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Five Gay-Bashings Reported In France In Less Than A Month

"May and June are very often the months where we get the most calls," says SOS Homophobie. "[Because] they're months of strong LGBT visibility."

Attacks on the LGBT community in France are on the rise—with five gay-bashings reported across five different cities in just the past several weeks.

Joël Deumier, president of SOS Homophobie, told Tetú his group had received 22% more calls in May compared to the same time last year. Though he was speaking in late June, Deumier also indicated there were already 77 calls that month, as compared to 71 in May and 58 in April.

Of those calls, a dozen involved verbal harassment and nine concerned physical violence.

The attacks in question were spread across France: On June 22, a 20-year-old gay man was assaulted by two men in a car in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, a town in the northeast. After shouting homophobic insults, the assailants got out and attacked him until passersby intervened. (The victim was taken to the hospital for treatment.)

Just one day prior, a gay couple was assaulted in Lyon on their way home from a concert. The men were holding hands on the street when they were approached by two men and a woman, who shouted insults and rained blows on them. One of the victims had a fractured shinbone and was incapacitated for more than a month.

And before that, a gay man tweeted about being attacked in Paris, writing "If you want to know what homophobia looks like..." with photos of a bloody t-shirt and broken glasses.

He and his boyfriend had been assaulted near Hôtel de Ville during a night out with friends.

On June 8, a couple in the southern French city of Gard, were physically attacked while walking their dog. A guard came to their rescue, but one of the men ended up with a broken nose and cracked skull.

Tetu

Tetú also reported on a 40-something gay man who was badly beaten in Pau in southwest France on May 28. He is still in intensive care unable to answer questions.

Though June is Pride month, Deumier says his group actually sees an uptick in homophobic attacks this time of year. "May and June are very often the months where we get the most calls [because] they're months of strong LGBT visibility."

Deumier also theorized that the spike in anti-gay sentiment was fueled by the recent election season, which saw neo-fascists rally around Marine Le Pen, the right-wing National Front candidate who promised to repeal France's same-sex marriage law.

Le Pen was beaten by Emmanuel Macron's En Marche! party in early May.

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