Isabelle Rome met several of these associations, including: Jules & Julies, Contact, L’Autre Cercle, but also Tou’Win Rugby and CeSaMe (Enipse Center for LGBT+ mental health resources).
“What is remarkable here is already this place which is a gathering place with a method of co-construction which is very interesting.” —Isabelle Rome
Isabelle Rome praised the work of all the associations gathered within this same place. For her, the city of Toulouse is exemplary in the fight against LGBT violence: “During previous functions that I occupied within the Ministry of Justice, I had already had the opportunity to come to Toulouse in this same place and I had seen all these associations grouped together. It is a place of unity with a method of co-construction that I find particularly interesting. I hope that my ministry can support all these causes with a goal of unity.”
The associations present expressed their difficulties to the minister. The difficulty of existing after the Covid crisis and ofget grants each year to continue to receive the public in this Espace Diversités Laïcité. Isabelle Rome said she was in favor of thinking about multi-year grants, all while recalling local skills in this area.
The coordinator of the Pride Toulouse association concluded the meeting by inviting the Minister to the next edition of the Pride March. “We’ll make room for you on the float!”, launched Jérémy Perrard who orchestrated the meeting this Friday with the minister. 25,000 people took part in the Toulouse Pride March on July 2.
Before being appointed Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister, Isabelle Rome was Senior Civil Servant for Gender Equality at the Ministry of Justice, after a long career as a magistrate. The youngest judge in France, Isabelle Rome was only 23 when she was appointed in 1987 judge for the application of sentences in Lyon. She has held various positions in the judiciary, “I have always worked for respect for human dignity”she launched during a visit to Toulouse.
Isabelle Rome, the youngest magistrate in France at the age of 23, dreams that her ministry will be one of unity. “I wrote a book in 2012 called ‘You are naive, Madam Justice’. But no, creating a ministry of unity is not naivety, it is my goal”ends the 59-year-old minister.