Marie Cau (''[//www.bfmtv.com/societe/marie-cau-premiere-maire-transgenre-de-france-je-recois-des-felicitations-de-toute-la-planete-1920828.html Marie Cau, première maire transgenre de France: "Je reçois des félicitations de toute la planète"]'', 26 May 2020, ''BFMTV'' born 1965 ) is a French engineer, mayor of

Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes (, literally ''Tilloy near Marchiennes'') is a commune in the Nord department in the Hauts-de-France region, Northern France. In 2018, it had a population of 516. History In March 2020, Marie Cau won a majority of votes ...

, and minor candidate for

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...

Political career

Cau was elected mayor of

on March 15, 2020, with the entire municipal council also being members of her

electoral list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

, and was inaugurated in May of that year following a long delay due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, becoming the first known openly transgender mayor in France.'' /www.france24.com/en/20200525-france-s-first-transgender-mayor-vows-to-wake-up-village France's first transgender mayor vows to wake up village', 25 May 2020, ''

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned international news television network based in Paris. Its channels broadcast in French, English, Arabic, and Spanish and are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-M ...

''
Nord : Marie Cau, première personne transgenre élue maire en France
', 23 May 2020, ''

Le Parisien ''Le Parisien'' (; French for "The Parisian") is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, better known as LVMH. Histor ...

'' She garnered international media coverage and congratulations from French gender equality minister Marlene Schiappa,

SOS Homophobie SOS Homophobie is an LGBT support organization based in France that deals with homophobia. The organization currently consists of a 900 volunteer members as well as 17 regional offices, all of which are based in France. The group is frequently me ...

co-president Veronique Godet, and , head of the transgender rights group . Cau ran on a platform of developing social and environmental policies, particularly sustainable agriculture.Tricia Tisak, ''18 Things That Happened for the First Time in 2020'', 11 December 2020, in ''The New York Times'' As mayor, she secured repairs to the section of the historical Paris-Roubaix route (now part of the RD81) which crosses the village, and other infrastructure improvements.Florian Bardou,
Marie Cau, un autre genre de maire
', October 11, 2022, ''Libération'' Cau stated she would run for

in 2022.

Education and personal life

Cau was born in

Roubaix Roubaix ( or ; nl, Robaais; vls, Roboais) is a city in northern France, located in the Lille metropolitan area on the Belgian border. It is a historically mono-industrial commune in the Nord department, which grew rapidly in the 19th century ...

Patrick Roger,
Marie Cau, première maire transgenre : Je suis devenue le symbole d’une normalité possible
', 7 June 2020, ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'', accessed 8 June 2020. and at the time of her election had lived in Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes for 20 years. Cau says she was always drawn to feminine things, and put on her mother's lipstick when she was two, but was pressured by her mother and siblings not to do such things and to be a boy.Sur France 2, Marie Cau et Amé livrent deux témoignages bouleversants sur la transidentité
, 1 September 2020, ''

Têtu ( French for "stubborn") is the main LGBTQIA magazine published in France. It was subtitled in French ( en, the magazine of gays and lesbians) until 2007, and reaffirmed itself as a men's magazine since then. As of December, 2012, its certifie ...

'' Cau worked as an agricultural technician and engineer.Clément Martinet,
Marie Cau et sa liste « Décider ensemble » entendent réveiller Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes
', 11 March 2020, ''La Voix du Nord'' After studying agriculture, she went on to study computers, and then joined the army; at this time she met her first wife and had three children. She felt pressure to stay in the closet at her job while she worked to support her children.Sarah Dahan,
Marie Cau, première du genre
', February 27, 2023, ''

'' Her older sister Myriam Cau was the former

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

vice-president of

Nord-Pas-de-Calais Nord-Pas-de-Calais (); pcd, Nord-Pas-Calés); is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Hauts-de-France. It consisted of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. Nord-Pas-de-Cala ...

Political career

Education and personal life

See also

References

Further reading