A site, Administrans, guides transgender people in their administrative transition process. Step by step, the procedures are contextualized and it is possible to generate documents.
Carrying out an administrative transition in France is not always easy. This personal approach, specific to each transgender person, is absolutely not mandatory. However, it can be experienced as very important by the people concerned. To help them, a site has been created: Administrans. The platform is free and works without registration. The whole project is voluntary.
It all started in 2019, on Mastodon, when a link to the initial version of the project was shared. ” I had contributed to the project a few times before my transition “, tells Numerama Agate, developer and currently in charge of Administrans. ” Then, the person who had launched the project ceased to take care of it, it remained fallow for some time. Last year, one of my relatives, Emy, put a version of the site back online. We then worked on a new version, which facilitates certain procedures and covers missing content in the old service, such as the list of steps in an administrative transition.. »
The project wasn’t always called that. ” Initially, the site was called TransCEC, for ‘change of civil status’. We chose Administrans, because it was more generic. »
Administrans does not store any data when using it. ” It’s a completely static site, with no smart servers behind it, everything is done in the browser. The data never leaves the device of the person using it, the document is generated locally. In a context of online transphobia, the choice was made not to take any risk of compromising the personal data of users of the platform.
How does an administrative transition take place?
” There are several stepsrecalls the creator of Administrans. There are changes to civil status, reflected in the birth certificate. These are generally changes of first name or gender designation. Then, there is a whole nebula around that, which is not always linked to the modification of marital status, for example, the fact that our bank uses another first name or another title. You can completely have your title changed with a company without having changed your sex mention in the civil status.. This is also the goal of another project, changemy.name, which helps transgender people change their first name or gender with companies.
At the beginning of the Administrans site, there was already a PDF document generator to facilitate the process. ” But, it lacked all the contextualization and the different stages. Starting from my own transition and the relatives I accompanied in their administrative transition, I took the steps from scratch. This became the ‘Change marital status’ page, with the checklist on the right. This whole section of the platform guides the people concerned with very practical and detailed advice (choice of first names, request for official documents, filing of requests).
All the administrative transition paths being unique, it was therefore quickly necessary to consider different or more complex cases, and take them into account in this guide. As Agate reminds us, you can do the procedure in two stages, first change your first name at the town hall and then make a request to the court to change the sex designation in the civil status. But, we can take another course, in which we ask the court to change the first name and the mention of sex at the same time. The course is also different if you are French or French, but you do not live in France. »
Procedures still very complex in 2023
Since the 2016 law on the modernization of justice, administrative transition procedures should in theory be facilitated and harmonized. ” In practice, from one town hall to another, from one court to another, it is very different “says Agate. Courses can thus be complicated by administrative subtleties, in the way of returning the file or of addressing its request. ” Other times, it’s more complex and impactful things, which concern the way the structure will manage the request and respond to it. Some courts systematically require a face-to-face hearing to validate a request, and others which do not. »
Even when the administrative process is successful, there may still be disparities. ” Once the change has been validated by the court or the town hall, this change must be entered on the birth certificate. This change is then forwarded to Insee, which passes it on to the CPAM, tax authorities and other bodies. Sometimes it doesn’t work very well, it can take years for the change to really take effect.. »
To continue to guide people in these situations, Administrans would probably have to evolve further. A partnership with changemy.name is envisaged to expand the page on updating civil status with companies, which is still under construction. ” We have prepared examples of standard documents that you can send to your bank, your mobile operator, your university. Certain procedures can be carried out without having requested a change in civil status. If you can have a customary title or first name, without having to spend years there, that’s very important. »
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