A trans person is someone whose gender identity is different from the gender that was assigned to them at birth.
Gender identity is each person’s intimate and personal experience of gender: it may be entirely male or female, or fall outside the male/female binary. Gender assigned at birth is the legal sex that was recorded on the person’s birth certificate. Under French law, it is either male or female.
Only the person concerned is able to know their own intimate and personal experience of gender, and therefore their gender identity. Only they can thus determine whether they are trans or not: this is the principle of self-determination.
- A trans boy, a trans man, or a transmasculine person is someone assigned female at birth who does not identify with that gender: they may choose a more or less masculinizing transition.
- A trans girl, a trans woman, or a transfeminine person is someone assigned male at birth who does not identify with that gender: they may choose a more or less feminizing transition.
Referring to someone as a trans person is done using agreements and pronouns that match the identity they affirm, regardless of their transition choices. The term trans is an adjective. Thus one would say “a trans person” and not “a trans.”
A transition is the set of steps a trans person may take to best express their gender identity. There is no single more legitimate pathway than another.
Each pathway may include, or not include, medical elements (hormones, various surgeries, hair removal, speech therapy, etc.), but also legal (change of first name, change of legal sex marker) and social steps (coming out, use of chosen name, clothing, life habits). Everyone is free to take the steps they feel are necessary, in the order they wish. There is no obligation.
A transition is not limited to active phases; it can also include periods of questioning and breaks, whether voluntary or imposed. There is no time limit to a transition journey. Everyone is free to stop, resume, revisit decisions, and reflect… in short to go at their own pace.
A transition does not necessarily require a medical pathway. For some people, social transition is sufficient. This can include recognition of their gender by those around them (family, friends, school), use of a chosen name, and/or changes in clothing or life habits (sports, hobbies, etc.). However, people who wish to undergo medical procedures should be free to choose which ones and in which order, and to consult healthcare professionals they deem useful.
There is no French legal text that sets a legal waiting period or a requirement for psychiatric or psychological follow-up to undertake a transition, whether to access hormone treatment, surgery, or to proceed with administrative changes.
A minor can also begin a transition process with the agreement of their legal guardians. For minors, there are specificities:
Before puberty
- No medical intervention is possible. Support from child psychiatry for the young person and their family may nevertheless be offered if needed.
- Exploration of gender by the young person, and possibly their social transition, when requested by the young person, should be supported. Their emerging gender identity should not be suppressed, whatever it may be. Care should be taken not to repress a child’s gender identity simply for social conformity. It is also important not to impose a constraint that would lock the child into a gender they manifested at a given moment. In short, remain open and attentive to the child.
- Changing a first name on the civil register is also possible, as for all children, cis or trans.
From puberty onwards, several care options can be evaluated by the adolescent, their parents, and healthcare professionals:
- Puberty blockers are generally offered at the beginning of adolescence. They help relieve an adolescent facing a pubertal development that feels unbearable and allow them time to mature their reflection. They require regular monitoring, especially given their effects on bone health. Their effects on fertility are entirely reversible.
- Sex hormones (testosterone or estradiol) are generally offered later in adolescence. They help pubertal development align with the adolescent’s gender identity if it does not match their assigned gender: feminizing or masculinizing. They require regular monitoring and may have potentially lasting effects on fertility, justifying offering fertility preservation consultation beforehand.
- Chest surgeries are generally offered later in adolescence. They aim to improve the well-being of transmasculine adolescents, but have lasting effects and require regular postoperative care, particularly around scarring.
- No genital surgery is offered before the age of majority.
- No medical intervention can be imposed without the consent of the person concerned and, where relevant, their legal guardians. Although very rare, potential regrets must be anticipated by the adolescent, who should be informed of the lasting nature of some care options and the potentially evolving nature of gender identity.
Changing legal sex markers for non-emancipated minors is possible though very difficult to access (see GIAPS).
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