French Court Fines Activist for Calling Anti-LGBT Leader 'Homophobe'

A French gay-rights activist has been fined by a court for calling the leader of a movement to deny marriage and adoption rights to LGBT couples a “homophobe.”

Laure Pora, the former president of ACT UP’s Paris division, organized a 2013 rally outside the Jerome Lejeune Foundation. The pro-life organization was founded by Ludovine de la Rochère, who is the president of La Manif pour Tous, the nationwide anti-gay movement in France. Pora and protesters held up signs at the rally with Rochère’s face struck through with the word “homophobe.”

An appeals court ruled that the word was defamatory and will require Pora to pay La Manif pour Tous 800 euros in damages and cover 1,500 euros in legal fees.