“It is a cumbersome, long and often intrusive procedure”

For Me Lucie Amar, lawyer at the Marseille bar, it is necessary to simplify the procedure for changing marital status for transgender people.

Traveling to the island of Sein (Finistère), Tuesday June 18, Emmanuel Macron criticized several proposals from the left for the legislative elections. Among them, the president particularly attacked this proposalu New Popular Front, which would make it possible to“go change sex at town hall” and he judges “ubuesque”. In reality, in its program, the New Popular Front wishes “authorize the change of civil status freely and free of charge before a civil status officer”. A measure that Me Lucie Amar, lawyer at the Marseille bar, supports because the current procedure must be done before a judicial court with supporting documents to be provided. She has had to defend cases of changes in the civil status of transgender people.

Currently, how does a change of civil status take place in France for a transgender person?

Me Lucie Amar: If you wish to change your marital status and go from male to female or vice versa on your identity papers, you must first be an adult or an emancipated minor. It is not necessary to have had surgery or to take hormonal treatment for example. Then, you must file a request with the judicial court near you or the one that corresponds to your place of birth. You must then provide all possible supporting documents which prove that your social reality does not correspond to the gender which appears on your papers. In other words, providing evidence that the gender assigned at birth is not the one with which the person identifies.

What types of supporting documents are provided in this type of procedure?

There may be testimonies from those around you, friends, family or even colleagues who confirm your gender identity. We can also provide administrative documents, your employment contract, or even a train ticket on which your new first name and gender will be written. All these documents are sent as part of your request. The public prosecutor can give his agreement, in which case the court accepts your request without a hearing. Except that often, he rejects it and you enter into legal proceedings which can be long and cumbersome.

Why do you think it is necessary to simplify the process of changing civil status as proposed by the New Popular Front in its program?

Because the current procedure is so intrusive that some transgender people, although not required by law, often feel obliged to justify their gender change by providing their medical status, photos of themselves and other very intimate. Private information to give yourself every chance of completing the procedure. Before the legal proceedings, the refusal of the public prosecutor can be very hurtful. Some prosecutors may, for example, reject the request on the grounds that the request for a change of gender in civil status would be too abrupt, or that the new first name chosen would be “ridiculous”. Finally, the procedure before the court can be complicated depending on each person’s social skills and knowledge of the procedures. You need to understand the procedure, know how to express yourself, and possibly contact a lawyer. So this creates a disparity between transgender individuals depending on their social background. A town hall procedure seems more egalitarian.