By Redaction Lyon
Published on 13 Mar 21 @ 7:32 pm
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“I’m gay, but that doesn’t characterize me”: Pauline Peyraud-Magnin was the first active French international footballer to go public with her homosexuality in August. “Pleasantly surprised” by the “positive reactions”, the guard judge to AFP that the company “must pass a course”.
Trained in Lyon (Rhône), the guardian of the Bleues and theAtletico Madrid and his companion Camille, a customs employee, received AFP at their home, in the privacy of their apartment in the suburbs of the Spanish capital, for an interview between their cats, their dogs and a red and white scarf from the “Atleti”.
In August 2020, Pauline Peyraud-Magnin (28) posted a photo of herself with the woman who has shared her life for over a year. Congratulatory messages and media requests are raining down: she is the first French international player (12 caps) to reveal her homosexuality to the general public during her career.
“We were in Madrid…”, says Pauline. “… We thought we were super pretty,” Camille engages with a shy burst of laughter. This photo, “I posted it like that, it was pretty sudden. We did not say to ourselves: “We are going to do this to have all these fallout behind”. It was never the goal. We read the messages together. There were plenty of them. Beautiful messages. Harsh messages, too. Not negative, but hard to hear, to read.
In particular a young girl in South America who said that it was very complicated to live with your homosexuality there. At that moment, we say to ourselves that we are lucky, and that we must seize it, ”explains the Atlético goalkeeper, who could put on the gloves on Sunday (12:30 GMT) to challenge the Real in the Madrid women’s Liga derby, a poster open to a reduced number of spectators.
“Crazy! “
“For me, it was normal to post a photo on my account. I had not seen the impact that it would have ”, continues the player of Atlético. Positive reactions are pouring in on social networks and the media. The goalkeeper is witnessing this enthusiasm while she is with the France team, which left for North Macedonia (11-0) on October 23 as part of the qualifiers for the Euro.
All these reactions “astonished” Camille, his partner: “We are in the 21st century… Congratulations on posting a normal photo with my girlfriend… It’s cute, but here it is, I find it surprising. In other countries, there are plenty of homosexual footballers, and it seems to be going rather well… ”, she is moved.
Did all these requests weigh on the daily life of the two women? “For me, what we’re doing (this interview) is crazy. I do not understand that we linger so much on this subject, that we even end up doing a report … It’s too crazy! I don’t realize it. For me, this is normal, in fact, “says” PPM “.
“I wasn’t expecting anything. But I was pleasantly surprised that there were so many steps. I told myself that this is really a subject that deserves to be opened. I think that today, we need to take a step forward, really. It’s necessary, ”says the player.
“Why hide? “
“Why justify or hide? “Asks the guardian trained in Lyon. “Let people live. I’m gay, but that doesn’t characterize me. Like the color of skin, like a religion ”, she supports, evoking a“ subject that (him) is really close to his heart ”.
The fact that this announcement took place abroad is perhaps not insignificant for these two French women, who “appear less in France”. “In France, there may be places or times that we avoid.
In Spain, the first time we came, we went to a very busy street. We sat down at a bar, on a terrace… There were a lot of homosexuals, men, women… and that didn’t bother anyone. We were amazed, we said to ourselves: “But where are we ?! “(Laughs)”.
After traveling a lot, between Lyon, Saint Etienne and Marseille in France, Arsenal and theAthletic abroad, Pauline Peyraud-Magnin was “very pleasantly surprised by the positive reactions in football”.
Could her pioneering act now open the door to other women, other footballers or athletes? ” I hope so. But I’m not forcing anyone, I know it can be complicated. It’s really personal, it’s unique to everyone. I said it, that’s it. And if I had more facilities to say things, it is also because I think that I met the right person ”, slips Pauline, the gaze turned towards Camille.
Source: © 2021 AFP / By Patxi VRIGNON-ETXEZAHARRETA. Alcalá de Henares (Spain) (AFP) / on Saturday March 13, 2021 at 13:44
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