“Abortion, transition, it’s my body, my decision!” Nearly 11,000 people marched in around fifty French cities on Sunday May 5 to denounce the“offensive” ongoing against transgender people. As the world celebrates the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, Friday May 17, the rights of trans people have rarely been the subject of so much questioning in France in the media and political space, LGBT+ associations are worried.
SOS Homophobia announced file a complaint against Marguerite Stern and Dora Moutot, “Terf” activists (For “Trans-exclusionary radical feminist”a movement that excludes trans people from feminist struggles), and authors of the book Transmaniawho claims to denounce “transgender ideology”. At the same time, elected representatives from the Republicans (LR) and National Rally (RN) have tabled legislative proposals aimed at prohibiting any medical care for trans minors, with the exception of psychiatric follow-up (while transidentity does not is no longer considered a mental illness since 2010). If the RN text has not yet left the group’s drawers, the senators will look into the LR proposal from May 22 in committee.
Fewer than 300 children benefited in 2020 from a “long-term condition” (a status which allows better reimbursement of care) due to their transidentity, according to Health Insurance (PDF document). So, how can we explain this political mobilization of conservatives? Questioned, LR senator Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio and RN deputy Joëlle Mélin say they are concerned about the increase, among young people, in requests for medical consultation for gender incongruence – the persistent feeling of inadequacy between the gender felt and the sex of birth. A reality confirmed by the medical teams who follow these young patients, while remembering that their number remains tiny compared to the general population.
The two parliamentarians assure that they want “protect the children” of an effect of “contagion” exercised, according to them, by social networks. They also denounce “long-lasting and sometimes permanent effects” medical procedures linked to the transition (prescription of puberty blockers, hormonal treatments, and, in rare cases for near-adults, removal of the chest). Proof, according to them, of the legitimacy of their approach: several conservative governments, in northern Europe, the United Kingdom or in certain American states, have reversed course on medical support for trans minors.
Political interest in the subject is not entirely new. In France, the Reconquest candidate for the 2022 presidential election, Eric Zemmour, attacked the recognition of transgender students at school and compared puberty blockers to experiments carried out by the Nazis. The Republicans launched a working group in spring 2023 on “the transidentification of minors”. At the same time, the RN set up an association of elected officials against “wokism”, partly to cover this subject. However, Joëlle Mélin sees a “calendar chance” in conjunction with the two parliamentary texts. For her part, Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio denounces “opportunism” of the National Rally, whose bill was tabled just a few days after the Republicans’ text.
“The European elections are in a few weeks and all parties already have the 2027 presidential election in their sights”underlines the historian Mickaël Studnicki, author of a thesis on the nationalist rights, gender and homosexualities from 1870 to the present day. “There is competition between right-wing and far-right parties to attract the conservative electorate”he observes.
“Proposing a text on transidentity is symbolic, it allows LR and the RN to get people talking about them, and to mark the ground on this subject.”
Mickaël Studnicki, historianat franceinfo
The emphasis on child protection also constitutes “a historical angle of conservative movements”, recalls the historian. It was used by the same movements to oppose the decriminalization of homosexuality or more recently the opening of adoption to LGBT+ couples. This is a particularly audible argument, “because everyone has children around them”. However, the Defender of Rights recalls that, “as explained in the scientific literature, the inability of minors to access this care carries risks of major damage to their health”. Furthermore, the ban on puberty blockers only for transgender minors, while they have long been prescribed for other reasons, for example in certain cases of early puberty, introduces “a discriminatory risk”.
“THE “The act of legislating for politicians is the final stage of a reactionary offensive.” started at the end of the 2010s in France, estimates Karine Espineira, sociologist specializing in media representations of trans people. This offensive, which began in the United States, emerged after a period of increased visibility of trans people in the media space, notes the researcher. She cites the trans coming out of Laverne Cox, actress revealed by the series Orange is the New Black and former Olympic champion Caitlyn Jenner, or, in France, the release of the documentary Little girlof Sébastien Lifshitz. The first two decades of the 21st century also saw progress in the rights of trans people: depsychiatrization of transidentity, simplification of change of marital status, entry of transphobia as discrimination into the Penal Code, etc.
