Pro-trans protests erupt across France as legislators consider ban on care

Across France on Sunday, thousands rallied for trans rights in the wake of calls by right-wing senators to ban hormone therapy and puberty blockers for trans youth.

A coalition of LGBTQ+ activists, left-wing members of parliament, trade unionists, and young people joined protests in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and Montpellier, the Ministry of the Interior reported. Over 10,000 demonstrators turned out, with the largest group gathered at Paris’s Place de la Republique, an 8.4-acre public square popular for protests.

Related:

French President Emmanuel Macron supports ban on gender-inclusive language

France’s legislature is considering the ban.

“Anti-patriarchy, anti-capitalism, solidarity with trans people all over the world!” protesters chanted in the French capital, according to Le Monde. The Socialist Party and left-leaning La France Insoumise party were among more than 800 groups and individuals calling for demonstrations.

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“This is our daily life,” said one of the organizers in Montpellier, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. “Today, there is an urgent need to defend the rights of all people at a time when right-wing and far-right politicians are attacking the rights of trans people and disseminating false information about trans-identifying children.”

[DIRECT] Plusieurs milliers de personnes à Paris pour les droits trans et contre l’offensive de la droite et de l'extrême-droite !

Une mobilisation portée, entre autres, par @Pain_Et_Roses qui se tient dans plus de 50 villes. À suivre ici ⤵️#5mai #RiposteTrans pic.twitter.com/XGLpUaP5SU

— Révolution Permanente (@RevPermanente) May 5, 2024

I am writing this thread for the trans community from all over the world.

Something INCREDIBLE is happening in France.

46 (forty six) cities are going to mobilise this weekend to fight the attacks against trans and reproductive rights.

It's historic and unprecedented! pic.twitter.com/CaqZEFUVJ7

— sasha anxty (@yeezlouise) May 3, 2024

Anti-trans legislation has appeared in the French Parliament in the wake of a report on trans minors commissioned by fringe lawmakers in the right-wing Les Républicains party, the French publications Le Figaro and Le Point reported on March 18. The legislation calls for a ban on gender-affirming hormone therapy and puberty blockers, commonly prescribed to trans youth to combat gender dysphoria. Most major American medical associations consider such care safe, effective, and necessary for the well-being of trans minors.

Senator Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio called gender-affirming care for trans youth a “growing phenomenon in the media and in public life,” while claiming “all” foreign countries are rejecting the life-saving treatments. Their claim is untrue.

“Today, it is done too quickly, young people are steered toward a transition too quickly. Instead, they need to be accompanied regarding their unease and encouraged to seek psychiatric care,” the senator said.

The aforementioned report, written by the Observatoire de la Petite Sirène (“Little Mermaid Observatory”), an organization notoriously opposed to gender-affirming care for minors, is replete with alarmist language, calling the practice a “health scandal,” and “social contagion,” while highlighting painful “de-transitions.”

Conservative lawmakers’ calls for “psychiatric care” echo the report’s recommendations. Trans supporters say such care “amounts to a thinly disguised endorsement of “conversion therapy,” a claim the report’s authors deny.

The bill implementing the report’s recommendations is scheduled for debate on May 28.

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