PARIS.- The trans actress Spaniard Karla Sofía Gascón, who received the award for Best Female Performance at Cannes, denounced the French far-right politician Marion Maréchal for sexist insults, who criticized the award, in her opinion, to a man.
The complaint in Francewhich confirmed today -May 29- to AFP the lawyer of the interpreter of Emilia Perezin addition to the presentation of the previous days by six defense associations of the LGTB+ collective for transphobic insults against Maréchal for this comment.
Gascón, 52, received along with her co-stars – the Americans Selena Gómez and Zoé Saldaña and the Mexican Adriana Paz – the award for Best Female Performance and became the first transgender person to win this award in Cannes.
In reaction to the award, Maréchal, candidate of the far-right party ¡Reconquista! At the elections to the European Parliament in June, she criticized on the social network X that a man was awarded, something that would imply the erasure of women.
Actress’s statement
“We must put an end to these types of statements,” said Karla Sofía Gascón in a statement sent by her lawyer to AFP. The complaint was filed for sexist insults motivated by gender identity.
The interpreter’s lawyer, Étienne Deshoulières, indicated that the only person subject to the comments can take action, which is why Karla Sofía Gascón had to do so, beyond the associations’ complaint.
in the musical Emilia Perezthe Spanish actress plays a ruthless Mexican drug dealer and the woman who transitions, and dedicated her award to all suffering trans women.
Maréchal’s statements occur in a context in which the conservative sectors of France have a new front in society’s battle in trans people, after their opposition to equal marriage and adoption by same-sex couples.
In 2023, French authorities counted 2,870 crimes or offenses such as assaults, threats and harassment, among others, against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals, an increase of 19% compared to 2022.
Source: AFP
