- The last LGBT + bookstore in the Marais will have to move from its historic site.
- The managers must now leave the premises before March 31st.
- This closure crystallizes many changes and questions about the future of the neighborhood. From Paris in general.
"It becomes Avenue Montaigne here!" "Snaps Christophe, 59, at the counter of the Open Café, at the corner of rue des Archives and rue Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie, in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. Famous gay bar in the neighborhood, this historic harbor is beginning to appear resilient, where big brands abound, as well as luxury brands and "flagship", concept stores and "instagrammable" pastries and other Italian hypermarkets crowded for a piece of parmesan. “Gay shops are closing one after the other. There are only clothes, shoes. But luxury has no place in the Marais ”, laments Christophe. The clients next to him nodded.
Symbol of this transformation of the district: The imminent closure of the first and only LGBT + bookstore in France Les mots à la bouche, rue Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie. Faced with the explosion in rental prices, this establishment has indeed been unable to renew its lease and the managers must now vacate the premises before next March 31. "At the end of June, the owner did not renew our lease so as to be able to increase the rent by three times with the following ones," explains Nicolas Wanstok, a bookseller for thirteen years, to 20 Minutes . In this case, a Dr. Martens store will be installed in place of the bookstore forced to take out the boxes. And say goodbye to the Marais?
"A dozen places have been identified"
In recent months, the town hall of the 4th arrondissement and the town hall of Paris have displayed their “deep” attachment to the bookstore. "Words to Mouth is a historic Parisian bookstore that we want to protect and to which we are very attached. Perhaps as much as Victor Hugo's house, ”reacts to 20 Minutes , Christophe Girard, deputy mayor of Paris for culture
And this, while seeking solutions to a situation deemed "classic" by the mayor of the 4th and joint candidate Paris in the center of Paris, Ariel Weil. "We help them a lot, we mobilize the fleet of social landlords for them," he continues. To date, a dozen places have been identified, in the 4th, 3rd and 11th. It is this district which would be privileged at the present time, synonymous with leaving the Marais, a refuge village, of struggle, of visibility, become unbearable financially.
"It is the soul of the Marsh that disappears"
Founded in the early 1980s by Jean-Pierre Meyer-Guiton, activist of the Homosexual Liberation Group (GLH), Les mots à la bouche was one of the founding "institutions" of the Marais LGBT +, helping to bring out the identity of this Parisian district. “We founded the neighborhood. You have to imagine the era. There, at the corner, there was a gay bar Le Central, now it's a jewelry store. Gays went from bars to bars, went into the bookstore. There were people every evening until two o'clock, ”explains a bit moved Nicolas Wanstok, in front of the blue storefront. "Now, do we do everything or do we admit that it's over?" In reality, it's already over. The other gay businesses will also take a drastic increase in rents in the coming years. The hypergrification will increase, ”he laments.
For Christophe, at the zinc of the Open, the original soul of the Marais would leave with Les mots à la bouche. "It is the soul of the Marais which disappears. The atmosphere, the meetings… life is going to start, ”explains the man who arrived in Paris 36 years ago, the year the bookstore opened. "This neighborhood has given me recognition and allowed me to live more freely," he rewinds. If this "death" is on everyone's lips in the neighborhood, it is also on those of the candidates for the municipal election. And for good reason. It crystallizes many changes and questions about the future of the neighborhood. From Paris in general.
Words on the Mouth on the lips of candidates
Present at the bookstore this Thursday, Danielle Simonnet, LFI affiliate candidate, came "to support this bookstore which is subject to speculation and predatory finance in this standardized neighborhood". For her part, Julie Boillot, assistant campaign director of Benjamin Griveaux (LREM) reacted on Twitter to this closure: “We can multiply the examples. Definitely, Paris needs a Marshall plan to keep its soul. ”
David Belliard, EELV candidate, insists that "we must save this library". “It is a place of emancipation for a whole generation of which I am a part. We are facing the disneylandisation of the Marais, "says one who wants to create" other places in Paris, areas of benevolence for the LGBT community ". But can other Parisian districts be the new Marais?
"We will always be in the minority, so we will always have to fight"
“The gay district was in Saint-Germain-des-Près in the 1960s, in Saint-Anne in the 1970s. In the Marais in the 1980s. Until now, everyone moved together. There, the tendency is more to diffuse a little everywhere in the city by block, analyzes Nicolas Wanstok. And to add: "But there will always be community places. Because we will always be in the minority, so we will always have to fight ”. A displacement phenomenon found in many cities around the world and which is not necessarily negative.
“We tend to observe in Paris, as elsewhere, a wider and more fragmented dissemination of places and LGBT life in metropolitan areas today. First, spatial deconcentration towards more peripheral and more affordable districts, ”explains Colin Giraud, lecturer in sociology at Paris Nanterre University and author of Quartiers Gays (ed. PUF) at 20 Minutes . "But this geographic displacement often corresponds to other types of places, events and populations which are diversified compared to the uniform model of white gay men of middle and upper classes", he continues. According to him, "spatial deconcentration often accompanies social diversification within gender and sexuality minorities with gender positions, orientations and ways of living that are less conformist and stereotypical that involve women, trans people and not binary, probably more varied social and sexual backgrounds ”.
What about the LGBT archive center?
And on arrival, what will be left of the loves of the Marais? Plates on the wall, a handful of bars, rainbow pedestrian crossings ... "And a plaque here lies Le Marais", laughs gloomily Christophe concerning the future vestiges of the district. "It always leaves traces when a gay neighborhood has been somewhere." One or two establishments will remain. But that's all, ”notes Nicolas Wanstok, for whom this move also reopens the question of an LGBT + archive center“ necessary and requested by the community ”.
In debate for several years, the center is the subject of discussions with the town hall, on its organization, its management, and its location. “In the end, we almost don't care where it will open but it has to open as quickly as possible. And this, in a self-managed place as the activists wish. ”
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Paris: The last LGBT bookstore in the Marais may have to move from its historic site
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