Invested this summer as the lead candidate of The Ecologists for the 2026 municipal elections in Saint-Ouen, Sabrina Decanton has already announced her withdrawal. Some members of her group reportedly told her that her homosexuality was a barrier to victory in this city where a significant Muslim community lives… She confides in Têtu.
Joining The Ecologists for the 2020 municipal elections, Sabrina Decanton was proud to belong to Noël Mamère’s party, to whom the marriage of Bègles in 2004 is attributed. A resident of Saint-Ouen since 2009, this employee of the departmental council was then elected municipal councillor of the Seine-Saint-Denis city won by the socialist Karim Bouamrane. But this year, her group decided to gain autonomy and to present, at the upcoming municipal elections in March 2026, an autonomous list. In July, her party invested her to lead the campaign. A turn of events on Wednesday, November 26: in a statement addressed to Audoniens, Sabrina Decanton announces she is throwing in the towel. She denounces in this text “unacceptable behaviours and remarks” within her own group: “My sexual orientation is raised as an obstacle to my candidacy and to a possible victory”, denounces the 40-year-old lesbian councillor. Lesbian-phobia among the Greens? Quickly, Marine Tondelier, national secretary of the party, publicly offers her “total support” to the municipal councillor “who has experienced unacceptable political practices in Saint-Ouen”. And she promises that the movement’s disciplinary bodies “have been seized in the meantime to follow up”. Exclusively, Sabrina Decanton answers our questions.
- When did you start receiving the lesbophobic remarks that you denounce?
Even before my investiture, as the Ecologists’ lead candidate in Saint-Ouen, certain militants from the local section told me face-to-face that my sexual orientation would be a hindrance to my candidacy. These militants, some of whom sit with me on the city council, openly told me that as a lesbian, I could not campaign in the city’s popular districts. Yet I never hid, I do not pretend: everyone knows who my partner is. And now, I am criticized for it…
- In their eyes, a lesbian cannot campaign in a city like Saint-Ouen?
Those people kept things vague by invoking “popular neighborhoods”. But I have never had any problem campaigning in those neighborhoods. In reality, it is these militants who think that poor neighborhoods and Muslims are necessarily homophobic. Thus their lesbophobia is compounded by classism and Islamophobia. Yet I have many Muslim friends who have absolutely no problem with my sexual orientation, and I believe that is the case for the majority of the city’s inhabitants. What Audoniens want is a mayor who solves their problems.
- Why did you wait until today to speak out?
Things escalated in September/October, when I was made to feel guilty for being a candidate. I was made to understand that I owed it because it would be so difficult to campaign as a lesbian… It’s a sly form of rejection. In my life, I have already faced openly lesbophobic remarks. But it took me a long time to understand that lesbophobia can be more insidious, and to understand that those remarks were of that nature.
- Have you taken steps, within your party, to alert about this situation?
I contacted the party’s harassment and discrimination unit on November 6, and they launched an investigation. But it is a long process to carry out, and this pace is not satisfactory for the victims. By contrast, I was immediately contacted by Marine Tondelier, the secretary-general, who assured me of her support. It was a relief to feel heard.
- Why, then, are you the one who is quitting?
I first felt that I could manage the situation. Initially, I tried to convince these people that my identity would not pose a problem for the campaign. But when I understood that I would not succeed, it became impossible for me to campaign alongside them.
