France to ban words “mother” and “father” from school documents

Schools in France will replace the words ‘mother’ and ‘father’ with ‘Parent 1’ and ‘Parent 2’ on official French school documents.

The amendment was passed in Parliament as part of the country's “Schools of Trust” law, which aims to reduce the discrimination faced by same-sex parents.

“To prevent discrimination, school enrolment, class registers, parental authorisations and all other official forms involving children must mention only Parent 1 and Parent 2”, the amendment reads.

According to Valérie Petit, MP for the Republique en Marche (REM) party of President Emmanuel Macron, “this amendment aims to root in law children’s family diversity in administrative forms submitted in school”.

However, Macron’s education minister, Jean-Michel Blanquer, has opposed the law, saying it was a legislative overreach.

The measure could still be rejected by France's Senate, but will then go back to National Assembly for a final reading.

Last year, Germany’s government approved a law that allows a third gender on the birth registration. Babies can be entered in records as neither male nor female, but as “diverse”.