http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1379536,00.html

France outlaws sexist and anti-gay insults

Legislation is aimed at curbing rising homophobia, but civil
liberty groups say threats of imprisonment and heavy fines
go too far

Jon Henley in Paris
Friday December 24, 2004
The Guardian

The French parliament yesterday definitively adopted
legislation that could lead to year-long jail terms for
anyone found guilty of insulting homosexuals or women.

The justice minister, Dominique Perben, believes the laws
are necessary to combat an increase in homophobia[sic],
but they have been condemned by advocates of free speech
who say they are too strict and unworkable.

The law puts anti-gay and sexist comments on an equal
footing with racist or anti-semitic insults, allowing
French courts to hand down fines of up to €45,000 (£30,000)
and jail sentences of up to 12 months for "defamation or
incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence on the
grounds of a person's sex or sexual orientation".

Proferring an anti-gay insult, including any remark "of a
more general nature tending to denigrate homosexuals as a
whole", in public - meaning on air, in print or at a public
meeting - is also an imprisonable offence, while private
sexist or homophobic taunts between individuals could incur
fines of up to €375.

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