Rainbow flags and colorful placards were out at Place de la République in Paris. Hundreds of people, mostly very young, gathered in Paris on Saturday to defend the rights of transgender and intersex people, often precarious and discriminated against. The collective ExisTransInter which brings together about fifteen associations is at the origin of this march, the 26th in Paris.
A member of the association "Le Flirt", Maëlle Hirret, 20, said she wanted "the demedicalization of transitions" (gender), saying she was refused "for more than a year the hormones necessary for gender change" by doctors. A gender change still very complicated to accept, assured Melvin Lacoste, a 19-year-old high school student whose first trans march: "there is still too much discrimination, rejection of families, suicides". "Even today in families it is taboo, a man who wears makeup causes disgust, mockery, we need a real change of mentalities from school," added Zoé Soulaire, 18, present at his side.
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During the demonstration at Place de la République, placards recalling the difficult family context of transgender people were seen, chanting for example: "Trans parents, not trans-parents". Catherine and Alexis, who did not wish to give their last name to respect the wishes of their transgender son, testified to their "incomprehension" when their child came out. "We didn't even know what it was," said Alexis, now a member of the Outrans association, which runs discussion groups for concerned parents. "Trans children are facing discrimination and exclusion within their families, and that needs to be changed," the father said. "Our idea through the discussion groups is to share their experience with parents and trivialize this situation: it's not the end of the world, children often do unexpected things," he explained.
The immigration law in the crosshairs
Some protesters also denounced the government's immigration bill. Among the organizers of the march, Alice Vaude, 21, a member of the ExisTransInter collective, denounced "the Darmanin law which aims primarily at the expulsion of undocumented migrants", recalling that "a large number of trans people are migrants and a large number of migrants are trans". People who, according to her, "suffer from complete non-access to work, and great material difficulties". "Many migrants ask to come to France to access their transition, which in their country is not always possible or repressed, and we are campaigning for them to have easier access," said Maëlle Hirret.
Placards in several languages echoed this international solidarity of the transgender community, such as, in Spanish, the slogan: "the trans-feminist struggle has no borders".