The French city of Strasbourg saw its first-ever ‘Radical Pride’ march on Saturday, June 10th, a week prior to the more mainstream pride event as those demonstrating last weekend professed much more overt militant views toward their perceived enemies.
The group “Pride Radicale Strasbourg” listed on Instagram a variety of proposed slogans for those attending the event to chant, which included “holidays for the trans, for the cis [non-trans people] suffering,” along with what seems like outright calls for violence against trans-exclusionary feminists (TERFs) with the slogan “One TERF, one bullet, social justice!”
Around 200 people took part in the Radical Pride event, according to the newspaper L’Alsace, which noted that the march was attended by several trade unions but mostly comprised of students.
The militant group has also issued specific demands, according to a report from broadcaster France Info, which include having the government reimburse and pay for all trans surgeries and other transgender therapies, along with issues not specifically related to LGBT persons, such as increasing salaries and blocking upcoming reforms of immigration and asylum.
“This is one of the differences with the more classic Pride. Our slogans will be in relation to our demands. We consider that it is through the struggle and the street that we snatch the victories of our demands,” a Radical Pride organiser named Mathieu said.
The activist went on to state that while he supported the normal pride event, he did not support corporate sponsorships or the presence of the police.
Radical Pride, which seems heavily influenced by far-left ideology, emerged in Paris last year, expressing anti-capitalist and anti-police views, particularly against the organisation FLAG!, which represents police and firefighters, and another group representing Air France employees, as the Radical Pride argued they work with the state to deport illegal migrants.
The group also appears to have some links to the far-left extremist Antifa scene in France, with a pro-Antifa website promoting the event and claiming that 400 people took part in the march and called those who participated “combative with radical slogans.”
The Antifa-linked web platform Indymedia also advertised a Radical Pride march in Nantes last week, arguing that capitalism has co-opted pride marches.
Though the group expressed what appear to be pro-violent slogans, no reports of violence appear in French media regarding the event. Violence has, however, been seen at similar events directed at feminists deemed to be against gender ideology.
Last October, the feminist group ‘L’Amazone’ participated in a pro-abortion rally in Paris and members were violently attacked over their view on transgenderism.
The group claimed they were labelled as TERFs and said, “They tore down our signs and started beating us when we tried to get them back. We asked the organisers to intervene in the face of this violence, which they refused. We, therefore, turned to the police who were present.”
Notable French feminist Marguerite Stern defended the group following the attack, writing, “The women of [L’Amazone] have been assaulted by a horde of teenage girls visibly much more angry with the ‘TERFs’ than with the restriction of abortion.”
Stern, a former member of the feminist group FEMEN, famous for their topless protests, has been harassed and threatened by transgender activists for her outspoken opposition to transgenders in women’s bathrooms and other spaces.
“I believe that it is an ideology that is taking more and more space in feminism and that conveys sexist values against which I, as a feminist, fight. Consequence: for two years, I have received death threats, rape [threats], and insults,” she said.
Earlier this year Stern was subjected to a criminal complaint by pro-transgender activist groups in France, who accused her and feminist Dora Moutot of attempting to provoke hatred over a manifesto co-authored by the pair that implied women should be cautious of transgender sexual predators in women’s bathrooms.
“Of course, not all trans people are predators, but we are forced to be wary because transgenderism can be instrumentalized by any man to access women’s spaces,” the pair wrote.
