France to replace ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ with ‘parent 1 and 2’ on school forms
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Schools in France will be replacing the words 'mother' and 'father' with 'parent 1' and 'parent 2' on official forms in an attempt to be more inclusive to LGBT+ families.
The move forms part of an amendment to a new draft education bill, which the French national assembly has voted on, passing its first reading.
It is an attempt made by Emmanuel Macron and his party République en Marche (REM) to tackle discrimination against same-sex parents.
Member of parliament Valérie Petit, who tabled the amendment, said it was a way of "anchoring the diversity of families with children in the law".
She added:
This amendment aims to root in law children’s family diversity in administrative forms submitted in school.
The amendment says: "To prevent discrimination, school enrolment, class registers, parental authorisations and all other official forms involving children must mention only Parent 1 and Parent 2."
It follows France passing the marriage equality law in 2013, which enshrined equal marriage rights to same-sex couples.
There has been a mixed response from French politicians and people online.
Alexandre Urwicz, president of the Association of Homo-parental Families is torn.
“At first, we welcomed the amendment because, technically, it allows our families to be included in forms that previously did not allow it,” he told AFP.
However, later, he thought the numbers could encourage parental competition. “Who is number 1 and who is number 2?” he asked.
Some people think it's a great idea.
Others... not so much.
The amendment is in the beginning stages. There will be a second reading on 19 February and it has yet to be approved by the Senate.
More: This Brexiteer's point about the Swiss border backfired spectacularly
More: Trump has posted a new version of the State of the Union meme and it's even worse than the original