The Minister’s words, write the signatories of a platform published in the “JDD” “undermine our daily efforts to enforce republican principles”. They believe that the “regrets” of Mme Cayeux do not have the “force of sincerity”.
Le Monde with afp
A hundred personalities from all horizons, including the presidential majority, denounce the “homophobic remarks” of Minister Caroline Cayeux in a rostrum published on Saturday July 16 on the website of the Sunday Journal.
“How to accept the remarks made by the Minister responsible for local authorities on the eve of the national holiday”, wonder the signatories, among which appear, in the political department, the former Prime Minister Manuel Valls, the deputies of The majority Joël Giraud, David Valence, Raphaël Gérard, Quentin Battalion, or the mayors of Paris Center Ariel Weil (PS), from 5
sup> arrondissement Jean-Pierre Lecoq (LR) and 9
also initialed the text, entitled “To all these people”, the neuropsychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik, the secretary general of the National Union of Autonomous Unions (UNSA) Laurent Escure, the entrepreneur Mathieu Gallet, the host Alex Goude, the Doctor of Sciences Aurélie Jean or the psychiatrist Serge Hefez.
M me cayeux aroused controversy this week by responding to Public Senate, who questioned him about old statements dating from 2013 “on marriage for all and adoption for couples of the same sex, qualified as reform of whim and design which goes against nature “. The minister said first, “I obviously maintain my words. But I always said that the law, if it were voted, I would apply it”. And to add: “I must tell you anyway I have a lot of friends among these people. Frankly, it is a bad trial that I am done and it upset me a lot”.
For Elisabeth Borne, “Things are now clear”
Faced with an outcry, M Me sup> Cayeux retropédalé Thursday evening in the Parisian, recalling that the words, which she now considers “stupid and clumsy”, “go back ten years”. “And if I cannot deny having held them, obviously I would not use them anymore and regret them,” she added, by presenting her “most sincere apologies”.
“The question is not whether this new minister has, in his entourage, friends among” these people “, like a mask on his prejudices”, write the signatories of the gallery. “She deliberately chose to maintain homophobic remarks: it is certainly reprehensible. And only a judge should decide,” they add, while several associations announced on Wednesday that they have filed a complaint in Paris.
“On the other hand, the question is whether the government, in its duty of solidarity, validates the position of one of its members, and if the majority subscribe to its attitude”, underline the signatories, even if some ministers , like Clément Beaune, openly gay, have taken their distance from the words of M me cayeux.
“It is a question of defending not this or that community, but rather respect for the principle of equality and legality by a member of the government”, they insist, without calling for the resignation of the Minister . “His words personally bruise many of us, but above all they undermine our daily efforts to enforce the republican principles in our territories,” they say, believing that the “regrets” of M me Cayeux do not have the “force of sincerity”.
After the excuses of M me cayeux, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne assured Friday that “things are now clear”. “And Caroline Cayeux, like the rest of the government, is at work and focused on her mission,” she said.