In Marseille, taste the difference

Apr. 05 2013

by Renan Benyamina / TÊTU

Between improbable situations and big agglomeration projects, Marseille is moving while claiming its difference. The gays of the city of Marseille do not necessarily display flags, but they are there, proud of their city, to which they would like to invite more people.

By Renan Benyamina / TÊTU

Two euros in the jukebox, five songs for the aperitif. A gay flag on the Canebière. Welcome to the Claridge. Few gays and lesbians at this hour. But several clues reassure us : muscular men on the coasters, posters for the next karaoke night and photos of the owner with Elie Kakou and Pascal Sevran... It wouldn't take much more for the Claridge to earn its cultstatus.

A look at the titles proposed by the jukebox : Abba, Hervé Christiani, Dalida and David Bowie. We still have one credit left ; it will be Nina Simone, to whom we will pay homage a little later by guessing, on the horizon, the village of Carry-le-Rouet, where she spent her last years.

Marseille, the Vallon des Auffes © Fico / Têtu

With the intention of having dinner, we headed for La Plaine, a district of the city where many alternative, associative, simply festive and some gay and lesbian establishments are concentrated.

Young, rebellious or trendy neighborhood, very mixed. But few labels. Even the bar Aux 3G, normally reserved for girls, welcomes guys. No gay neighborhood, we were told, but what's the point after all, since everyone seems happily mixed ?

Same atmosphere the next day at the Danaïdes, a brasserie not to be missed, where cultured people, grannies, homos and tanned executives meet, installed on the red armchairs of the room, or exposing themselves to the sun and the eyes, in the middle of the night.exposed to the sun and to the eyes, on the big terrace of the square Stalingrad, under the surveillance of the Danaïdes, statues that someone had the curious idea to tie up in an SM way.

Lesbian & Gay Pride 2010 in Marseille © Chedlyz /TousEgo

Mixing is good, being able to meet from time to time, to militate or to party, is also important. Regretting the homogeneity of the proposals in the gay and lesbian milieu in Marseille, Suzanne, who has been organizing events in Marseille for the past ten years, created the Folygirls with a few friends in 2009, soon to be joined by the Foly Queer Party. Several of the non-mixed evenings brought together between 200 and 400 people who came to attend the performances or mixes of Émilie Jouvet, Miss Purple or Ma Public Therapy. Foly Queer Parties, mixed, are multiplying in generalist establishments like the Cocoon Club or the Trolley Bus. The common point between all these events : to give their place to girls who have talent, to multiply original and ambitious proposals.

Suzanne shares this ambition with Christophe Lopez, the president of Tous&Go, the association in charge of organizing Marseille's Gay Pride since 2010 (he is also an elected official and community councilor for Marseille Provence Métropole).

Indeed, the Phocaean city intends to take advantage, like Lille in 2004, of the title of European Capital of Culture, but also of the Europride, which will take place the same year. For Christophe Lopez, " Marseille 2013 is a real particle gas pedal, an opportunity for this city that is so different from others to translate itself into an accessible language . We believe him : a city whose inhabitants swim in the middle of the sea in December is necessarily full of resources.

Find all the gay and gay-friendly addresses in Marseille in the Marseille gay guide