FROM PARIS WITH YAGG

Two weeks ago, the equestrian statue of Joan of Arc in Lille was covered with flashy pink tissue, and slogans like "Godes save the Queers" (Editor's Note: "gode" means "dildo" in French). A small controversy which caught the attention of several different local LGBT associations, trying to figure out which group papered the statue, and why.

Find below the press release of this "informal grouping bringing together activists, musicians, photo journalists and performers from the danse and theatre world ", as it defines itself:

"It was important to us to explain the motives behind our actions. Far from seeking to be insulting, profane, or degrading, our act was political – to promote a distancing from the conservative approach of categorizing queers, racialized with nationalistic undertones around the "national identity" debate currently raging in France." (Editor's Note: Joan of Arc, a French national hero, is often evoked by homophobic French far right political party The National Front as a patriotic symbol. Most well-known French politicains since the 14th-15th Century 100 years War have evoked her name.  Though she is cannonized as a Catholic saint, she is also brought up as a figure in gender identity debates).

"Adding to the debate with symbolism affords us the opportunity to affirm our identity in a cultural and political context marred with transphobia, homophobia, and sexism. We have thus proposed a take on Joan of Arc as an alternative to the preconceived notion… Butch? Asexual? Gay? Transsexual? Lesbian? Who knows?!!!"

Who determines our identities?

"Who determines our identities? Who decides what we must become? And who better than ourselves to shape these matters? We proffer that sexual, gender, class, and racial identities are but social, political, and cultural constructs – they were not created by nature. We don't identify with those that are vehiculed and advanced by media images and hegemonic heteronormative discours, as we are not all the same. The artificial categorization of individuals only serves to create a static, dualistic, exclusionary system. In reality, identities are more amorphouse and complex!"

Our sexualities are political

"Our identities are more than national! We reject the nationalist assimilation that the current political climate seeks to impose on us. We don't want an obligatory heterosexuality. We who are transsexual, gay, lesbian tout our differences. Let us cease reducing ourselves to mere sex acts, which should only be discussed in private anyway."