Foreign News
Outrage in France as Macron appoints senator who fought gay marriage to key rights job
France has a new human rights ombudsman – tasked with defending certain rights that he previously fought in parliament.
Lawmakers in the lower house National Assembly and the Senate on Tuesday narrowly backed right-wing Senator François-Noël Buffet to become France’s new Defender of Rights, approving President Emmanuel Macron’s nominee by 43 votes to 39.
The 62-year-old lawyer by training replaces former journalist Claire Hédon, a frequent critic of racial discrimination and police brutality, whose six-year term expired on Monday.
A human rights watchdog acting independently of government, the Défenseur des droits is responsible for defending citizens whose rights are infringed and ensuring the equal protection of legal rights in France. Critics say such duties are incompatible with the political views of a politician with a track record of opposing equal rights for some of France’s most vulnerable communities.
Buffet, a senator from the Rhône department around Lyon, notably campaigned against extending marriage rights to same-sex couples and more recently opposed legislation allowing medically assisted reproduction for single women and lesbian couples.
His appointment as defender of such rights is “both absurd and scary”, said Nicolas Faget, a spokesperson for the Association of Gay and Lesbian Parents and Future Parents (AGPL).
“One of the bulwarks shielding same-sex parents and their children from discrimination is at risk of being undermined by someone who does not believe in those rights,” he said.
“It’s frankly alarming.”
A troubling record
Buffet’s long-rumoured nomination was quietly confirmed in an Elysée Palace statement on July 7, the day the nation’s eyes were riveted on a court hearing that would determine far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s political fate.
In interviews with investigative website Mediapart, staff at the office of the Defender of Rights had previously expressed their “dismay” and “shock” at the prospect of him taking over. One worker voiced disbelief that a politician “whose recent views are so starkly at odds with the institution’s recommendations” was even considered for the job.
Buffet is a close ally of hardline former interior minister Bruno Retailleau, a candidate in next year’s presidential election for the conservative Les Républicains party. He served as minister for overseas territories in the short-lived Michel Barnier government in 2024 and then worked with Retailleau at the interior ministry under former PM François Bayrou.
Described by critics as an archconservative, Buffet took part in protests against same-sex marriage in 2013 and voted against extending medically assisted reproduction to single women and female couples in 2021. He also abstained during a landmark 2024 vote on enshrining the right to abortion in the French constitution.
The senator favours cutting back on state-funded medical care for undocumented migrants – a growing demand of the political right, which health workers described as an ethical aberration and a risk to public health.
Read moreFrench doctors vow to ‘disobey’ bill stripping undocumented migrants of healthcare rights
His political views are “very worrying, as they lead us to doubt that he will pay as much attention to respecting the rights of foreign nationals as previous Defenders have done”, Charlotte Kwantes, advocacy manager at Utopia 56, an organisation that defends the rights of foreign nationals, told French daily Libération on the eve of the vote in parliament.
Tense hearing
Buffet faced a tense hearing before the National Assembly’s Legal Affairs Committee last week, which saw a leftwing lawmaker accuse him of a history of “racist and homophobic votes”.
In response, the senator stated that he had “evolved” on “a number of issues” and promised “total independence”.
When grilled about his opposition to a bill legalising same-sex marriage in 2013, he said: “I did something stupid; I had my doubts about the consequences, but not about the principle itself.” In 2014, however, he was one of several candidates in local elections to sign a charter vowing to “preserve the father-mother-child family unit”.
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Buffet also side-stepped questions when quizzed about a controversial bill carried by his party instituting a “presumption of legitimate defence” for police officers making use of their firearms. Critics have labelled the bill a “license to kill” and the outgoing Defender of Rights has described it as deeply problematic.
Macron’s nominee highlighted other parts of his record, noting that he tabled a Senate bill on improving conditions for prison inmates and that he improved accessibility for people with disabilities in the town of Oullins near Lyon, where he served as mayor for two decades until 2017.
He added that the “president could have found a better candidate, though he could perhaps have found a worse one, too”.
Rolling back progress
The AGPL spokesperson begged to differ.
“It’s hard to think of a less suitable candidate to uphold our rights than one who doesn’t believe in them,” Fagetsaid, warning of a potentially huge step back for minority rights after years of working hand in hand with Buffet’s predecessor.
While the rights ombudsman has neither judicial nor legislative powers, their word carries considerable weight both in courtrooms and in citizens’ disputes with public authorities.
“It’s a critical instrument to uphold rights and combat discrimination,” said Faget, citing the ombudsman’s role in helping same-sex parents who are denied paid parental leave or face obstacles in registering their children with local authorities.
“The Defender of Rights is one of the key bulwarks of the rule of law, and a vital source of redress for victims of discrimination,” the Inter-LGBT advocacy group said in a statement, describing the choice of Buffet as “yet further evidence of the Élysée’s contempt for LGBTQIA+ people”.
Critics of the appointment have linked it to political horse-trading at a time when Macron is seeking to obtain plum jobs for his close allies before leaving the Elysée Palace next year. Faget said it followed the president’s pattern of appointing conservative politicians to key posts, including the ministries for health, gender equality and the fight against discrimination.
“Macron delivered on his pledge to extend medically assisted reproduction rights to all, but his recent appointments have baffled us,” he said. “Whether it’s networking, cronyism or political wheeling and dealing, it’s certainly not helping those who most need the Defender of Rights.”
