American Marconi Wireless News - Paris drag queen targeted over Olympic torch relay role

Minima Geste, 33, has become the latest culture war flashpoint over the Games following rows over the music for the opening ceremony and the official Olympics poster.

"I reaffirm my full support for her," Paris' Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo said in a statement on Friday.

"I'll say it again: I am proud and, yes, Paris is proud that a drag queen will carry the torch and the values of peace and humanity," she added.

The city said Geste had been the victim of "homophobic and transphobic insults" and it would help her launch legal action.

The performer, who appeared in a video message on social media on Wednesday, was chosen by the city as one of its torch carriers when the relay reaches the capital on July 14 and 15.

"Having a drag queen carry the torch -- and perhaps fall over, wait and see! -- is an enormous source of pride," said Geste, who wears 25-centimetre (10-inch) heels when in full costume.

"One of the messages that I want to carry is the pride in my community because 10 years ago having a drag queen carry the torch would have been unimaginable," added the campaigner for the LGBTQIA+ community.

She said performing as a drag queen in corsets and high heels was physically demanding, "but not yet an Olympic sport", adding she had previously done wrestling and synchronised swimming.

Far-right politician Marion Marechal said Geste was responsible for "particularly vulgar" and "hyper-sexualised performances".

"I don't think that this is a good way of representing France to the world," she told the TF1 channel on Thursday.

Marechal along with other conservatives, including her aunt and far-right leader Marine Le Pen, were also outraged by rumours Franco-Malian R&B superstar Aya Nakamura is set to perform during the opening ceremony on July 26.

Le Pen criticised Nakamura's clothing, accused her of not singing in French, and said an appearance by the artist would "humiliate" people.

The criticism, seen as racially motivated by critics such as Culture Minster Rachida Dati, underlined the difficulty of creating national unity around the Olympics in such a starkly divided country.

When the official poster was unveiled in March -- an elaborate hand-drawn depiction of Paris -- a missing Christian cross on the top of the Invalides landmark sparked debate about the country's heritage and identity.

The torch relay will begin on May 8 in Marseille ahead of the start of the Games on July 26.

P.Mathewson--AMWN