French historian kills himself inside Paris’ Notre Dame cathedral after condemning same-sex marriage

A man who has been identified as a far-right essayist and historian committed suicide inside the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris after he wrote a blog post condemning same-sex marriage, which just became legal in France.

The Guardian reports that the man, identified as Dominique Venner, 78, walked into the historic building at 4 p.m. and put a note on the altar. He shot himself through the mouth. Immediately, security rushed to clear the cathedral of visitors.

It’s not clear why he did it, but a short time later, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right Front National party, called Venner’s suicide an “eminently political” action.

Venner was a founding member of the Secret Army Organisation, a group that was against Algerian independence in the 1960s, and had just posted a message against same-sex marriage on his blog Tuesday. In it, he writes about a rally for Sunday, noting demonstrators have a “right to shout their impatience and anger.”

According to The Associated Press, this was the first suicide in decades to take place at the cathedral. “It's unfortunate, it's dramatic, it's shocking,” Monsignor Patrick Jacquin told the AP.

France became the 14th country in the world to legalize same sex marriage on Saturday.

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