French labour minister criticises ruling against gay hairdresser

France's labour minister has spoken out against a controversial ruling in Paris which said that making a derogatory remark against a male hairdresser was permissible because the city has many gay hairdressers. Labour Minister Myrian El Khomri on Friday called the ruling "outrageous" and "shocking".

Slimane Laoufi of the French Defender of Rights, a consultative body in the fight against discrimination, addresses a press conference in Paris on 8 April, 2016 AFP/Lionel Bonaventure

Friday's comments by the French labour minister came in response to widespread condemnation by rights groups, the gay community and social media sites. The anger stems from a ruling by the Paris employment tribunal, made public this week, which said that calling a male hairdresser a "sale PD" (“dirty faggot”) was not a homophobic insult because many hairdressers are gay.

France’s rights watchdog Le Défenseur des Droits (Defender of Rights) has become involved in the case and has confirmed the hairdresser will appeal the ruling.

The hairdresser in question was fired last year, after failing to show at work on a day he said he was sick. Afterwards, the boss of the salon accidentally sent a message to the hairdresser himself, which reportedly said: “I am not going to keep [the hairdresser in question]. I don’t have a good feeling about this guy. He’s a dirty faggot…”

The words used in French were "sale PD", with PD being short for "pédé", a derogatory term that normally translates as "faggot".

The employee took his boss to the Paris employment tribunal for unfair dismissal and claimed the message showed his boss's homophobia contributed to him being fired.

But despite the fact that pédé in French is widely viewed as derogatory, the tribunal decided the boss's message wasn’t a homophobic insult.

In its ruling later tweeted on social media, the tribunal wrote, “If we put it in the context of the field of hairdressing, the council considers that the term “faggot” used by a manager cannot be considered as a homophobic insult, because hair salons regularly employ gay people, notably in salons that cater to women, and that poses no problems at all.”