In France, the warning speech on the transidentity of young people is carried by the Little Mermaid Observatory. This organization, founded in 2021 by psychoanalysts Céline Masson and Caroline Eliacheff, also welcomes former members of La Manif pour Tous, notes Mediapart. The Ypomoni collective, which has brought together parents in conflict with their transgender children since 2021, and several members of which belong to the Observatory, is campaigning on the same line, notes the information site. Just like Marguerite Stern and Dora Moutot, Terf feminists from the left and whose words are today relayed by the right and the extreme right. Figures from the nationalist right, such as the essayist Alain de Benoist, or from the fascist sphere, such as Alain Soral, have also taken up the subject.
“The relays found by these people in the media have allowed the imposition, in the public debate, of the medical transition of minors as the main subject linked to transidentity”, deplores Claire Vandendriessche, co-president of the Trans Health Network. The media coverage of the subject then led to its inclusion on the political agenda.
This is the definition of a ‘moral panic’: we create a problem, then we propose a solution to respond to it.
Morgann Gicquel, president of Espace Santé Transat franceinfo
The founders of the Little Mermaid Observatory also coordinated the report of the LR senators, which served as scientific support for their proposed law, revealed Mediapart. All of these actors “share a certain vision of society, the return to traditional values, to a well-regulated world order” where prime “biological essentialism”says Karine Espineira. Senator LR Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio and RN deputy Joëlle Mélin both abstained, or voted against the ban on conversion therapy and the constitutionalization of abortion.
If the conservatives have more chances of winning on the subject of gender transitions among minors, nothing is yet decided. The Minister Delegate in charge of Discrimination, Aurore Bergé, promised that “the government would oppose forcefully” upon the arrival of the LR and RN texts in Parliament. The left is also opposed to it, the environmental group having even tabled a text in the Senate to facilitate the change of gender of trans people in civil status. “It is important that, faced with the LR and RN bill proposals, we not only resist the transphobic offensive, but that we assume responsibility for advancing the rights of trans people, to say that we are not not yet achieved equality”justifies Senator Mélanie Vogel, who initiated the text.
On the side of the centrists, the majority position vis-à-vis the right’s proposal is one “Yes, but”reports Olivier Henno, centrist senator from the North. “We are aware that we may need to supervise [le suivi médical] for minors”, without necessarily going as far as the LR text, he explains. For example by limiting the ban on treatment to minors under 15 years old. Although it is a text coming from their ranks, certain right-wing senators share the same position. Senator LR from Gironde, Florence Lassarade, ex-pediatrician, believes that“we must remain moderate in our assessments” and vary the recommendations on the medical monitoring of trans minors “depending on their age”listening “specialized teams of doctors”.
“We will produce a balanced text (…), it is not a question of considering transidentity as a pathology.”
Florence Lassarade, LR senatorat franceinfo
With modifications compared to the initial proposal, the text could therefore pass the first stage of the Senate. In the event of final adoption, theLGBT+ associations fear that LR and the RN will not stop there. “It’s a Trojan horse: we can see that the end goal is to prohibit transitions for everyone”says Morgann Gicquel, of Espace Santé Trans. “The adults do what they want, we, our subject, are the minors”, answers Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio. While finding “inconceivable” the principle “self-determination of gender” based on “the feeling”.
Even if it was ultimately not to be voted on by Parliament, the effects on the lives of trans people are already very real, worry LGBT+ associations. During the presentation of the annual report of SOS Homophobia on Wednesday, its president Julia Torlet deplored “an increase in reports of transphobia, particularly among young people”. “These political leaders do not realize that they are talking about real lives, dehumanizing people, childrenadds Morgann Gicquel. I’m devastated, trans people deserve better.”