Project presentation - French Committee for Mr Gay Europe / World contests

Traduction en français ici

As official producers of the French delegates for Mr Gay Europe / World contests, here is a presentation of our project.

Background

While equal rights are improving in many countries, homophobia remains a major problem in our society. From simple bullying to physical or mental abuse, violence prevents many homosexuals to live a normal and peaceful life.

This violence is particularly dramatic among youth, where the suicide rate among young gays is far superior to other young heterosexuals of the same age. Some parents even go so far as to commit the worst decision, which is rejecting their children from family homes because they are homosexual.

In France, the debate on mariage pour tous (equal marriage) revealed a hidden homophobia which is now very strong and includes the movements of the Manif Pour tous or the French spring.

Objectives

In order to fight against stereotypes and prejudices, the LGBT community needs visibility.

To provide this visibility in the media, several countries in Europe and in the world are organizing "Mr Gay" competitions, which aim to select a spokesperson for the LGBT community to:

• Defend equal rights
• Speak out in local and national medias
• Support associations and NGO
• Being a role model and act for youth, including the fight against exclusion and suicide
• Network with other Mr Gays in Europe and the world in transnational projects

If the body plays a role, being a LGBT activist will be the most important point for the French committee.

In France, there is currently no Mr Gay contest. However, there are Mr Gay Europe and Mr Gay World constest at the international level. France was represented in both competitions by Guillaume Barbier in 2011 (Europe only), Remy Frejaville in 2012 and Armando Santos in 2013.

These participations were the result of an informal relationship between the delegates and the international committees. However, if France wants to secure its participation at these competitions in the long term or even host a contest, it is necessary to create a French committee and structuring the French participation.

Project 2014

The first step in 2013 is to set up a team in charge of the creation of the French committee. Past delegates Remy Frejaville and Armando Santos are invited to participate, as well as French LGBT bloggeur Benjamin Ladc.

Other organizations are invited for the creation of the French committee:

• Le Refuge
• Paris 2018 / FSGL
• Centre LGBT
• Gay Prides
• AIDES
• Any association interested to get involve in this project
• As well various medias (Yagg, Têtu, Friendly, Tribu Move, itsogay, mygaytrip, Sensitive, etc)

This group will define together the legal background of the French committee to the Mr Gay Europe / World contests. The committee will consist of an association registered in France.

As 2013 is already almost over, it is not possible to organize a proper selection for Mr Gay Europe / World 2014 contests. There are two proposals to select the French 2014 delegate:

• Organize an open jury (members of the French committee) and launch a open call for application via internet on the blog Benjamin Gay and European and published by the media partners. The best application will be approved by the jury and will represent France at the international competitions
• Each partner organization selects an internal delegate and the French committee then will vote the best delegate for international competitions.

Project 2015

Once the French committee is structured, a real contest will be held in 2015. There will be selections in the regions and a final in Paris. Large areas can be drawn if it is difficult to find a delegate for each region (north, middle, south, east, west, etc).

The French way of selection will be in line with the standard rules of international competitions.

The final will take place in Paris as part of a larger event, such as Gay Pride or the Paris International Tournament. Same for the regions.

Follow-up

The delegates will be selected in the regions, then the finale will take place in Paris or another big city in France in the following years. If it works fine, it will be possible to organize the Mr Gay Europe contest before 2018.