Cyril Couderc - Private school teacher fired for being openly gay files complaint

Almost a year after being fired from his teaching post for being gay, Cyril Couderc has decided to file a complaint with the French Equal Opportunities and Anti-Discrimination Commission (Halde).

(Screenshot from Daniel school promotional video)

In September last year Couderc came out publicly after he moved in with his partner.

His employers at Daniel school in the town of Guebwiller in north-eastern France knew of his sexual orientation but weren't happy at his being openly gay.

And as the national radio station RTL reports, the school principal sacked the 35-year-old who had been teaching at the school for 10 years.

Daniel is a private religious school, teaching children from Maternelle (kindegarten) age all the way through to the end of Collège or Junior High (14 or 15-year-olds).

"Its teachers are all believers," says the school's promotional video. "They're committed to passing on not only that faith but also a thorough education and an understanding of religious values and behaviour."



Values which Couderc said the principal of the school had told him had not been "respected" by his having openly declared his sexual orientation.

Interviewed by RTL on Tuesday, Couderc said the school principal had told him that his sexual orientation did not "respect the values of the institution" and he was given his marching orders.

"Not only was I told that I no longer had the right to work at the school, I was also informed that I was to have absolutely no contact with any of the pupils," Couderc told RTL.

"It was as though homosexuality was being defined as something 'dangerous'," he said, adding that he had also been offered a therapy to "deal with the torment of his homosexuality," - a proposition he declined preferring instead to look for another post in the public education sector.

Asked by the regional daily Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace (DNA) why he had waited 10 months to take his case to Halde, Couderc replied that he had been depressed after losing his job but had been motivated into taking action after he had seen a poster advertising Daniel's end-of-year festival.

"The motto was 'Vivre ensemble' (living together)," he told DNA.

"When I saw that, I knew I had to talk about it and they had to understand that what they did was unacceptable."

Defending the school's decision, Luc Bussière, the president of the organisation which is responsible for running Daniel, told DNA that the school had "lost confidence" in Couderc after he moved in with his partner.

"It was a problem of trust," said Bussière.

"We knew of his sexuality and his inner struggles," he told the newspaper.

"But there's a differences between having such tendencies and assuming them in a school which promotes Christian ethics."

Amen?

Disabled man denied entry to Singles club New Year's Eve dance

Ah 'Tis the season of Goodwill - except it seems in the eastern French city of Dijon, where the apparent decision by a Singles club not to allow a handicapped man to join in the New Year festivities has upset both the man and his mother and put a definite dampener on their end-of-year fun.

Sébastien Mertel is 30 years old. Although he is physically disabled and his face is partially paralysed, he can get about quite easily, isn't confined to a wheelchair and is fairly independent.

Sébastien Mertel (screenshot From France 3 television report)

His only problem, according to his mother Danièle, is that he doesn't find it easy meeting new people.

"So we decided that we would both spend the New Year at the Singles club dance," the divorced mother of three told the regional daily Le Bien public.

"It would be a good way we thought of spending a pleasant evening."

She contacted Sylvie Frelet, the director of the Association Effervescence - the club organising the evening's event - to try to register and that's where the problems began and the version of what happened differs.

Sylvie Frelet "I never said he couldn't come to the dance" (screenshot from France 3 television report)

According to Sébastien's mother she was told her son wouldn't be welcome because his presence would make other participants feel uncomfortable; something Frelet hotly denies ever having said.

"I never said he couldn't come to the dance," she insisted in an interview with France 3 television, saying that she had advised his mother that it perhaps wouldn't be the best way for Sébastien to meet new people.

"I suggested that he might like to participate in some of our other events such as those where we have workshops and are in much smaller groups," she said.

"That way it would be easier for him talk to people and to express himself rather than at a dance where it's more of a festive occasion."

Aha so Frelet is indeed a kind soul and her decision had been in the interests of all concerned and not in the slightest bit discriminatory.

Except according to Sébastien's mother, he had already been refused membership of the club a couple of months ago when he made inquiries to join the very same "smaller groups and workshops" that Frelet was now recommending.

The reason given at the time? "Because his disability could inconvenience other members of the group," said his mother.

