Outrage in France as Macron appoints senator who fought gay marriage to key rights job

French lawmakers on Tuesday narrowly approved President Emmanuel Macron’s candidate to serve as Défenseur des droits (human rights ombdusman), despite vehement opposition from groups arguing that Senator François-Noël Buffet’s views run counter to the mission of defending the rights of the most vulnerable. French lawmakers on Tuesday narrowly approved President Emmanuel Macron’s candidate to serve as Défenseur des droits (human rights ombdusman), despite vehement opposition from groups arguing that Senator François-Noël Buffet’s views run counter to the mission of defending the rights of the most vulnerable. By: Benjamin DODMAN French Senator François-Noël Buffet opposed a bill legalising marriage for same-sex couples but says his views have since "evolved".

© Lou Benoist, France has a new human rights ombudsman – tasked with defending certain rights that he previously fought in parliament. Lawmakers in the lower house National Assembly and the Senate on Tuesday narrowly backed right-wing Senator François-Noël Buffet to become France’s new Defender of Rights, approving President Emmanuel Macron ’s nominee by 43 votes to 39. The 62-year-old lawyer by training replaces former journalist Claire Hédon, a frequent critic of racial discrimination and police brutality, whose six-year term expired on Monday. A human rights watchdog acting independently of government, the Défenseur des droits is responsible for defending citizens whose rights are infringed and ensuring the equal protection of legal rights in France.

Critics say such duties are incompatible with the political views of a politician with a track record of opposing equal rights for some of France’s most vulnerable communities. François-Noël Buffet pictured during his Senate hearing on July 21, 2026. © Lou Benoist, Buffet, a senator from the Rhône department around Lyon, notably campaigned against extending marriage rights to same-sex couples and more recently opposed legislation allowing medically assisted reproduction for single women and lesbian couples. His appointment as defender of such rights is “both absurd and scary”, said Nicolas Faget, a spokesperson for the Association of Gay and Lesbian Parents and Future Parents (AGPL).

“One of the bulwarks shielding same-sex parents and their children from discrimination is at risk of being undermined by someone who does not believe in those rights, he said. Buffet’s long-rumoured nomination was quietly confirmed in an Elysée Palace statement on July 7, the day the nation’s eyes were riveted on a court hearing that would determine far-right leader Marine Le Pen ’s political fate. In interviews with investigative website Mediapart, staff at the office of the Defender of Rights had previously expressed their “dismay” and “shock” at the prospect of him taking over.

One worker voiced disbelief that a politician “whose recent views are so starkly at odds with the institution’s recommendations” was even considered for the job. Buffet is a close ally of hardline former interior minister Bruno Retailleau, a candidate in next year’s presidential election for the conservative Les Républicains party. He served as minister for overseas territories in the short-lived Michel Barnier government in 2024 and then worked with Retailleau at the interior ministry under former PM François Bayrou.

Described by critics as an archconservative, Buffet took part in protests against same-sex marriage in 2013 and voted against extending medically assisted reproduction to single women and female couples in 2021. He also abstained during a landmark 2024 vote on enshrining the right to abortion in the French constitution. The senator favours cutting back on state-funded medical care for undocumented migrants – a growing demand of the political right, which health workers described as an ethical aberration and a risk to public health. ing the rights of foreign nationals as previous Defenders have done”, Charlotte Kwantes, advocacy manager at Utopia 56, an organisation that defends the rights of foreign nationals, told French daily Libération on the eve of the vote in parliament.

Buffet faced a tense hearing before the National Assembly’s Legal Affairs Committee last week, which saw a leftwing lawmaker accuse him of a history of “racist and homophobic votes”. In response, the senator stated that he had “evolved” on “a number of issues” and promised “total independence”. When grilled about his opposition to a bill legalising same-sex marriage in 2013, he said: “I did something stupid; I had my doubts about the consequences, but not about the principle itself. In 2014, however, he was one of several candidates in local elections to sign a charter vowing to “preserve the father-mother-child family unit.