Ludovine de La Rochère

Ludovine de La Rochère (born 17 January 1971) is a French anti-LGBTQ activist. She is president and co-founder of La Manif pour tous.^[1][2]

Biographical information

Personal life

Ludovine de la Rochère was brought up in Paris. She is a practicing Catholic, but attended non-religious public school.^[3] She went on to obtain a degree in medieval history.^[4] She then taught geography at a secondary school in Essonne, before quitting teaching in the 1990s.^[5]

Ludovine de la Rochère was described as having "traditional religious convictions" by a former boss.^[6] She was married by 21 and had her first child at age 23.^[7] She has four children.^[8]

La Manif pour tous

In 2003, de la Rochère joined the communications team of the Bishops' Conference of France, where she met Frigide Barjot.^[9] Together, they and Albéric Dumont decided to found La Manif pour tous to fight against a law enabling same-sex couples to get married in France.^[10] Before this, de la Rochère had only ever protested once before,^[11] and was described as someone who "showed no interest in political activism".^[12] After internal disagreements, Frigide Barjot left the group and de la Rochère took over as spokesperson for the movement.^[13] She has described La Manif pour tous as an "apolitical, non-denominational and non-homophobic" movement.^[14]

Political views

Ludovine de la Rochère is opposed to same-sex marriage and civil partnerships between same-sex couples.^[15] She has stated publicly that "two people of the same sex cannot create a family together".^[16] In 2014, de la Rochère falsely claimed that 90% of female same-sex couples and 70% of male same-sex couples in Belgium end up getting divorced.^[17]

De la Rochère has voiced her opposition to surrogacy, comparing it to a "modern version of trafficking".^[18] She believes that men and women are "equal and different",^[19] and has denounced the "gender ideology", which she claims has made children confused about their gender identity.^[20] She also more recently opposed the extension of assisted reproductive technology to single women and lesbian couples.^[21]