Paris reveals a memorial to the LGBTQ victims of the Nazi regime and other persecution

A memorial to long -standing gay victims of the Nazi regime and all LGBTQ + persecuted people through history was unveiled in Paris on Saturday.

The monument, a massive steel star designed by French artist Jean-Luc Verna, is located in the heart of Paris, in public gardens near the Bastille Plaza. It aims to fulfill a duty to remember and fight against discrimination, said the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.

“Historical recognition means to say” it happened “and” we don’t want it to happen again “,” said Hidalgo.

Describing the sculpture that looks like a large star wand elongated on the ground, Verna, a visual artist who is also an activist of LGBTQ +rights, said: “There is a black side in front of us, forcing us to remember. … At certain times of the day, he throws a long shadow on the ground, evoking the dangers that are looming, in sadness.”

The other side of the star, silver, reflects the sky. It represents “the color of time passing, the sky of Paris moving as quickly as public opinion, which can change at any time,” said Verna.

Historians estimate between 5,000 and 15,000 people were expelled throughout Europe by the Nazi regime during the Second World War because they were gays.

Jacques Chirac in 2005 was the first president in France to recognize these crimes, recognizing that LGBTQ + people were “tracked down, arrested and expelled”.

Jean-Luc Roméro, deputy mayor of Paris and longtime activist of LGBTQ +rights, said: “We did not know, unfortunately, that this monument would be inaugurated in one of the worst moments that we are going through at the moment.”

Referring to policies of the administration of the American president Donald Trump, Romero said “we have never experienced such a setback in the United States, with what happens to Trans”.

Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has expressed orders to recognize that people are only a man or a woman, Keep Transgender girls and women Outside sports competitions for women, ouster transgender military troops, restrict federal funding for Healing care for transgender people Less than 19 years and threaten research funding for institutions that provide care. All efforts are challenged in court.

In Europe, the Parliament of Hungary adopted this year an amendment to the Constitution which allows the government to prohibit public events by the LGBTQ +communities, a decision that researchers and legal critics have made another step towards authoritarianism by the populist government.