France Has A Homocon Problem Too

According to a just published survey about France's upcoming presidential election, one of out five gays polled said they plan to vote for Marine Le Pen, the new head of France's National Front Party, a far far right organization that many have characterized as fascist. In fact, the National Front polls better among gays than it does overall.

Latest opinion polls suggest put President Sarkozy and his Socialist rival, François Hollande, ahead of other candidates. Each is polling around 27 percent of first round votes. Behind them sit Marine Le Pen of the Front National, polling around 17 percent, and centrist François Bayrou on around 13 percent. The new survey shows that 78 percent of gay people plan to vote and around half will opt for Socialist Hollande. After that Nicolas Sarkozy can expect 21 percent of the gay vote, lower than his national score. However, Front National leader Marine Le Pen performs better among gay people than nationally, capturing 19 percent of the vote.

Marine Le Pen's father, Jean-Marie, ran for president several times under the National Front banner with an extremist platform that opposed LGBT rights, advocated for banning immigration by Muslims, and endorsed a return to the death penalty, which has been banned in France since 1981. Marine, for her part, has courted gay racists.

In December last year, Le Pen spoke out in defence of the gay community – something previously unheard of from her traditionally homophobic party. “There are some towns in France where it’s not a good thing to be […] homosexual,” she said in a speech on Islamism. Her ploy was an obvious one, but Boring believes that some gay voters may have fallen for it. “She’s playing on people’s fears of Islam as a menace to gay rights – people who feel threatened may indeed be tempted. These are the kind of people who are not interested in getting married, they’re only concerned about public safety as a homosexual.”

One right wing Christian group believes gays will vote for Le Pen and put national politics over personal rights.

“Right now, the real priority in France is not opening marriage and adoption up to homosexuals, it’s restoring confidence in the economy and politics,” he tells FRANCE 24. “I can understand the demand for gay marriage and adoption, even if I strongly disagree with it, but it is simply not the topic of the day, and there are plenty of gay people who recognise that and act on it.”