The lives of Guy Hocquenghem, gay activist and gifted author

In 1982 they had to learn a hard lesson about paedophilia: what they supported had become unmentionable in France. Prosecutor Salzmann started the "Coral" trial (in the Provence) against alleged paedophiles, first against Sigala, who was an educator taking care of maladjusted boys and who had been inspired by Schérer and Guattari. Charges were made against Schérer and Matzneff and then, in a right-wing battle with leftist ideas about sex, against prominent politicians - Mitterand had just come into power and had sections of the law against homosexualitu abolished ("The social plague"), but not against pedosexual contacts. It was based on the slander by a crook and the usual zeal of those who had it in for paedophiles, like in the Netherlands in Oude Pekela - people were convicted, but for very different facts, and the only one who was finally sentenced because of the scandal was the crook, and none of the suspected paedophiles. Hocquenghem supported his friend Schérer, who briefly had been falsely incarcerated, but others were not so forgiving (Foucault was in the USA and at first kept his distance). Hocquenghem wrote the roman à clef "Les Petits Garçons" (1983) in this vice case. It would be his second grand novel.

Before this publication and following in the footsteps of Foucault (his book on working out sexuality) he had written a long article about gay history in the left-wing daily "Libération," followed by a collaboration with Lionel Soukaz in the book "Race d'Ep: Une siècle d'images de l'homosexualité" (1979), also a movie. "Race d'Ep" was used as a derogatory term for homosexual in France, a reversal of pederast and therefor a "double insult." Film maker Soukaz liked the bodies of young guys, often depicted in vague images, in another part Schérer played Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden, the famous photographer of boys and young men, and a third part was devoted to the work of gay doctor Magnus Hirschfeld. Not everyone was enthusiastic about this movie, but in those days it was a product gay film festivals needed. It gave the two men the opportunity to travel the world.

source: Article 'The lives of Guy Hocquenghem, gay activist and gifted author' by Gert Hekma; Gay News, No. 309; May 2017