Two municipalities in France removed LGBTQ+ symbols this past week.

In the south of France, near the border with Spain, the far-right Mayor Steve Fortel of Elne, a suburb of Perpignan, removed the rainbow flag from the town hall and had a rainbow crosswalk repainted white.

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“Public spaces should remain neutral, and it’s for that that I made this decision,” Mayor Steve Fortel told France 3 Occitanie. “I will not discuss it further, and I take full responsibility for it.”

France held municipal elections in late March, which means many towns and cities previously governed by progressives are now being taken in a different direction. Elne’s previous mayor, communist Nicolas Garcia, denounced the removal of the Pride symbols.

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“It was a sign that Elne fought against all forms of discrimination, all forms of discrimination,” the ex-mayor said, “whether it was about sexual orientation, religion, philosophy.”

“And today I believe it’s a strong symbol, what just happened,” he added.

“This clearly shows hostility towards the community at a moment when our rights are in danger everywhere,” Alexandra Puig, the co-president of the local LGBTQ+ organization LGBT +66, told Made in Perpignan. “It’s an attack on a symbol of unity and inclusion. ‘Fraternity’ is part of the national motto, and this move, for me, is anti-republican.”

“Anti-republican” generally refers to things that go against the principles of the French Republic, similar to Americans saying something is “un-American” when it’s discriminatory.

On the other side of the country, in a suburb of Lille near the border with Belgium, the new mayor of Faches-Thumesnil removed the rainbow flag from the town hall and canceled this weekend’s scheduled Pride celebration. The new mayor, Brice Lauret, is a right-winger, and he just replaced former Mayor Patrick Proisy of “La France Insoumise,” a left-wing party.

Lauret said that the Pride event, previously scheduled for Saturday, April 25, is “temporarily canceled” due to organizational issues. “It’s complicated,” he told BFM TV.

The flag, though, was removed on April 16 for “respect of neutrality.”

“These decisions only feed a national and international increase in violence against LGBTQIA+ people,” the organization Collectif Lille Pride said in a statement. The group said they have planned a protest for April 25 at 3:30 p.m. at the same place where the original Pride march was supposed to take place.

According to police statistics, there was a 5% increase in anti-LGBTQ+ offenses in France between 2023 and 2024, RFI reported.

“Political personalities are multiplying anti-LGBTQI+ discourse, which encourages hateful acts and gives them legitimacy,” said Julia Torlet of the organization SOS Homophobie. “These discourses seep into society and become commonplace, which is dangerous.”

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