To be indifferent to difference

Bertrand Delanoë, mayor of Paris, and patron of FGG member FSGL's Paris International Tournament, wrote the following editorial on his blog on the death of Jean Le Bitoux, a pioneer in gay rights in France. Here are few extracts from this text (our translation):

The fact is that much remains to be done. Let us think of those countries, those many countries, where homosexuality is still a crime subject to the death penalty, of these young men hanged in Iran, beheaded in Saudi Arabia, guilty for simply being what they are. And even here in Europe, let's not forget, for example, that in Russia all gatherings of homosexuals are still banned.

But there is no need to go so far: let's look at the situation in France. We can ask whether we haven't entered a sad period of silent regression.
[...]
It's as if a new leaden blanket was covering us, slowly, inexorably, with the arrogance of an intolerance full of self-confidence. Religion contributes to this, by making traditions into sacred cows, or by nourishing dangerous identifications; only days ago, the spokesman of the Vatican, speaking with the weight of an institution representing a moral authority over a billion human beings, linked homosexuality and pedophilia. This sum of ignorance, misinformation, bad feelings and prejudice weighs heavy and reaches deep in our tired societies.
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In the name of the children chased from their homes because of their homosexuality, these humiliated children, let us work to build a society where they have their place. Homosexuals have faced all manner of suffering from rejection, fear, shame, secrecy. They have endured unheard of trials, and in particular AIDS, which struck them with such terrible violence just when they thought they had achieved, and at a great price, the right to a certain freedom to be themselves. Today, they have the right to be, to exist, to be themselves.
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A society is made of differences. And its degree of civilization is measured by its capacity to see its differences with indifference. We're still far, too far, from this goal.