April 2, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — French minister for higher education Frédérique Vidal is committed to fighting “LGBT-phobia” and says she will personally see to it that transgender students are called by their preferred names in French universities and higher education institutions.
Vidal made this announcement in Têtu, a gay magazine and website that frequently organizes interviews with prominent French politicians. During her talk, she announced that special training will be given to future teachers.
“I am profoundly attached to the idea of being who you are,” she told Têtu, presenting a wide range of initiatives aimed to fight “discrimination” against “LGBT+ persons.” It is the first time in France that such a plan has been set up, and while for the time being at least, no coercive measures appear to be in store for those who would resist, Vidal has promised that any “difficulties” will be identified and “removed.”
It is in truth a question of pretending to be who you think you are, but that is the whole point of transgenderism and gender ideology. To date, French academics have resisted “inclusive language” despite attempts to make it compulsory in official documents. The idea of imposing preferred names is just another offensive, this time with full support of a government ministry.
Vidal, former head of the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in the south of France, told her activist LGBT interviewers that “in a former life” she accompanied “transitioning students.”
“These are individual situations that need to be treated as such, that is, through respect for the wishes of transgender people,” she said. “It's a personal decision that requires thought and courage. It's very important that these institutions help them with sympathy and non-judgmentally. That is what I want to support.”
“Higher education is place where you should learn to think for yourself and to build your own reasoning, and so doing to reject and to oppose all forms of discrimination,” she said.
Ironically, her initiative aims at precisely the opposite because it does not allow for people to oppose, say, transgenderism, on the grounds of reality.
Vidal thinks that the only way to eliminate fear in young people of unfamiliar situations is to talk freely about them. Letting transgenders use their chosen name is one of these strategies.
“I want to make sure that the use of preferred names becomes a right in every higher education institution,” she said. “Everyone should be allowed to use that preferred name on roll calls and for exams as well as on student ID cards. We must also simplify procedures in order to change names on diplomas once an official civil status change has been made.”
Some colleges already use preferred names for students; others refuse to do so. Vidal said this has to change.
“Some 15 universities already recognize the preferred name,” she said. “But we are fully committed to make sure there are no breaches of equality and discriminations in the republic. Recognizing the preferred name is one of those little things that are really not difficult to implement, but that have significant impact on the interested parties. It's really important that we should urge everyone to do so.”
What does she mean by “urging,” and how does she intend to persuade academic authorities in a context where colleges and private higher education institutions in France are largely autonomous? Têtu asked.
“It won’t be very difficult to convince the academic community which for the most part can't bear discrimination,” she said. “In practice, we shall send a letter to each and every head of a higher education institution, signed by the three conferences – the conference of university presidents, the conference of the “grandes écoles” (elite schools) and the conference of directors of French engineering schools. I will give special attention to the implementation of this initiative. When difficulties arise and they are reported, will have to understand where they come from and remove them.”
Vidal also favors gender-neutral toilets, and she has committed to asking CROUS, the network of official social services for students, to make LGBT-specific rooms available. The same network will be required to rent rooms during vacations to Le Refuge, an association where young homosexuals who are rejected by their families can stay to “decompress.”
For the first time, she added, the ministry for higher education will give financial support to Le Refuge and other gay-rights associations such as SOS-Homophobie and the LGBT Center of Paris.
The entire program will be stepped up at the start of the coming academic year in September with a new campaign against “LGBT+ discrimination,” during which associations from civil society will join the ministry in setting up talks with students as well as with the teaching staff and administrative personnel.
The ministry for higher education, which is responsible for training courses for future teachers in primary and secondary schools, will also add special training on “Values of the Republic” for all candidates, and it will include a special module to help future teachers at all levels to “manage discrimination,” Vidal said.
It is not clear whether this would be included in official training schemes for confessional schools under contract with the state – which pays all teachers salaries in these schools – but the rule is that curricula and official requirements are the same in both systems.
Vidal added that many teachers admit that they don't know how to deal with discrimination, which leads to “improvisation.”
“What should you do when you realize that a child or an adolescent is not well? How should you manage these situations? Should you talk about them to the parents? These are things that need to be learnt,” said the minister, making clear that the question of transgender persons would be specifically addressed. “Good practice exists and we need to accompany teachers in learning about it.”
Since 2016 in France, a person can change civil status through a procedure before local courts. Before then and since 1992, the courts required that proof be submitted of sex-change surgery and psychiatric and hormonal treatments. Under the new “modernisation of justice of the 21st century act,” providing “an appropriate number of elements” to support the claim that the registered sex does not correspond to the applicant’s apparent sex suffices to allow for the civil status change. These elements can consist simply in evidence submitted by friends and relatives who are prepared to say they know the claimant under his or her preferred gender.