MeToo Gay denounces members of his own community

The friends of Guillaume T. organized a rally this Saturday, at 1 pm Place Pigalle in Paris. They want to continue to fight so that the denunciation of sexual violence does not end with him.

About sixty people gathered this Friday on the Saulcy university campus in Metz to pay tribute to Guillaume, a student found dead Tuesday, February 9 in his university room in Paris. According to the first elements of the investigation opened by the prosecution, he would have killed himself. For now, investigators do not establish a link between the student’s accusations and his death. Aged 20, Guillaume had grown up in Metz. He was the first to use the word #metoogay on Twitter in mid-January, when he accused an elected official of the city of Paris and his companion of having raped him.

It all started with a tweet, published Thursday, January 21 by Guillaume TT, alias Prunille, a young man who accuses the elected Communist Maxime Cochard and his companion Victor Laby of having raped him in October 2018. Posted, as emerges since Thursday evening a #MeTooGay on social networks, this message has aroused many reactions.

Maxime Cochard, 36, is elected from the 14th arrondissement, linked to the list of Anne Hidalgo, Paris in common. He strongly denied these « comments and their slanderous nature », and announced to initiate « legal action for defamation ».
The Communist Party, at the same time, urges him to withdraw temporarily even if he « enjoys for the time being with his companion the presumption of innocence ». « Justice must now shed light on these serious accusations », concludes the PCF.

More than three years after the explosion of the MeToo movement with the Weinstein affair, the French gay community is starting its own freeing up around sexual assault.

At the origin of this movement, the testimony of a young man claiming to have been raped at the age of 18 by an elected PCF of the City of Paris, Maxime Cochard, and his spouse, when he was in a « particularly vulnerable situation « . Then thousands of testimonies abounded on the web. Why is the explosion only happening now, and not earlier, in recent years?

« I consider that they took advantage of my youth, of my naivety, of the fact that due to family problems I did not really have a place to sleep, of their responsibilities within the PCF to have sex. agreed with me ”, writes the user under the nickname“ Prunille ”, which indicates not to have decided“ of the follow-up to be given ”.

He also indicates that he recently received “a hand on the buttocks”: “A few months ago, Maxime Cochard allowed himself to put a hand on my buttocks by surprise while I passed him in demo. Once again, I took a long time to realize that it was a sexual assault.  »

Maxime Cochard quickly reacted in a press release, also posted on Twitter, in which he denounced « a totally false accusation ».

« Given the seriousness of such comments and their slanderous nature, I instructed my lawyer to immediately take legal action for defamation, » said the elected official.

His lawyer Fanny Colin confirmed for her part that the rape facts were « formally contested » by her client and that a defamation process had been initiated.

On social networks, other elected officials of the mayor of Paris lent their support to the young author of the tweet on Maxime Cochard. Starting with the elected LFI Danièle Simonnet, who wrote to her: « All my support for @TT_Guillaume, it is essential that the floor is freed and we are well aware of the courage that this requires ».

The students of the city of Metz gathered on Friday February 12 to honor his memory, when the young man had left the city after obtaining his baccalaureate to study in Paris. It was there that he would have met Maxime Cochard, elected from the French Communist Party as mayor of the 14th arrondissement, while Guillaume was active in the ranks of this party.

On his Twitter account, two photos of Guillaume remain pinned to his profile. Last December 25, he posed, playing with a light garland forming a halo on his hair. Against a pink background, he closes his eyes, looking peaceful. Two months later, on February 27, relatives held a tribute in his memory.

« Following the #MeTooGay movement, initiated by our late friend and comrade Guillaume, we think it necessary to give a continuation to this liberation of the word announced on the Facebook page, Thomas Braz. The thousands of testimonies that have appeared on twitter have put One thing is evident: the rape culture is very present but also very silent in the LGBTQI + community. So after the liberation of the word, comes the need for actions.

Demonstrated in the streets of Paris, this Saturday February 27 in Pigalle, in order to protest collectively. We oppose this patriarchal society which does not sufficiently condemn rape, worse than that, which ensures impunity for rapists with an insufficiently equipped justice.

This society is one of impunity, and it is up to us to oppose it. Through our mobilization, we therefore ask the institutions to act, to equip our justice system so that it condemns rape more severely. It is unacceptable that there are so many rapes and so few convictions, the failure of the system must end. Beyond a reform of our legal institutions, we demand a reform of our education system.

LGBTQI + youth are particularly vulnerable because of the taboos our society maintains. These taboos marginalize non-heterosexual sexuality, fueling LGBTIphobias. In order for our young people to be safer, the government and institutions must take their responsibilities and include training in the school system to effectively fight against LGBTIphobias and taboos.

However, we must also fight against discrimination within our community. We must actively fight against systemic racism and the violence that results from it. Our racialized queer adelphs are particularly exposed to racist fetishes and sexual violence. Moreover, we cannot accept their constant erasure in our struggles, when they are the pioneers. The pacification and gentrification of our struggles are fundamentally racist and classist. These increasingly present phenomena must be eradicated.

While we know that precariousness particularly affects young LGBTQ +, we must at all costs fight against the « pinkwashing » of capitalist companies and the state.
Patriarchy is present everywhere, it ensures the domination of men, and therefore their impunity. The government and institutions must not only bring us legal and educational reforms; but it is up to us to act, to show that we no longer want this patriarchal society. The feminist revolution must happen, and it will not happen thanks to our leaders, all of whom benefit from patriarchy, but through our collective mobilization.

In the face of all sexual and sexist assaults, in the face of patriarchy, in the face of LGBTIphobias: POPULAR RIPOSTE. We will never be silent again, from now on, fear has changed sides; the patriarchy will fall.  »

If you have been a victim of sexual violence, you can call 3919.

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Gabriel MIHAI

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