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, former 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 vo ...

, and minor candidate for

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the po ...

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 c ...

, 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, 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 publicly funded international news television network based in Paris. Its channels, broadcast in French, English, Arabic and Spanish, are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb ...

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

Le Parisien ''Le Parisien'' (; ) is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of ...

'' She garnered international media coverage and congratulations from French gender equality minister Marlene Schiappa, SOS Homophobie 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. She stepped down as mayor of Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes in January 2025.

Education and personal life

Cau was born in

Roubaix Roubaix ( , ; ; ; ) is a city in northern France, located in the Lille metropolitan area on the Belgian border. It is a historically mono-industrial Communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, depar ...

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

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'', 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 Têtu (, French for "stubborn") is the main LGBTQIA magazine published in France. It was subtitled in French () until 2007, and reaffirmed itself as a men's magazine since then. As of December, 2012, its certified circulation was of 41,961 co ...

'' 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 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

vice-president of

Nord-Pas-de-Calais Nord-Pas-de-Calais (; ; West Flemish: ''Nôord-Nauw van Kales'') was a former regions of France, administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new Regions of France, region Hauts-de-France. It consisted of the ...

Political career

Education and personal life

See also

References

Further reading