France’s first transgender mayor has pledged to radically transform her village near the country’s border with Belgium after her swearing in ceremony some days ago in a move many consider as a great step in the right direction. Marie Cau pledged to improve upon existing social and environmental laws after she was awarded an honorary sash of office.
Cau came out in flying colors in the decisive initial round victory in France’s local political elections on March 15, as her campaign promises were able to impress the majority of the overall voters in the village which is known to have a population of over 500.
Strangely, the 50-year old was sworn into office 60 days after the conclusion of the election, as a result of the lockdown France implemented to combat the spread of the dreaded coronavirus.
Although the newly-sworn in Mayor of Tilloy-Lez- Marchiennes is an engineer by training, she sees herself primarily like the chief executive officer of a commercial enterprise who has a deep love for agriculture and its capacity to improve the physical environment.
When asked, the new mayor said the electorates did not give her their votes because they liked the fact that she was transgender. She explained that the electors chose her because social ties were greatly diminishing among the villagers and they felt she was the best because she had talked to them about values and programmes.
Also, Cau explained that her dream was to develop a village everyone would like to be associated with. This is something the villagers have long expected, but they had not found anyone to birth the dream.
When interviewed, a 50-year old villager standing at the front of Tilloy-Lez- Marchiennes’ Town Hall, told news men it was a dream come true and she wished the new Mayor a great time in office, knowing that Cau was sworn into office at a time France is battling both an economic and a health problem caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Also, another Tilloy-Lez- Marchiennes resident who spoke with news men said Cau had been living in the village for over two decades and it was not important what her gender was. She said she understood Cau’s work ethics and seriously expects the village to hit prominence if the Mayor succeeds with creating ties.
Another neighbor, Marie-Jesse Godefroy, said she recognizes Cau by her middle name and that she had been following Cau’s political career for about 15 years. The woman said she had never experienced discrimination and that residents of the village were usually very kind and friendly.
During pre elections, Cau did not show discrimination and freely interacted with people answering enquiries intelligently, thereby winning the hearts of both the media and the villagers of Tilloy-Lez- Marchiennes.
In her response, Cau said people usually vote for a project and the team behind it. So, it should never be an issue voting into power one who is transgender.
Cau underscores that although she is transgender, she still has a great sense of politics as well as being sociable.
Also in another development, Marlene Schiappa, France’s Minister in charge of gender and equality congratulated the newly-appointed Mayor.
In her words, the minister said in the course of discharging one’s duty as political office holder, one would always come across certain person who might not be comfortable dealing with anyone who is a transgender.
Also, Co-President, SOS Homophobie Veronique Godet asserted that Tilloy-Lez- Marchiennes’ choice of Cau is a sign that French people were more concerned about performance as opposed to gender.
The Co-President noted transgender people were now taking the challenge to help society solve problems by offering to compete for leadership positions.
