One performance from the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics produced a wave of emotions throughout the world.<\/p>\n
The four-hour ceremony kicked off the start of the Summer Games.<\/p>\n
During the most talked about performance, drag queens and dancers lined a long table in an image that some believed resembled Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s \u201cThe Last Supper\u201d portrait of Jesus Christ and his 12 apostles.<\/p>\n
Many blasted it as mocking Christianity, but one LGBTQ group leader had other issues with it.<\/p>\n
French LGBTQ leader James Leperlier believes the Paris Olympics opening ceremony did not go far enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know in the LGBTQ community in France, we are far from what the ceremony showed. There\u2019s much progress to do in society regarding transgender people. It\u2019s terrible that to legally change their identity, they are forced to be on trial,\u201d Inter-LGBT president James Leperlier said per\u00a0Reuters<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n \n\n\u201cIf you saw the opening ceremony last night you\u2019d think it was like that normally, but it\u2019s not. France tried to show what it should be and not what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\nParis Olympics Ceremony\u2019s Artistic Director Speaks Out Amid Major Backlash<\/h2>\n
In one scene from the opening ceremony at the Olympics, a dinner table shows a mostly nude French entertainer lying on the table as dancers and drag queens strike poses along the long table.<\/p>\n
The official X account for the Olympic Games shared photos of the moment and referenced Dionysus, the Greek god of wine-making, fruitfulness, and ecstasy.<\/p>\n
However, some called the imagery a \u201cmockery\u201d and \u201cinsulting to Christian people.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nWhen asked about the backlash, the ceremony\u2019s artistic director, Thomas Jolly, said at a press conference that he did not intend \u201cto be subversive,\u201d \u201cmock\u201d or \u201cshock.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to include everyone, as simple as that,\u201d he said. \u201cIn France, we have freedom of creation, artistic freedom. We are lucky in France to live in a free country. I didn\u2019t have any specific messages that I wanted to deliver. In France, we are republic, we have the right to love whom we want, we have the right not to be worshippers, we have a lot of rights in France, and this is what I wanted to convey.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n