She and Sébastien have decided to lodge a complaint with La Haute Autorité de lutte contre les discriminations et pour l'égalité (The French Equal Opportunities and Anti-Discrimination Commission, Halde).

Happy New Year Madame Frelet!

EasyJet denies handicapped man on board

(Image from Wikipedia, photographer w:es:Usuario:Barcex)

Budget airline EasyJet has once again refused to allow an unaccompanied handicapped person to fly because he presented what the company called a "security problem".

On Monday 48-year-old Joseph Etcheveste was due to take a flight from the south-western French city of Biarritz to Paris.

Etcheveste is paraplegic following a car accident and had an appointment in the French capital for a medical examination.

He had checked in his luggage and was waiting in the departure lounge but, as the national daily Libération reports, when boarding began was turned back because he was unaccompanied and as far as EasyJet was concerned presented a "security problem".

"It was humiliating," he said. "I've never been treated like that before."

"I made my booking one month in advance and told them that I was in a wheelchair, but nobody said anything," he continued.

"How come other airlines allow me to travel by myself but not EasyJet?"

The answer lies in the company's regulations which state that passengers "must be self-reliant in emergency and evacuation situations."

As the regulations explain, that means "they must be able to undo their own seat belt, put on their own oxygen mask, life jacket and make their way to the nearest emergency exit unaided."

The reason, according to EasyJet is "because our cabin crew will not be able to concentrate their efforts on individual passengers in emergency situations."

Although the director for EasyJet France, François Bacchetta, disputes Etcheveste's version of exactly what happened he confirmed that it's company policy not to allow unaccompanied handicapped passengers aboard flights.

"We make absolutely no compromise when it comes to passenger safety," he said.

"In an emergency we have an obligation to be able to evacuate all passengers within 90 seconds."

EasyJet has promised to refund Etcheveste the cost of his ticket but the airline could face a law suit from both the Association des paralysés de France and La Haute Autorité de lutte contre les discriminations et pour l'égalité (the French anti-discrimination watchdog, Halde).

Halde is currently dealing with a complaint lodged against the airline for a similar incident in March this year when 38-year-old Marie-Patricia Hoarau was removed from an EasyJet Paris-Nice flight because she was in a wheelchair and travelling alone.

The crew reportedly insisted she get off the 'plane even though a fellow passenger had volunteered to be her official companion.

A clear case of racism within the French police

The following story first began well over a year ago, and although it has only now been partially resolved, it shows perhaps that racial discrimination within the French police is still very much alive and a force with which to be reckoned.

The least that can be said is that this country's highest administrative court and the one that provides the government with legal advice, the Conseil D'Etat, has taken an exceptional step in an effort to stamp out racism.

In 2007 Abdeljalel El Haddioui, an officer in the French police, applied to enter an examination which would allow him to move up a grade.

He was one of 700 original candidates nationally for just 27 posts and after completing six of the seven required stages with an average which put him in the top 20, he was one of 50 remaining candidates to be called before a jury for the final oral phase.

And that's when his problems began and racial discrimination appeared to rear its ugly little head.

The 40-year-old, who had been in the police since 1998, was the only remaining candidate with a name that marked him out as being obviously Moslem.

And here's a taste of just some of the questions he claimed the jury chose to put just to him during that oral session.

"Does your wife wear a headscarf?"
"Do you practise Ramadan?"
"Don't you find it strange that there are Arab ministers in the government?"
"What's your view on corruption within the Moroccan police force?"

As he pointed out afterwards the other candidates were apparently not asked whether they celebrated Christmas.

El Haddioui's score for the oral was just 4/20, which meant that he had failed.

When he made an initial complaint, the president of the jury at the hearing, Jean-Michel Fromion, refused to comment.

But El Haddioui didn't let the matter lie there and instead found himself a lawyer and took his case to the French Equal Opportunities and Anti-Discrimination Commission (Halde) saying that, "The jury had based its questions on his ethnic origins and his religion in order to eliminate him as a candidate."

With Halde's backing the case finally reached the Conseil d'Etat, which has now taken the unprecedented measure of recommending that the results for all the candidates be annulled.

The final decision as to the fate of the "class of 2007" and the future of El Haddioui lies with the interior minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie.

She has yet to make an official statement on the matter.