Wilfred de Bruijn blames the rhetoric
of gay marriage foes for increasing the number of homophobic attacks
in France.
De Bruijn was brutally beaten near his
Paris home on Sunday morning. His boyfriend, who was also beaten up,
told the AP that three or four men beat de Bruijn unconscious.
“Hey, look they're gays,” the
boyfriend remembers hearing before they were attacked.
As senators debated the “marriage for
all” legislation on Wednesday, several thousand people demonstrated
outside Paris City Hall carrying images of de Bruijn's battered face.
The demonstrators claim that homophobic acts – verbal and physical
– have tripled nationwide since the legislation was introduced last
year.
(Related: French
Senate approves adoption for gay couples.)
“I certainly feel there's been an
increase in homophobia,” De
Bruijn told the AP. “What [members of the anti-gay marriage
campaign] are saying is that they're not homophobic: Lesbians and
gays are nice people, but don't let them get close to children –
that's very dangerous. It's OK for them to live together, but not
like other couples with the same protection because it's not really
the same thing.”
“These people are all professionals
of the spoken word,” he continued. “They know very well what can
happen if you repeat, repeat, repeat that these people are lower
human beings. Of course, it will have a result.”
Frigide Barjot, the actress-activists
who has led the opposition, insisted her movement was non-violent.
“We don't want violence,” she told
RMC radio on Wednesday. “We denounce this violence and these acts.
We have nothing to do with [Catholic] fundamentalists or
extremists.”
De Bruijn disagreed: “It was not
Frigide Barjot who was hitting my head, or the bishop of Avignon
lurking in that street to attack us. But they are responsible.”