The artistic director of the infamous Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony has admitted that the LGBT-themed performance was “political” and described Saint Joan of Arc as one of the “greatest transvestites” in French history.
Speaking to the Le Monde newspaper this week, Thomas Jolly acknowledged political bias his Opening Ceremony for the supposedly politically-neutral Olympics in Paris, which sparked international criticism over a performance seemingly intended to mock Christianity with a drag queen-themed apparent reimagining the Last Supper of Jesus Christ.
“Of course it was political, even if I don’t do proselytism,” the artistic director admitted in comments reported by Le Figaro.
Jolly defended the decision to promote an LGBTQ+ agenda, arguing that French history and culture contains many examples of “gender fluidity”, specifically citing 15th-century French Catholic Saint Joan of Arc.
“My mission was to say who we are. In all the paintings appeared different bodies, diversity, women and men in makeup or in costume. The theatre was everywhere, the question of genders as well. The French kings powdered and wore heels. Wasn’t Joan of Arc, one of the greatest transvestites in our history, condemned because she was dressed as a man?”
While Joan of Arc, who helped lead efforts to break the English siege of Orléans in 1429, was later burnt at the stake for heresy, including for donning male attire, there is no evidence to suggest that the deeply faithful woman saw herself as a member of the so-called LGBTQ+ community.
Indeed, the Patron Saint of France often referred to herself as “La Pucelle” (The Maiden), emphasising the importance of her status as a female virgin. Contemporary accounts have also suggested that Joan’s decision to wear male clothing in war was more of a practical decision rather than an expression of “gender fluidity”.
According to the Joan of Arc Archive, wearing male clothes provided her with increased protection from being raped and therefore to protect her chastity at war and while in prison given that the pants she wore could be fastened together with her tunic, making them harder to pull off.
She is additionally reported to have said that she would have reverted back to wearing women’s clothing if she was imprisoned in a place where she felt safe from being sexually attacked by her captors.
It is also claimed that the decision to wear male clothing was initially prompted by suggestions from male companions, rather than a manifestation of an alleged gender-bending desire.
Nevertheless, modern transgenderism advocates have attempted to appropriate the story of Saint Joan to advance their narratives of gender fluidity in pre-modern times.
For example, in 2022, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London recast Joan of Arc as a “non-binary” hero with “they/them” pronouns and who wore chest bindings.
The woke theatre admitted that the play was not meant to be historically accurate and said that while there were many examples of her being “portrayed as a woman”, the production would offer “the possibility of another point of view”.
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