Marie Cau is the first transgender mayor in French history

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In May 2020.,  a small village in the north of France, Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes, was marked with significant achievement in history by electing the first transgender mayor, Marie Cau. By becoming the first openly transgender mayor, Marie Cau made an incredible achievement that has a huge success for the country and a big step towards the gender-equal future.

Residents of Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes, a commune of under 600 inhabitants on the Belgian border, voted in municipal elections on March 15 last year. 

They elected all the councilors from the “Deciding Together” list and among them was Ms. Cau. All of these councilors almost voted unanimously to make her the new mayor of the town. 

By achieving this position, Cau showed the world that transgender people are also entitled to a normal social and political lives, despite all the challenges they face and go through. This event represents an incredible motivation for many young transgender people and gives proof that nothing is impossible to achieve.

By becoming the mayor, she started the next great chapter in French history, but also in the Wold’s history.

“What’s surprising is that this is surprising. They didn’t vote for me or against me because I’m transgender; they voted for a program and values.”, said the mayor of Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes.

People of Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes village recognized Marie’s true potential for leadership, despite her gender which also represents the start of a new era of genderless politics and a possible new beginning for a gender-equal future.

In 2019, France’s Interior Ministry reported a “36 percent increase in the number of victims of anti-LGBT acts”. 

Marie running the mayor’s office and the support she has from her community opens so many new possibilities and potentials for the future of the LGBTQ community in France but also in Europe. 

As LGBTQ representation across the political sphere increases, voters focus on “the value of individuals regardless of their gender identity” or sexual orientation, as expressed by French National Transgender Association co-founder Stéphanie Nicot.

Marie decided to run for the mayor’s office because of her desire to change and improve the village making it more enjoyable for the citizens. She felt her election was due to her platform and her values rather than her gender identity, an ideology she hopes to see normalized in politics. 

“What is surprising is that I am not an LGBT activist. One can therefore be elected normally on a program without taking into account one’s orientation and sexual identity”, she said.

Despite experiencing a few cases in which she heard negative comments regarding her identity, mayor Cau found that her fellow residents treat her only with respect, kindness, and positivity.

Marie Cau is now a proud fifty-six years old mayor of her community, in which she has been living for twenty years. She has a rich educational background in agriculture and horticulture and she also ran on a platform of environmental sustainability which shows her interest in ecology.

Before she started serving the mayor’s office, the proud mayor launched a citizen solidarity initiative to which many volunteers responded. The initiative had a plan to help implement preventative measures due to the coronavirus.

The inauguration in the May of last year, provided the town council with the legitimacy to take further action, opening the school following safety measures as the town held control of the virus. The council’s pre-inauguration plan included community bonding during its era of social distancing, enabling the town to eventually enter a state of relative safety. (photo credit: AFP)