LILLE, France (AP) – One hundred teenagers gathered in northern France on Friday to pay tribute to a transgender student who committed suicide this week after facing tensions with school officials for wearing a skirt to class, a case that has sparked online and national outrage. attention to the issue of gender identity.
The students maintained a stay and a moment of silence at the entrance of Fenelon High School in Lille when school started on Friday, expressing their anger and anguish over the suicide of their classmate Fouad.
Fouad, 17, committed suicide Tuesday at a shelter where she had been housed, the school district said in a statement. She was only identified by her name according to the French child protection policy. A psychological support program for students was established.
Classmates said Fouad had recently decided to make public her identification as a woman and had been summoned to speak with a school official after she wore a skirt to class.
In a video Fouad shared with friends and online, he is heard talking to the officer, who heatedly argues that the teen was harassing others in the school. Fouad is crying.
The suicide prompted more concerted efforts in the French education system to address gender identity issues in classrooms and protect transgender students.
French Diversity Minister Elisabeth Moreno tweeted that suicide in the transgender community is seven times the average and added: “We must absolutely fight transphobia everywhere.” Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer tweeted: “Fouad’s death tests our society of everything we need to do to ensure that everyone’s rights are respected.”
Fouad’s fellow students were upset that the school’s announcement about her death referred to Fouad as a male student and said some teachers refused to refer to Fouad as “her.” . Fouad supporters put up posters around the school supporting the trans rights that school officials withdrew, before agreeing to later republish them amid the commotion.
Activist groups claim that several thousand people in France are transgender and face routine abuse or discrimination despite regulations to the contrary.
Arnaud Alessandrin, a sociologist at the University of Bordeaux who has written books on gender identity, said the French government is behind European neighbors in terms of transgender rights, and welcomed the public outcry over Fouad’s death as to signal that consciousness is growing.
“A few years ago people didn’t care” about the suicide of a young trans, he said. “She is OK. People are starting to say it’s not normal. “
Alessandrin said the change in attitude is taking place because of high school students, “who talk more. The education system can no longer ignore them.”
He said he is increasingly contacting school nurses and counselors who are looking for advice on how to support trans students as they try to change their name, appearance and other forms of gender expression, “but there is still a considerable number of institutions that do not want to change. “
Fouad, who was of North African descent, had suffered gender and racial discrimination in and out of school, said a friend, Annabelle, who was at the protest on Friday. Annabelle did not want her last name published because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Fouad “suffered from a deep pain that dates back a long time” and was aggravated by the situation around his gender identity at school, Annabelle told The Associated Press.
“We’re here to send a message of tolerance,” Annabelle said. “And to tell Fouad we’re here for her.”
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Charlton reported from Paris.