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Forty years ago, in 1982, France decriminalized homosexuality. A few years earlier, in 1979, a writer explained on French television at the time what it meant to be homosexual in the country.
“It took me 20 years to break the silence, because I belong to this generation in which the memory of the Nazi extermination camps was still very vivid.”explains Dominique Fernandez who is a writer and professor about his homosexuality. “The Nazis pinned a pink star on the chests of homosexuals. There were several hundreds of thousands exterminated in this way. Today, in France, there is no persecution, but there is a general, deaf, underhanded oppression.”.
“Most homosexuals are forced to hide their nature, their inner truth from those who are most dear to them. And usually the parents, when they learn the truth about their son, either just throw him out or send him to the psychiatrist, and they all try to change him.”. The writer also explains that talking about his homosexuality can also have consequences at the time on his work: “Those who are going to speak run serious risks of which they may suffer the consequences tomorrow, they may simply be fired from their jobs.”. On July 27, 1982, France finally decriminalized homosexuality.
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