LILLE, France (AP) – About 100 teenagers gathered in northern France on Friday to pay tribute to a transgender student who committed suicide this week after tensions with school officials for wearing a skirt to school, a case that has drawn outrage online and national attention to the issue of gender identity.
The students held a sit-in and a moment of silence in front of the entrance to Fenelon High School in Lille, when school began on Friday, expressing their anger and suffering at the suicide of their classmate Fouad.
Fouad, 17, committed suicide Tuesday in a shelter where he had been staying, the school district said in a statement. She was identified only by her first name, in accordance with the French policy for the protection of minors. A psychological support program has been developed for students.
Classmates said Fouad recently decided to go public about identification as a woman and was called to speak with a school official after wearing a skirt to class.
In a video that Fouad shared with friends and online, she is heard talking to the official, who warmly claims that the teenager upset the others in the school. Fouad is in tears.
Suicide has prompted more concerted efforts in the French education system to address gender identity issues in classrooms and to protect transgender students.
French Diversity Minister Elisabeth Moreno wrote on Twitter that suicide in the transgender community is seven times higher than average, adding: “We must absolutely fight transphobia, everywhere.” Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer wrote on Twitter: “Fouad’s death provokes our society about everything we need to do to ensure that everyone’s rights are respected.”
Fouad’s colleagues were upset that the school’s announcement of her death referred to Fouad as a male student and said that some teachers refused to refer to Fouad as “her.” Fouad’s supporters put up signs around the school that claimed the trans rights that school officials had eliminated, before later agreeing to refuel them in the midst of the riots.
Activist groups say several thousand people in France are transgender and face routine abuse or discrimination, despite regulations against it.
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 public outcry over Fouad’s death as a sign of awareness. .
“A few years ago, people didn’t care” about the suicide of a young trans, he said. “They are outraged today. People are starting to say it’s not normal. “
Alessandrin said the change in attitude is due to high school students, “who talk more. The education system can no longer ignore them. “
He said he is increasingly contacted by school assistants and counselors who are looking for advice on how to support trans students as they try to change their names, appearances and other forms of gender expression “but there are still a number considerably by institutions that do not want to change. “
Fouad, who was of North African descent, suffered both gender discrimination 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 her gender identity at school, Annabelle told the Associated Press.
“We are here to send a message of tolerance,” Annabelle said. “And let’s tell Fouad we’re here for her.”
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Charlton reported from Paris.