The suicide of a 17-year-old transgender high school student in Lille aroused great emotion. While some blame high school, trans children often have a hard time being recognized and accepted by their school.
Fouad committed suicide on Wednesday, December 16, 2020. This 17-year-old transgender high school student attended high school Fénelon in Lille. Two weeks before her act, on December 2, she would have been excluded one day from the establishment because she was wearing a skirt, according to other high school students.
"Valérie Cabuil, rector of the Lille academy, learned with great sadness that a final year student of the high school student Fénelon in Lille put an end to his life in his foster home on Wednesday. This dramatic event upsets l 'whole educational community ", indicates the rectorate in a press release. The establishment would have "been informed of the student's progress and of his desire to change his sexual identity. The student, who found himself in a complex personal context, was accompanied in his process by the educational team of his home and his establishment school", he assures, while systematically misleading Fouad, that is to say by using the masculine to speak of her, while she had clearly indicated that she wanted to be designated in the feminine.
While a demonstration took place Friday, December 18 in front of the school, Jean-Yves Guéant confirms to AFP that the student had indeed been expelled in early December. Nevertheless, the president of the Federation of parents' councils (FCPE) of the North ensures that"no element, to date" does not allow his action to be linked to his expulsion. The girl "who also lived in an ASE hostel", child welfare, had other "difficulties". He thus indicates that "the responsibility of the establishment has been dismissed".
Recognition of transgender children at the school in question
This unfortunate affair, which occurred shortly after the documentary aired Little girl on a transgender child, once again recalls the difficulty of transgender youth in being recognized by their school. With their parents, they sometimes have to fight a long struggle to have their identity and their change of first name recognized. As the Ministry of National Education reminds AFP, a school does not theoretically need a medical certificate to respect a student's new identity.
"To the extent that the student's request is supported by their legal representatives, the school does not need any medical expertise to respect and enforce the gender identity of a student and to use, whenever possible, his usual first name ", underlines the ministry. However, a certificate can sometimes "unblock a refusal situation", he adds. It further specifies that it is necessary to differentiate between official documents, which must mention the first name registered in the civil status, such as a diploma, from documents internal to the establishment, on which the usual first name can be used without having changed. officially civil status.
If the National Education seems to indicate that the procedures for the recognition of the identity of transgender children are rather simple and should proceed without problem, the reality is quite different. Thus, in the documentary Little girl, Sacha could only be recognized as a girl by presenting a medical certificate to the teaching staff. "What happens is case by case and unequal treatment. The pupil and the parents, depending on the establishment and the adults they are going to meet, will be listened to or absolutely ignored", explains Arnaud Alessandrin, sociologist specializing in gender and discrimination issues at the University of Bordeaux, to Radio France. "There is no regulation or circular on this issue. Chance and therefore bad luck are part of the path of young trans in National Education. (…) National Education professionals are absolutely not unarmed. They are helpless, and petrified of having to deal with issues they had never heard of ", he emphasizes.
This transgender man gave birth in the water and the photos are gorgeous!
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To read also: Testimony: "My child is transgender, here is how I found out"
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