French justice minister Christiane Taubira, seen by many as a rare voice of compassion for marginalized communities, resigned unexpectedly on Wednesday over President François Hollande’s controversial anti-terror proposals, saying, “Sometimes to resist means leaving.”
“I left the government over a major political disagreement,” Taubira told the BBC. “I am choosing to be true to myself, to my commitments, my battles and my relationships with other people.”
Taubira, whose role in the cabinet included stamping the seal of France onto new laws and policies, was seen as a champion of civil rights, arguably best known for introducing the country’s same-sex marriage law in 2013. As France 24‘s Douglas Herbert wrote on Wednesday, her convictions raised her profile among an increasingly divided political sector, often making her a target of racial slurs from the country’s rightwing faction.
But the breaking point seemed to be Hollande’s recent proposal to strip convicted terrorists of their citizenship if they held dual nationalities. Taubira and other critics on the left said that measure—which the government has stated would be purely symbolic—could serve to further divide French society and perpetuate dangerous “purity” propaganda.
The Guardian‘s Angelique Chrisafis explains:
[Taubira] had insisted she would stay in government despite opposing the measure, but tension was rising because she would be expected to defend the bill in parliament, despite being publicly fervently opposed to it.
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