Latest news with #Rosset
Local France
06-08-2025
- Politics
- Local France
French scouts chief quits after online attacks over sexuality
Marine Rosset, who is in a same-sex relationship and is the mother of a child, made the announcement in an interview published on Wednesday by the Catholic newspaper, La Croix. "I have chosen to step down as president of Scouts et Guides de France (SGDF)," said Rosset, who is an elected councillor with Parti Socialiste. "The situation had become untenable and my goal is to protect the movement," Rosset told the newspaper. She accused people outside the scouting movement "political, PR, and even financial forces" of having attacked her. Advertisement They had created a false image of the movement "because a number of my positions were associated with those of the movement", she said. Rosset was chosen in mid-June as the head of the movement at the age of just 39. A Socialist councillor in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, she has been a strong supporter of the right to abortion. Her appointment got angry reactions from several far-right sites and prompted wary reactions within the Catholic Church, which the Scouts et Guides de France group has its roots in. Rosset said she had not expected "the violence of criticism" following her support for the right to abortion and her family situation. "I'm angry, especially because my faith has sometimes been questioned because of my homosexuality. It's hurtful," she told La Croix. In a statement, the SGDF said Rosset's decision to step down "allows us to preserve the non-partisan nature" of the organisation. But it also "firmly denounces the violent, discriminatory, and dehumanising remarks that have been expressed in recent weeks" against her. It said it was backing a legal complaint Rosset has filed over the attacks on her and had not ruled out taking legal action itself. With more than 100,000 members, the SGDF is France's leading scouting association, with far greater members than the more conservative Scouts Unitaires de France and Scouts d'Europe.
LeMonde
21-06-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
Conservative backlash targets new Socialist and lesbian head of French Catholic scouts organization
For weeks, board members of France's Scouts and Guides reviewed candidates to find the best person to serve as the organization's next president. Marine Rosset, who was elected with 22 out of 24 votes on Saturday, June 14, appeared to fit the profile perfectly. A well-known figure within the 100,000-member movement, having served as a board member since 2019 and as its vice president since 2022, Rosset, a former history-geography teacher in the northern Paris suburbs of Seine-Saint-Denis and a local elected official, was expected to embody "continuity." However, it would seem some Catholics didn't see it that way. Criticism quickly followed, especially from far-right sites such as Salon Beige, Boulevard Voltaire and Frontières. These published articles arguing that Rosset's political background and personal life were incompatible with the presidency of the Scouts and Guides, a Catholic organization.
