{"id":8622,"date":"2026-04-23T14:37:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/8622\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T14:37:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:37:21","slug":"gay-couple-in-france-terrorized-by-homophobic-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/8622\/","title":{"rendered":"Gay Couple in France Terrorized by Homophobic Attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"An example of the vandalism to which Alain and Hugo have been subjected. \u2013 Photo: France 3, courtesy of Hugo.<\/p>\n

A gay couple in Lairoux, France, say they\u2019ve been targeted by a string of homophobic attacks, including death threats, anonymous letters, anti-gay graffiti, and vandalism at their home.<\/p>\n

Referred to in news reports by the pseudonyms Alain and Hugo, the pair, who are teachers, live in a region dominated by the National Rally, France\u2019s far-right populist party, which has historically opposed<\/a> LGBTQ rights.<\/p>\n

The couple told the independent French outlet Basta!<\/a> that the harassment began in October 2024, when graffiti was scrawled on their front door reading, \u201cNo f**s in Vend\u00e9e,\u201d referring to the region where Lairoux is located.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Two weeks later, the couple received a letter in their mailbox reading, \u201cNo homos in Vend\u00e9e or in our schools, otherwise\u2026\u201d Alain and Hugo, who have lived in the region since 2018, said the message was especially unsettling because the anonymous author appeared to know details of their personal lives, including their jobs, routines, and the layout of their home.<\/p>\n

A few weeks later, on November 14, 2024, the couple discovered their home and yard had been broken into. Although nothing was stolen, the intruders used spray paint from Hugo\u2019s art studio to tag exterior walls with the message \u201cF****ts get out of here.\u201d They also smashed a glass table, threw paintings and 3D printers to the ground, tore apart garden furniture, ripped open a pallet of stove pellets, and left water taps running. The break-in left the couple shaken \u2014 and convinced the vandalism was deliberate.<\/p>\n

More than a month later, someone scratched \u201cF****t\u201d and \u201cF****t get out of here\u201d into their car, reinforcing the pattern of harassment. The couple have since installed cameras and changed their routines: whoever arrives home first checks for signs of intrusion and, if everything is undisturbed, texts the other, \u201cNothing to report.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lived like we were in the countryside,\u201d Hugo told Basta! \u201cWe left the gate open, the car was parked outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, we lock everything, we check everything three times before leaving,\u201d added Alain. \u201cI often look in my rearview mirror to see if someone is following me\u2026 I\u2019m constantly on my guard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The harassment has continued. On October 1, 2025, Hugo and Alain received a threatening letter, burned on the edges, depicting two coffins.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy fear is that one day they\u2019ll set fire to the house,\u201d Alain said.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

On November 19, 2025, another homophobic letter was sent to Lyc\u00e9e Atlantique in Lu\u00e7on, where Hugo teaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts a step up because it moves from the personal sphere to the professional side,\u201d Hugo told France 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the headmaster received the letter, he immediately reproted what was happening to the academic authorities,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe academic director reacted immediately, calling the relevant state services, including the prefecture, the public prosecutor, and the head of the local gendarmerie.\u201d An investigation was launched by the Fontenay-le-Comte gendarmerie\u2019s research brigade.<\/p>\n

The incidents continued into January and February 2026, when anti-gay graffiti was discovered in the school\u2019s restrooms, mentioning Hugo\u2019s name alongside the terms \u201cf****t\u201d and \u201cpedophile.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple has filed seven complaints since the first incident in October 2024. Police closed the initial investigation after failing to identify a suspect, and the harassment went dormant from December 2024 to October 2025. A second investigation into the 2025 incidents has since been launched, but no arrests have been made.<\/p>\n

\u201cLuckily, there are two of us, because it allows us to support each other, because I don\u2019t know how either of us would manage to get through this alone,\u201d Hugo told France 3.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An example of the vandalism to which Alain and Hugo have been subjected. \u2013 Photo: France 3, courtesy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6905,2424,73,5,6906,6907,6908,6909,6910,6911,6912,6913,3820,6914,6915,1595],"class_list":["post-8622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-anti-gay-attacks","tag-discrimination","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-gay-couple","tag-harassment","tag-hate-crime","tag-homophobia","tag-lgbtq","tag-lgbtq-rights","tag-stalking","tag-teachers","tag-threats","tag-ticker","tag-vandalism","tag-violence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}