Ten people are on trial in France, accused of engaging in sexist online harassment of First Lady Brigitte Macron by spreading false and malicious claims about her.
The posts alleged that the French president’s wife is transgender and was born male under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux — the name of her older brother. Some also equated the 25-year age gap between the 72-year-old first lady and her 47-year-old husband to “pedophilia,” according to Agence France-Presse.
The Macrons first met in 1993, when Brigitte was a 39-year-old married teacher at Lycée La Providence in Amiens and Emmanuel Macron was her 15-year-old student — and a classmate of her daughter. (The age of consent in France is 15.) They reconnected years later after Macron graduated from Lycée Henri-IV in Paris and married in 2007.
Brigitte Macron filed a cyberharassment complaint last year after messages and photos mocking her spread online. She told police the posts were “hateful” and had a devastating impact on her grandchildren, as well as on her own physical and mental health, which she said has “deteriorated” as a result, according to The New York Times.
She also testified during a 2024 hearing that years of online rumors — spread by right-wing outlets soon after her husband’s 2017 election — have damaged her reputation. “Every time I go on an international visit, someone brings it up,” she said. “There isn’t a single spouse of a Head of State who isn’t aware of it.”
The first lady did not attend the two-day trial, where ten defendants — eight men and two women, ages 41 to 65 — faced charges of cyberbullying and spreading false rumors about her sexuality, gender, and marriage.
If convicted, the defendants each face up to two years in prison and fines of 30,000 euros — about $35,000. A verdict is expected on January 5.
On October 28, Brigitte Macron’s youngest daughter, Tiphaine Auzière, testified that the rumors have forced her mother to be vigilant about how she dresses and poses in public, because “she knows her image can be distorted to promote lies and fallacious theories.”
Auzière added, “As a girl, a woman, and a mother, I wouldn’t wish what she’s going through on anyone.”
During the trial, several defendants downplayed their roles in spreading the rumors, claiming they lacked large social media followings and that speculation about the Macrons’ relationship was fair game because they are public figures.
They also said many of their posts merely reshared content from others — including American conservative commentator Candace Owens — and were meant as sarcasm.
“It’s a joke, it’s funny,” said Jérôme Claverie, a 53-year-old finance worker from southern France, defending his posts. “Do you need a certificate or diploma to make jokes in France?”
In closing arguments, prosecutors singled out three defendants with large social media followings, arguing they should face harsher penalties: Bertrand Scholler, 56, a Paris art gallery owner with more than 100,000 followers on X; Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, 41, a publicist known online as “Zoé Sagan”; and Delphine Jegousse, 51, also known as “Amandine Roy,” a self-described medium and author accused of playing a major role in spreading the conspiracy theory that the first lady is transgender.
In 2021, Jegousse released a four-hour video on her YouTube channel featuring an interview with self-described independent journalist Natacha Rey, who claimed that a three-year investigation had uncovered a “state-sponsored lie,” alleging that Brigitte Macron was born male, that her walk and jaw were too masculine, and that she was not the biological mother of her three children.
After Jegousse posted the video, it drew hundreds of thousands of views and the attention of both French and international media, according to France 24.
The Macrons have also filed a defamation suit in Delaware against conservative influencer Candace Owens, who produced a video series titled “Becoming Brigitte.” In it, Owens alleged that Brigitte Macron was born male and had assumed the identity of a younger sister who died in childhood.
Owens, whose YouTube channel has 4.5 million subscribers, continues to stand by her claims. In a July podcast episode, she said she was eager to see what information the Macrons would have to disclose during the lawsuit’s “discovery” phase and even demanded that Brigitte Macron provide blood samples and childhood photos to “prove” she is female.
The Macrons’ U.S. attorney says the couple will present “scientific” evidence and photographs proving that the first lady is not transgender, according to a BBC report last month.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that cisgender students may repeatedly and intentionally misgender transgender classmates, invalidating an Ohio school district's policies that sought to stop the practice.
In a 10-7 decision, the court found that Olentangy Local School District's prohibition on using "gendered language they know is contrary to the other student's identity," including pronouns and honorifics, infringes on the rights of students who believe there are only two genders.
The challenged policies include an anti-harassment rule prohibiting "discriminatory harassment" or bullying based on gender identity and other protected traits that "places a student or school employee in reasonable fear of harm," interferes with education or work, or disrupts school operations, according to The Associated Press.
During the recent federal shutdown, the Trump administration changed the name on Rachel Levine's portrait at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, replacing her legal name with her pre-transition one.
Levine made history in 2021 as the first out transgender person confirmed by the U.S. Senate for a sub-cabinet role, serving nearly four years as Assistant Secretary of Health in the Biden administration and later becoming a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
Levine’s portrait hangs on the seventh floor of the Humphrey Building in Washington, D.C., alongside those of others who have led the U.S. Public Health Service. She has offered little commentary on the deadnaming, telling NPR it was an honor to serve as Assistant Secretary of Health. "I'm not going to comment on this type of petty action," she said.
Justine Lindsay, the NFL's first out transgender cheerleader, recently revealed that she was fired this year, a decision she alleges was motivated by transphobia and Donald Trump's election as president.
"I was cut because I'm trans," Lindsay said in an Instagram Live with Gaye Magazine. "I don't wanna hear nobody saying, 'She didn't wanna come back.' Why the hell would I not wanna come back to an organization that I've been a part of for three years? That makes no sense to me. So I was cut. I was devastated. It stung. I was hurt."
Lindsay, who made history as the NFL's first transgender cheerleader when she tried out and made the Carolina Panthers's TopCats squad in 2022, told the magazine that her teammates "know the truth" about the decision to cut her from the squad.
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