Speaking at UNIQUES, the equality festival that aims to make inclusion topics concrete and accessible to everyone, the comedian Lou Trotignon answered our questions about the representation and inclusion of LGBT+ people.
At what moment did you realize that your difference could be a strength?
Lou Trotignon: When I started my comedy show about my transition journey, many people told me it wouldn’t work. I thought I was an anomaly in the stand‑up world, and, in a sense, it permeated my daily life. Then I met people like me, who have things to say. I realized that I had a viewpoint on the world that differed from dominant discourses and which, I hope, helps to slightly change the prejudices about LGBT people. Our stories deserve to be told.
What makes you the most proud today?
I am extremely proud to own and embrace being a trans, gay man. Just because I am transitioning toward masculinity doesn’t mean I don’t wear a feminine style. I took time to own it because I feared that it would be contradictory with taking testosterone or undergoing a mastectomy. Just like cis gay men, I am learning that femininity is part of us.
What is, in your view, the greatest inequality that still affects LGBT people?
Unfortunately, there are still many in France: access to housing, to employment, and even to procreation. The one I find most serious is the lack of access to healthcare. As a trans person, it is difficult to find health professionals who are accepting, even more so when living in rural areas. This affects our physical health but also our mental health.
What message would you like to send to a young LGBT person who feels out of place?
I would tell them to listen to the song Faëries by Tarek X, in which the artist invites loving all queer identities, in a tone almost religious. I learned to feel ashamed of who I was, but this shame is not mine. When people say or do homophobic, transphobic things, etc., that says more about them than about me. They probably hate a part of themselves. My best tool against hatred is the circle around me: surround yourself with people who think like you and who accept you for who you are.
What makes you optimistic about the future?
I am chronically depressed, and yet I have a lot of hope for the future. I am obviously very afraid of the rise of the far right and fascism. Nevertheless, I see more and more people not directly concerned with LGBT issues joining us, and that gives me a lot of hope.
>> The UNIQUES festival, of which Têtu is a partner, will take place on September 12 at the Cité du cinéma, in Saint-Denis. Free entry.
