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After speaking out in defense of film maker Roman Polanski, France's Culture Minister, Frédéric Mitterand is struggling to keep his job, dogged by his own past claims of paying "boys" for sex. Mitterand, the openly gay nephew of the former president, is under attack from opposition politicians who are calling attention to his account of visits to brothels in Bangkok, published in a 2005 memoir. “I got into the habit of paying for boys...The profusion of young, very attractive and immediately available boys put me in a state of desire that I no longer needed to restrain or hide,” Mitterand wrote. One far right politician read excerpts from Mitterand's book on television and is demanding his resignation. The spotlight centered on Mitterand after he became a loud defendant of Polanski.