A January 1977 petition published in Le Monde criticized the Affaire de Versailles [fr]—the detention of three men arrested for sex offences against children aged 12–13.
[4] On 26 January 1977 an open letter, written by Gabriel Matzneff[5] and signed by 69 people, was published in Le Monde, presenting a defense of those placed in pre-trial detention for sexual relations with children under the age of 15.
[9] The signatories to the January 1977 petition included Gabriel Matzneff (the petition's author), Jean-Louis Bory, Pierre Hahn, Jean-Luc Hennig, Guy Hocquenghem, Françoise d'Eaubonne, René Schérer, Pierre Guyotat, Louis Aragon, Francis Ponge, Roland Barthes, Simone de Beauvoir, Philippe Sollers, Patrice Chéreau, Bernard Kouchner, François Châtelet, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Jean-François Lyotard.
[10] The May 1977 petition was signed by a number of prominent French intellectuals, doctors, and psychologists from a wide range of political positions, including Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida, Louis Aragon, Roland Barthes, Louis Althusser, Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, Félix Guattari, Michel Leiris, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Philippe Sollers, Jacques Rancière, Jean-François Lyotard, Francis Ponge, Jean Danet, Françoise Dolto, Bernard Besret [fr],[2][10] and Gabriel Matzneff.
[8] On 4 April 1978 a conversation between Michel Foucault, Jean Danet and Guy Hocquenghem detailing the reasons for their positions was broadcast by the radio channel France Culture during the program Dialogues.