An example of the vandalism to which Alain and Hugo have been subjected. – Photo: France 3, courtesy of Hugo.
A gay couple in Lairoux, France, say they’ve been targeted by a string of homophobic attacks, including death threats, anonymous letters, anti-gay graffiti, and vandalism at their home.
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’s far-right populist party, which has historically opposed LGBTQ rights.
The couple told the independent French outlet Basta! that the harassment began in October 2024, when graffiti was scrawled on their front door reading, “No f**s in Vendée,” referring to the region where Lairoux is located.
Two weeks later, the couple received a letter in their mailbox reading, “No homos in Vendée or in our schools, otherwise…” 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.
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’s art studio to tag exterior walls with the message “F****ts get out of here.” 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 — and convinced the vandalism was deliberate.
More than a month later, someone scratched “F****t” and “F****t get out of here” 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, “Nothing to report.”
“We lived like we were in the countryside,” Hugo told Basta! “We left the gate open, the car was parked outside.”
“Now, we lock everything, we check everything three times before leaving,” added Alain. “I often look in my rearview mirror to see if someone is following me… I’m constantly on my guard.”
The harassment has continued. On October 1, 2025, Hugo and Alain received a threatening letter, burned on the edges, depicting two coffins.
“My fear is that one day they’ll set fire to the house,” Alain said.
On November 19, 2025, another homophobic letter was sent to Lycée Atlantique in Luçon, where Hugo teaches.
“Its a step up because it moves from the personal sphere to the professional side,” Hugo told France 3.
“When the headmaster received the letter, he immediately reproted what was happening to the academic authorities,” he continued. “The academic director reacted immediately, calling the relevant state services, including the prefecture, the public prosecutor, and the head of the local gendarmerie.” An investigation was launched by the Fontenay-le-Comte gendarmerie’s research brigade.
The incidents continued into January and February 2026, when anti-gay graffiti was discovered in the school’s restrooms, mentioning Hugo’s name alongside the terms “f****t” and “pedophile.”
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.
“Luckily, there are two of us, because it allows us to support each other, because I don’t know how either of us would manage to get through this alone,” Hugo told France 3.
The couple say they are still weighing what comes next, but are determined not to be driven out.
“Giving in is out of the question,” Hugo said. “For now, we’re holding out. So that this doesn’t happen to others.”
The United States government will allow the rainbow Pride flag to fly permanently at the Stonewall National Monument after settling a lawsuit brought by New York and LGBTQ nonprofits over its removal earlier this year.
The flag was removed in February to comply with federal guidance from the U.S. Department of the Interior barring so-called "non-agency" flags within the National Park System. The memo specified that "only the U.S. flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized flags" could be flown on park property flagpoles.
The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for minors, siding with a Christian "talk therapist" who argued the law violated her First Amendment rights.
The 8-1 ruling doesn't strike down, but effectively undermines conversion therapy bans in 22 other states and the District of Columbia by establishing a precedent in which therapists’ conversations with patients can be deemed a form of constitutionally protected speech.
The court found that Colorado’s law, though limited to licensed professionals, does not override free speech protections, and that the First Amendment protects therapists’ right to speak freely, even when their views conflict with government policy. Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch said that "professional speech" is not a separate category and is entitled to protection.
An 18-year-old British woman says she was asked to leave a popular gay nightclub in Manchester after staff deemed her wheelchair a "safety risk."
Maddie Haining, of Oldham, told the BBC she was out with a friend on April 11 and had visited several bars before heading to Club Tropicana on Canal Street in Manchester's Gay Village. Within five minutes of entering, she says a bar manager asked her to leave.
In a video recorded by her friend and later posted to Instagram, Haining is seen speaking with the manager, whose face is blurred. She says she showed him the United Kingdom's 2010 Equality Act -- which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities -- and told him that asking her to leave was discriminatory.
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