At the start of the week, some residents of Villeneuve d’Ascq, near Lille, in the North, received a special kind of mail. Delivered directly to their mailboxes, an eight-page leaflet signed by the “SOS education” association with the evocative title: “No to transgender ideology at school”. The openly transphobic pamphlet, which 20 minutes was able to consult, was denounced by socialist elected officials and by the HES LGBTI + association. He was also the subject of a report to the Lille public prosecutor’s office.
“It’s a web of false information which has no other purpose than to incite hatred and discrimination against transgender people,” says Victor Burette, deputy mayor of Villeneuve d’Ascq, after was alerted to the distribution of this leaflet by one of its constituents. And, in fact, the remarks made in the eight pages of the document are unambiguous.
Gender dysphoria described as an illness
It speaks of an “army of fanatics” which “campaigns tirelessly against biological reality”. It states that gender dysphoria is “spreading through social contagion”, threatening the “physical and mental health of young people”. We talk about an “LGBT+ lobby” or “gender activists” who spread “propaganda” at school, “supported by the public authorities”. We use the lexical field of illness to talk about gender dysphoria…
“There, they target trans people, but the background is radically homophobic,” laments the elected official. For him, even if the premise of this diatribe may seem as big as a house, he fears that “this insidious transphobic activism” will strike a chord with some people. “The goal is to scare people by touching what they hold most dear, their children,” he analyzes, adding that he had reported this letter to the Lille public prosecutor’s office. “Without any source, this leaflet invents side effects to hormonal treatments, claiming to act in the name of the interests of children who are absolutely not affected by these treatments,” denounces Sarah Kerrich, first secretary of the PS du Nord, in a press release co-signed with the HES Nord association.
For the association which distributed the leaflet, the real target is the circular “For better consideration of questions relating to gender identity in schools”, distributed by the former Minister of Education national, Jean-Michel Blanquer, with all National Education staff. A text which was controversial when it was released, in September 2021, before finally being validated by the Council of State, a year later. To the great dismay of SOS Education, which calls for people to sign their petition to Gabriel Attal, the current Minister of National Education, to “protect the higher interests of our civilization”.