PARIS (AP) — As soon as Michel Barnier has been appointed as the new Prime Minister of Francecritics found a corpse in his closet. In 1981, the 30-year-old lawmaker joined more than 150 conservatives in the National Assembly in voting against a law that decriminalized young homosexuals.
That history played in the background when President Emmanuel Macron appointed the 73-year-old Barnier on Thursday as successor to Gabriel Attal, France’s first openly gay prime minister.
At 35, Attal was also the youngest of 26 prime ministers to have served France’s modern Fifth Republic. Barnier is the oldest.
Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon was among the first to point out the new prime minister’s previous stance on gay rights. “What is the meaning of such a message?” he asked.
The History of French Laws Addressing Homosexuality
Although French revolutionaries abolished sodomy in 1789, French judges later used public indecency laws to punish tens of thousands of people for homosexuality in the 19th and 20th centuries, researchers say.
After France’s defeat by Germany in World War II in 1940, the Vichy government, which collaborated with the country’s Nazi occupiers, also introduced a law specifically targeting homosexuality. With some modifications, the law remained on the books long after France’s liberation in 1944, until 1982.
In 40 years, some 10,000 people have been convicted, says Régis Schlagdenhauffen, a researcher at the Paris School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences.
According to researchers, Vichy law punished homosexuality by making it illegal for minors under 21. However, the minimum age for heterosexual sex was 13.
“So a heterosexual relationship, for example, between people aged 18 and 22 was not a problem,” says Antoine Idier, a researcher of LGBTQ+ history at the political science faculty of Sciences-Po in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a suburb of Paris.
“But the same homosexual relationship… was considered a crime,” Idier added.
In 1945, the age at which heterosexual sex was legal was raised to 15, but for homosexual relations the age remained 21 until 1974, when it was lowered to 18 – still three years higher than for heterosexuals.
That difference in treatment that discriminated against homosexuality only came to an end in 1982. Barnier was one of the 155 conservative lawmakers voted against that change in the National Assembly in December 1981.
“Their argument was that it was necessary to protect young people from homosexuality,” Idier said.
National Assembly archives show that Barnier did not speak out during the debate. But another opponent who did, Jean Foyer, warned that the change could put teenage boys at risk compared to older men and could change public opinion on homosexuality.
“What was punishable yesterday is not only indifferent but almost commendable the next day,” he said.
Homosexuals were also specifically targeted under another law against public indecency, which was enforced from 1960 to 1980.
Barnier voted twice against progress on gay rights
In the archives of the National Assembly Idier found that Barnier also voted in April 1980 against a step forward for gay rights after lawmakers tried to repeal laws targeting homosexuals.
The conservative majority at the time tabled an amendment to maintain the Vichy law, he says.
The amendment provided for prison sentences of six months to three years – plus fines – for “anyone who commits an indecent or unnatural act with a minor of the same sex.”
The motion passed by a vote of 278-202.
“Like his right-wing colleagues, Barnier voted to maintain the Vichy regime, while the original aim was to abolish it,” he said.
Joseph Franceschi, a socialist, was among those who spoke out against the amendment. According to the archives, he said that homosexuality “in itself cannot constitute a crime, neither for a man nor for a woman.”
Thanks to the amendment, the Vichy law remained in force until it was repealed in 1982, Idier says.
That Barnier voted twice against progress on gay rights is “anecdotal, but at the same time still interesting to know that it was not just a mistake,” he said.
Does Barnier’s voting record on gay rights still matter today?
Schlagdenhauffen, the researcher at the Paris center, says he would like to know whether Barnier would vote differently 40 years later.
“Perhaps Mr Barnier has become wiser,” he said.
A key test, he said, will be whether Barnier will facilitate the progress of a bill, to be introduced in 2022, aimed at compensating people punished for homosexuality between 1942 and 1982 and recognising the persecution they suffered.
“If he wants to show that it can be done differently, he will continue with this law,” the researcher said. “Otherwise he will bury it.”
Barnier’s office did not respond to emailed questions from The Associated Press on Friday asking whether he regretted his votes in 1981 and 1980 and whether he would vote differently on the issue today.
