French far-right leader Marion Le Pen attacks gay families in address to Trump supporters at CPAC
MARSEILLE, FRANCE – APRIL 19: French far-right Front National deputy Marion Marechal Le Pen gestures on stage during a campaign meeting of French presidential election candidate Marine Le Pen on April 19, 2017 in Marseille, France. One of the most unpredictable French elections is being closely fought, with National Front leader promising to protect the electorate from globalization. The 48 year old daughter of the party founder Jean Marie Le Pen has manifesto pledges such as taxing job contracts for non-nationals and proposing to leave the euro zone. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
French far-right politician Marion Le Pen was cheered by crowds at a US conservative conference as she lashed out at gay families and vowed to “take our country back”.
Marion Maréchal-Le Pen is a member of France’s National Assembly for the far-right Front National Party, and the niece of the party’s failed former Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen.
Le Pen was invited this week to speak to US Republicans at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), addressing attendees on a line-up that also included US President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and a string of senior GOP officials.
The French activist, a strong opponent of LGBT rights, was cheered by the crowd as she tore into gay adoption and same-sex marriage.
Marion Marechal Le Pen (Photo by Patrick Aventurier/Getty Images)
She said: “How did we get here? The EU and French governments forgot one crucial point: to open oneself to the outside you must have a solid core. To welcome you have to remain, and to share you must have something to offer.
“Without nation and without family, the limits of the common good, natural law and collective morality disappears as the reign of egoism continues.
Today, even children have become merchandise… we hear in the public debate that we have the right to order a child in a catalogue, we have the right to rent a woman’s womb, we have the right to deprive a child of a mother and father. No you don’t. A child is not a right. Is this the freedom that we want? No!
“We do not want this atomized world of individuals without gender, without mother, without father, without nation.
“We want our country back. There is a youth ready for this fight today.”
(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
She continued to cite La Manif pour tous – the anti-LGBT movement in France that sprung up to oppose same-sex marriage – alongside Brexit and the Trump election.
Le Pen said: “Brexit in the UK, Manif pour tous in France, and of course the election of the President Donald Trump, prove that when people are given an opportunity to take their country back, they will seize it.”
She added: “I want America First for the American people, Britain First for the British people, and France First for the French people.”
Britain First is the name of a far-right group in the UK that has been linked to racist “raids” on mosques.
The activist was loudly cheered by the crowd of Republicans.
Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD, previously criticised Trump for speaking alongside anti-LGBT figures at the conference.
She said: “President Trump never misses an opportunity to court anti-LGBTQ organizations and activists who target the LGBTQ community.
“The Trump White House is leading a multi-front culture war against the LGBTQ community by continuously addressing large gatherings of anti-LGBTQ activists, fighting for the discriminatory transgender military ban, and pushing religious exemptions to legalize discrimination against LGBTQ people.”
Marion Le Pen previously promised voters that if elected President, her aunt would abolish same-sex marriage.
Le Pen claimed that same-sex marriage would “open the door to polygamy”.
She said: “It will not be the first priority, but … [repealing gay marriage] is a promise that we will stick to, and I will personally guarantee that this bill is demolished”.
Her aunt lost out to centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron.
