Marie Cau

Marie Cau in 2020.

Marie Cau (French: [ko][1] born 1965 ) is a French engineer, mayor of Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes, and minor candidate for President of France.

Political career

Cau was elected mayor of Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes on March 15, 2020, with the entire municipal council also being members of her electoral list, and was inaugurated in May of that year following a long delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, becoming the first known openly transgender mayor in France.[2][3] She garnered international media coverage[4] and congratulations from French gender equality minister Marlene Schiappa, SOS Homophobie co-president Veronique Godet, and Giovanna Rincon [fr], head of the transgender rights group Acceptess-T [fr].[2]

Cau ran on a platform of developing social and environmental policies, particularly sustainable agriculture.[2][3][5] As mayor, she secured repairs to the section of the historical Paris-Roubaix route (now part of the RD81) which crosses the village,[6] and other infrastructure improvements.[7]

Cau stated she would run for President of France in 2022.[8]

Education and personal life

Cau was born in Roubaix[4] and at the time of her election had lived in Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes for 20 years.[2][3] 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.[9]

Cau worked as an agricultural technician and engineer.[1][2][3][10] 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.[3][9] She felt pressure to stay in the closet at her job while she worked to support her children.[11]

Her older sister Myriam Cau was the former Green vice-president of Nord-Pas-de-Calais.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Marie Cau, première maire transgenre de France: "Je reçois des félicitations de toute la planète", 26 May 2020, BFMTV
  2. ^ a b c d e France's first transgender mayor vows to wake up village, 25 May 2020, France 24
  3. ^ a b c d e Nord : Marie Cau, première personne transgenre élue maire en France, 23 May 2020, Le Parisien
  4. ^ a b Patrick Roger, Marie Cau, première maire transgenre : Je suis devenue le symbole d’une normalité possible, 7 June 2020, Le Monde, accessed 8 June 2020.
  5. ^ Tricia Tisak, 18 Things That Happened for the First Time in 2020, 11 December 2020, in The New York Times
  6. ^ Jean-Claude Lukaszewski, Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes: un peu plus de 400m de pavés empruntés par le Paris-Roubaix réhabilités, 3 July 2021, La Voix du Nord
  7. ^ a b Florian Bardou, Marie Cau, un autre genre de maire, October 11, 2022, Libération
  8. ^ Arnaud Déthée, Marie Cau, la première maire transgenre de France, veut être candidate à l’élection présidentielle, 19 March 2021, La Voix du Nord
  9. ^ a b "Sur France 2, Marie Cau et Amé livrent deux témoignages bouleversants sur la transidentité", 1 September 2020, Têtu
  10. ^ Clément Martinet, Marie Cau et sa liste « Décider ensemble » entendent réveiller Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes, 11 March 2020, La Voix du Nord
  11. ^ Sarah Dahan, Marie Cau, première du genre, February 27, 2023, Têtu

Further reading