France’s National Assembly has passed legislation that will require schools to use “Parent 1” and “Parent 2” on all school forms, instead of “Mother” and “Father,” in order to recognize the variety of families today.
The legislation, presented by Member of Parliament Valérie Petit, part of President Emmanuel Macron’s République en Marche party, is an amendment to a new education bill that passed on February 19. Response from the far right has been the outrage that one might expect. Any queer parent (in France or elsewhere) who has had to cross out and write in the appropriate parental title on a school form, however, will likely applaud the measure—although I sort of agree with Alexandre Urwicz, president of the Association des Familles Homoparentales, who told Agence France Presse that the new wording could lead to parents debating “Who is number 1 and who is number 2?” I’m not sure how serious he was about the criticism, but I also think the legislation could have easily left off the numbers. Still, parents can always toss a coin to decide, and will likely welcome the acknowledgment of the many family structures today.
And though some have argued that using “Mother/Father” for each form entry would work just as well, while retaining the traditional titles, I’ll counter with: What about the nonbinary and genderqueer parents who don’t use “mother” or “father” as their parental titles? I see no reason not to use the umbrella term “parent,” which is both accurate and inclusive.
Congratulations to France for this step towards inclusion!