Swiss writer given jail time for calling a journalist a “fat lesbian”

A Swiss writer has received a 60-day jail sentence for calling a journalist a “fat lesbian” and saying her role as an LGBTQ+ rights activist was “unhinged.”

The insults from French-Swiss essayist and commentator Alain Bonnet (who is known as Alain Soral) took place two years ago in a Facebook video and were directed at Swiss journalist Catherine Macherel. On Monday, Soral was convicted of defamation, discrimination, and incitement to hatred, according to the Associated Press.

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Soral has also been convicted in France multiple times for denying the Holocaust. In Switzerland, LGBTQ+ activists are celebrating the recent verdict and the fact that the nation’s anti-discrimination legislation passed in 2020 is working as it should.

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“This court decision is an important moment for justice and rights of LGBTQI people in Switzerland,” said activist Murial Waeger. “The conviction of Alain Soral is a strong signal that homophobic hatred cannot be tolerated in our society.”

The 2020 referendum making homophobia a criminal offense was the first law in the country’s history to offer any kind of legal protection of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. A reported 63.1% of citizens were in favor of it. Gender identity and trans people were not explicitly included in the amendment.

And in a 2021 sweeping national referendum, the citizens of Switzerland overwhelmingly voted in favor of allowing same-sex marriages to be legalized and equal to opposite-sex marriages. At the time, the Associated Press reported that Switzerland is a “traditionally conservative” nation with a population of 8.5 million, noting that they only extended the right to vote to all women in 1990.

Nevertheless, the majority in all 26 cantons (or member states) of the Swiss Federation voted in favor of marriage equality. Final figures show that 64.1 percent of voters, or nearly two of every three, supported the measure, signifying the country is becoming more progressive.