France: Former Femen Member Apologizes to Catholics

“I was a Femen activist from 2012 to 2015. During those years, I led several actions against the Catholic Church, notably during a campaign in favor of gay marriage. That was 11 years ago. Today, my convictions and my sensitivity have evolved. I want to explain to you why, and I want to apologize to Catholics,” she declares in the preamble.

“It’s fashionable these days to denigrate Catholics and make them out to be old-France idiots, not connected enough to deserve the status of human being. In the past, I used this attitude to act immorally, while helping reinforce it. I sincerely apologize for that.”

Marguerite Stern apologizes, in particular for an action she led in the Paris cathedral [Notre Dame de Paris] in 2013, in favor of same-sex marriage. “I have been expressing my opposition to transgender ideology for almost five years. At first, I campaigned against basic things, like the presence of men in women’s sports.”

“And then I dug deeper into the subject and understood that beyond the danger for women and children, transgenderism represents a civilizational threat. Transgenderism does not create, it destroys. It advocates the destruction of bodies, the disrespect of life, the abolition of differences between women and men, the destruction of our innateness, and of the culture that unites us. It is part of the death drive and self-hatred.”

“By attacking the Catholic religion, I asked myself if I was not also in a mentality of destruction and self-hatred. Although not a believer, I am baptized, I made my first communion, and above all, I grew up in a country whose history, architecture, and customs have been shaped by the Church.”

“Rejecting that, entering Notre-Dame de Paris screaming, was a way of damaging a part of France, that is to say a part of myself. At 22, I did not realize it. However, I loved this cathedral; I remember that the day after it burned down, I went to a church to cry.”

Co-author with Dora Moutot of the book Transmania, an investigation into the excesses of transgender ideology (Editions Magnus, 2024), Marguerite Stern is now fighting against “transgenderism.” She continues her remarks: “And then there is something else: there is what is beyond us. The bell towers that rise over us and adorn our soundscapes. The grandeur of the buildings. The wonder upon entering a church. The beauty. And the faith of believers. I am sorry to have trampled on that.”

“By delving into the trans subject, I understood that transgenderism was a transhumanist project, where human beings behave as their own creators. This scares me, because what do we do with the unknown, the mystery, the enchantment, what is beyond us? This scares me because I believe that human beings must remain in their place as creatures and not as creators. Without believing in God, on certain points I ultimately arrive at the same conclusions as the Catholics."