Swiss LGBTQ+ rights groups hail 60-day sentence for polemicist who called journalist a ‘fat lesbian’

GENEVA (AP) — LGBTQ+ groups are hailing the 60-day jail sentence a court in Switzerland gave to a writer and commentator for deriding a journalist as a “fat lesbian” and other critical remarks. The Lausanne court sentenced French-Swiss polemicist Alain Bonnet, who goes by Alain Soral, for defamation, discrimination and incitement to hatred on Monday. He was ordered to pay legal fees and fines totaling thousands of Swiss francs (dollars) in addition to the time behind bars. Soral lashed out at Catherine Macherel, a journalist for Swiss newspapers Tribune de Geneve and 24 Heures, in a Facebook video two years ago. Switzerland made it illegal to discriminate against people on the basis of sexual orientation in 2020.