The municipal council of the small town of Estevelles voted in favour of “supporting” the new identity of its political leader.
Estelle Szabo, born as Alain, the mayor of the Estevelles, in northern France. / Image: Video caption from [link]La Voix du Nord[/link].
Estevelles, a town of over 3,000 people in the north of France has become the first to see a mayor change gender while in office.
At 63, and after 8 years leading the municipal council, Alain Szabo has asked to be called Estelle. The now transgender woman is married to a woman and said their marital relationship will continue.
One week ago, the mayor brought the gender transition to the town hall seeking to get the “support” of fellow political representatives. Szabo announced that “they renewed their confidence in me” in a vote that was not required by law. But out of 18 council members, “14 voted in favour and four abstained”, according to French newspaper Le Parisien.
The mayor then spoke to the employees of the municipality and communicated the new identity to the population. “I am a fighter”, Szabo said, “proud of the investment I have made in this small town”.
The procedure to legally change from male to female gender is still underway. According to the authorities, “there should be no problem” to continue working as a woman for the state in this position.
Szabo’s mission now is to model that such changes are possible, as the mayor’s reality is “shared by hundreds of thousands of people in France”, a “trans identity and the psychological suffering of not being 'the right gender' (…) It took me many years to understand and accept who I really was”.
Szabo thanked “my family and my wife” for their support in the process and decision.
According to the news website La Voix du Nord, the first elected transgender person is Marie Cau, in Tilley-les-Marchiennes.
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