Gay channel launches in Paris
Gays across France celebrated the launch of Pink TV, the country’s first television channel for homosexuals.
The Monday launch came as a controversial push to legalize same-sex marriages and calls to enhance the fiscal rights of gay couples were already making headlines. Gay-rights activists say the channel could help make homosexuality more acceptable in France, where the conservative government has taken a strong stance against legalizing gay weddings or allowing gays to adopt children.
“The gay channel helps to show homosexuality is something normal,” gay activist Alain Pirious said. “It can highlight that gays are just another part of society with their own interests.”
The creators of Pink TV, however, say they also want to cater to heterosexuals. “Pink will not be a ghetto channel, but one to assert gay identity,” Pink TV President Pascal Houzelot told Le Parisien.
Houzelot estimates that some 3.5 million people in France are gay, or about 7% of the population.
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