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Montpellier takes pride as the ‘French San Francisco’
by Malcolm Biiga
On May 29, 2013, a month after the final adoption of Marriage for All, then Montpellier mayor Hélène Mandroux presided at the very first same-sex wedding in France. Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau became the first gay couple to be married. First in history, Montpellier became the center of attention: Agence France-Presse gave the city a new nickname when it wrote, “international media converged on Montpellier – dubbed the French San Francisco.” It turns out the moniker is far from anecdotal given the shared history between the two cities.
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A month after the ceremony in Montpellier, San Francisco also celebrated its first same-sex wedding after winning a court case: lesbian activists Kris Perry and Sandy Stier said “I do” before the California Attorney General Kamala Harris, now vice president of the United States. Perry and Stier were the lead plaintiffs in an epic legal battle to obtain the right to marry, which was recognized in 2013 in California after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to overturn an appeals court decision that Proposition 8, the state’s same-sex marriage ban, was unconstitutional. (Same-sex marriage was legal in California for a brief period before Prop 8’s passage in 2008.)
It wasn’t until 2015 and the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges ruling that America saw “Marriage for All,” as it’s called in France, legalized nationwide.
Gay or lesbian, French or American, from Montpellier or San Francisco, these “pioneers of pride” were the faces of Marriage for All on both sides of the Atlantic. Ten years later, Autin and Perry agreed to participate in interviews with me. More than ever “allies,” Montpellier and San Francisco commemorated the “rainbow decade” together.
The rainbow awakening in Montpellier and SF
What’s viewed as the catalyst for the modern LGBTQ rights movement occurred in 1969 with the Stonewall riots in New York City. Regularly arrested by the police, the LGBTQ community rebelled against the authorities. On June 28, 1969, gays, lesbians, and transgender people let their voices heard in the infamous gay bar, the Stonewall Inn. This event became the founding act of Pride celebrations in New York City, San Francisco, and numerous other cities, and of the LGBTQ struggle around the globe.
The aftermath of Stonewall saw the launch of the Gay Liberation Front in New York City, and 1977 marked a turning point: on June 25 of that year, 400 LGBTQs marched in Paris’ first Gay Pride. The call to demonstrate was issued by the Groupe de Libération Homosexuelle (GLG) and the Mouvement de Libération des Femmes (MLF). The crowd rallied behind the slogan “Phallocracy, morality, virility, enough is enough!” Far from the capital, 1977 also marked a turning point for Montpellier and San Francisco.
Perry believes that what Montpellier and San Francisco have in common is that both cities have had courageous municipal officials: “The LGBTQ struggle is all about leaders. A mayor can change a city, a country, and the world,” she said in an interview. In 1977, Harvey Milk became the first openly gay elected official in California when he won his San Francisco supervisor race. Sadly, he was assassinated in November 1978, 11 months after taking office, but his legacy lives on. In February 2004, San Francisco mayor (and current California governor) Gavin Newsom ordered city officials to issue vulnerable students in harm’s way with their dangerous vote to forcibly out trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming youth without their consent,” Executive Director Tony Hoang stated July 21. “The policy they passed last night is dangerous and in direct opposition to recommendations made by the California Department of Education.”
Hoang, a gay man, pointed to Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health that found 51% of trans and nonbinary youth identified school as a gender-affirming space, while only 32% said the same of their homes. (The survey included responses from 44,828 LGBTQ youth ages 13-24.) Hoang also noted that queer youth are more likely to be housing insecure and engage in self-harming behavior – particularly if they don’t feel they have a supportive family environment.
See page 11 >> marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Some 4,000 same-sex couples married during what became known as the “Winter of Love” before the California Supreme Court declared their unions null and void.
In France, George Frêche was elected mayor of Montpellier in 1977. For Autin, the election was the starting point for “the city’s particular history with LGBT struggles.” One of the mayor’s first acts was to grant a place to meet for the GLH (Groupe de Libération Homosexuelle). A powerful political act that transformed Montpellier into a haven of tolerance. In 2009, Mayor Mandroux delivered the “Appel de Montpellier,” a speech in favor of same-sex marriage. France is a U.S. ally in the LGBTQ struggle
In 2014, France celebrated the first anniversary of Marriage for All, and Autin wanted to mark the occasion. “As president of the Montpellier Pride, I wanted to reinforce the city’s image as the French San Francisco. So I decided to invite Stuart Milk,” he said in an interview. An LGBTQ rights activist, Stuart Milk is the gay nephew of Harvey Milk. Stuart Milk, founder of the Harvey Milk Foundation,
