Erwann Le HÔ has been the president of the LGBT Côte d’Azur center since 2016, homosexual and proud to be. Passionate about literature, he has always tried to seize life with both hands. His life is filled with multiple experiences in all fields. In adulthood, many of his choices have been guided by one thing: love.
“I was shy and introverted”. But that was before. This 37-year-old man has lived two lives. His childhood and his adult life. They are comparable to Yin and Yang. They don’t resemble each other. He spent the majority of his childhood in Fougères. At 17, he moved to Rennes for his studies. He lived there for 11 years. The disruptive element between them can be summed up in two words: Coming-out. From that moment, the change was now. “Everything changed! I had things locked inside me like a bolt. As soon as I removed it, everything transformed.” At that time, he never went out at night.
A sentimental and social life in perpetual motion
It began quite late at 19. Why? During his adolescence, he was on enemy territory at school. At least for his little classmates. “I was a skinny kid with big glasses and a model nerd. Classmates weren’t kind to me. The adolescent continued down this path.” His look did not fit the expectations. When he entered university, he had time for a complete makeover. “At uni, I was ultra extroverted, I bleached my hair, wore very tight clothes. All of this with Flaubert books.”
The famous enlightenment happened on Île-aux-Moines. “At 19, I was touring with a friend. We went to a Breton island. I saw a waiter in a crêperie. At that moment, I felt something I had never had before. It was like attraction. I understood I could be in love. It happened in three seconds.” He realized that guys were his thing. For the anecdote, upon returning home, an idea emerged in his mind: to write a letter which he sent to the restaurant. The latter responded, and he became his first boyfriend.
His arrival in the City of Angels was not by chance. “It was thanks to a boy I met. He was Breton but had been living in Nice for years.” When the question of moving came up, it didn’t take long. He took the bull by the horns and joined him in Nice. “For once in my life, I thought it was a serious matter. The question of living together arose. I told him, no, I’ll be the one to join you. So I had to find a job here and settle down.”
A supportive environment
His coming-out did not cause more emotions than that. They accepted it without a hitch. “Homosexuality was absolutely not part of the family. No member of my family was homosexual or lesbian. But they welcomed my boyfriends with goodwill.” His mother’s only concern: the risk of discrimination in employment or finding an apartment. His father, who is cultured and loves literature, didn’t hesitate to tease him on the subject. “My father once told me: having a teenage son who doesn’t play football, but loves literature and poetry is singular.”
In the professional world, he was able to flourish without worrying about his orientation. Without worrying about expending unnecessary energy hiding it. “I was lucky to have supervisors who protected me. During my work as a communicator in Brocéliande, the president of the municipality had harsh criticisms about me. He never shared them with me.” Finally, he is quite capable of jumping from one thing to another depending on the situation. “I claim the fact of being a little crazy at times and being serious in a nice shirt.”
Many jobs practiced
His current position is director of the cabinet and communication at Ville de La Trinité. Before that, he handled Nice’s communication between 2013 and 2020. But before being the director, he went through various jobs. He completed a literary baccalauréat. The rest consisted of several experiences to find the job that suited him.
“I considered going into teaching. Then I worked as a monitor, I liked it but stopped because I couldn’t build relationships with teenagers.” He headed towards a bachelor’s degree in Modern Literature at the University of Rennes 2 Haute Bretagne. An obvious choice for him. “There were always magazines and books at home.” He followed it with a Master’s in Information and Communication Sciences.
Before entering communication, he had a brief career in journalism. “I was a correspondent for the newspaper of my parents’ town. I used to take the scooter and cover association and cultural activities.” He did this for 3 to 4 years. During this period, he was also a host on a student radio. “I did a literary column then created a gay podcast with a friend.”
The man of 1,001 associations
Life in an association is something ingrained in him like a calling. “My parents were involved in the association world. Resto du Coeur, parents’ associations. They passed on these political values of commitment to me.” It all started in the year of grace 2009. At that time, he lived in Rennes. That is when he got involved in CGLBT. “Thanks to my boyfriend at the time. He was engaged in organizing the Pride. I just helped organize this event. From there, I got involved in reviving the association. When he left, I took over the presidency.” During those years, he remembers, with emotion, one of the first people who wanted to help. “We had a volunteer Roberto, he was a policeman. We saw him often and one day, we didn’t see him anymore. Then at one point, we were worried and contacted his family. Then we learned he committed suicide with his service weapon. That marked me very strongly.”
The fairy tale continued four years later in 2013. Like a conqueror, he settled in Nice. The Nice LGBT center was inaugurated in 2011 by Christian Estrosi. The association was born in the early 2000s. “Upon my arrival in November, I became vice-president. I didn’t want to get into associations anymore but it quickly caught up with me. I truly returned in 2014 to see and in 2016 I became president.”
Finally, his last role concerns his native land: Brittany. Even having left the country, he always holds his roots deep inside him. This is what prompted him and three friends to create the Breizh Nice club association on June 16, 2017. Since then, he has served as vice-president. “I am Breton above all. Thanks to my job, I met some Breton friends. With statistics, we realized there are a lot of Bretons in the Alpes-Maritimes.”
