Brigitte Macron, the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, is heading to court to fight false claims made by right-wing publications, QAnon conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers that she is a transgender woman.
According to the conspiracy theorists, Brigitte, 68, was born male and her name was Jean Michel Trogneux. Trogneux is Macron’s maiden name.
“She has decided to initiate proceedings, it is in progress,” Macron’s lawyer Jean Ennochi told the AFP news agency.
The hashtag #JeanMichelTrogneux has been circulating on Twitter in France since November, and is often accompanied by transphobic and right-wing commentary. The use of the hashtag has exploded since the beginning of December, with over 68,300 retweets and 174,000 likes of tweets discussing Macron’s gender identity.
The massive spike in the use of the hashtag is attributed to QAnon supporters, COVID deniers, anti-vaxxers and the extreme right wing in France.
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