Hundreds Gather at Vigil for Bullied Trans Teen
Hundreds of people attended a vigil for Avril, a trans teenager who died by suicide last week just after she was humiliated by her guidance counsellor when she wore a skirt to school.
The teen, who attended Lycée Fénelon in Lille, died by suicide last week, raising questions in France about the treatment of trans teens in school. Defenders of the school said that they bear no responsibility and stressed that the teen was living in a youth shelter – possibly because she was rejected by her family – while advocates for trans equality pointed out that she had been humiliated at school just weeks prior, where she suffered “psychological violence.”
“High school students from Fénelon and supporters from everywhere gathered this morning in front of [Avril’s] (or Luna’s) former high school,” wrote poet Marlène Ducasse on Instagram this past Friday, with pictures of the assembled mourners.
In early December, Avril posted a video to social media of her getting yelled at by her guidance counsellor.
“I understand that you want to be yourself, I understand that perfectly,” the counsellor shouted at Avril in a video taken on December 2 that the teen later shared on Snapchat. At the end of the video there is a picture of Avril in a modest jean skirt with the caption “This is what I was wearing.”
“Everything I’m doing now, it’s to better help you, that’s what you don’t understand!” the counsellor says in the video as Avril cries. “Because, once again, some people have different opinions than you do and aren’t your age. It’s that simple. They don’t have the same upbringing.”
“But they’re the ones who need to be educated, not me,” Avril responds.
“I totally agree! I agree with you!” the counsellor interrupts, condescendingly.
“Then I don’t understand why you have a problem with me,” the teen says.
“Shameful,” wrote David Belliard, who works at the Paris Mayor’s Office. “Yes, transphobia kills.”
Last week, her school, Lycée Fénelon in Lille, announced that Avril had died by suicide. The school even misgendered her in the announcement, using the masculine article “un” to refer to her, according to ‘LGBTQ Nation’.
Then the leader of the school’s parent-teacher association, Jean-Yves Guéant, said in an interview that it was true that she was sent home earlier in the month because she was wearing a skirt, but denied that that had anything to do with her later suicide.
“It is very complicated to understand what happens in the head of a young person who makes this kind of decision,” Guéant said. “But it’s obvious that the school bears no responsibility for this.”
The French LGBT+ magazine TETU talked to students at her school, who said that she went by that first name. Others said that she was in between that first name and “Luna,” while some local activists have been referring to her with her deadname. Ducasse, who referred to her with her deadname, said that the teen’s friends said that she hadn’t yet settled on a new first name.
Read related myGwork articles here:
UK Trans Teen In Legal Action Over NHS Gender Clinic Delay
South Carolina To Ban Medical Treatments for Trans Kids
Supporting Trans Youth Is Scientifically Good For Them
Illinois Governor Signs Executive Order Protecting Trans Youth
Keep up to date with the latest myGnews
