Covid-19 and its effects on the LGBTQ+ Community (Kara)
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20210517-covid-19-lockdowns-fuel-anti-lgbt-violence-in-french-families
With lockdowns and the pandemic, more individuals were cut off from their support systems outside of their homes and forced to stay inside. Due to this, many were put in dangerous situations as they no longer had a buffer between them, their families, and their differences. For members of the LGBTQ+ community, this meant that some had to return to homes that were not accepting of their identities which yielded an increase in individuals who were forced to leave home due to their families non-acceptance of themselves. With recent trends in politics continuing to become further right, this comes as less of a surprise with an uptick in conservatism which is generally less accepting of diversity. Since France adopts more of a French first, identity second lifestyle, some may see the LGBTQ+ community as a threat to French identity. Although this particular article is from early last year, the trends that caused such discrimination can easily be seen in French culture, society, and politics today.
As for my own personal opinion, this came as a bit of a surprise to me mostly because I had previously believed that your sexual orientation in France was not as big of deal as it is in America and that the French were more lowkey about such topics. However, as I previously stated with the rise in the far right’s support this should have come as no surprise. The same trends that were seen in the United States can also be seen in France. Unfortunately, with the push to stay indoors many vulnerable communities were put at higher risk. In France and around the world, “coming out” can be a dangerous step to take especially when your family is unwilling to accept their own family. In many countries it is dangerous to be publicly “out” and in others like France and the United States, you still risk facing a lot of stigma, potentially losing friends, and dealing with a tense family situation. This does not mean to say that individuals should not come out, but rather to highlight the obstacles that the LGBTQ+ community faces in trying to be themselves.
Hi Kara,
ReplyDeleteYou raise an interesting point that I hadn’t really thought about before. While I have heard and read a lot about the impacts that lockdowns had on domestic violence and issues like that, I never read anything about how it was impacting the LGBTQ community specifically. I do however remember seeing a TikTok trend where people were “de-gayifying” themselves by removing piercings or changing their makeup and clothes before moving back home from college where they’ve been able to fully be out and themselves for the first time. While the trend is meant to be funny, it’s actually quite sad that so many people feel like they need to hide themselves from their own family in order to stay safe. Or even if the parents know, there always seems to be that mentality of “not shoving it in their face,” which once again speaks to that idea of French universalism. It’s like they say “you can be different but I don’t want to see it.”
It is surprising that this is such an issue in France when they sound so progressive from a legal standpoint, and I had believed the same as you that France was much more accepting than the United States. I also wonder if the LGBTQ center in Lyon was able to help out these individuals at all during the lockdown or if they were completely shut down. Covid is such a unique problem that I don’t think anyone knew how to deal with, but it’s unfortunate that that meant cutting off most, if not all support, for some people. Anyway, this is an interesting topic to think about and I would be interested to see a study done on the impacts of covid on the gay community.