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MONTREAL – Gabrielle Bouchard began her term as president of the Fédération des femmes du Québec with a call for women’s equality, echoing the demands of leaders of the province’s main feminist organization going back to its creation more than 50 years ago.

But a month into the job, Bouchard has faced a backlash over what sets her apart from her predecessors: that she was born male.

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As the first transgender woman to head the federation, Bouchard’s ability to speak for women has been challenged by some feminists who portray her gender transition as a lifestyle choice.

“Is a trans woman a real woman?” asked the headline above one Journal de Montréal column. “Being a woman is not a choice or an identity,” the head of a splinter feminist group wrote in another column critical of Bouchard’s election.

Bouchard, 49, said she did not expect her arrival as president to stir such controversy. “I had to realize that it is a big deal, because we are still at a point where we tolerate some identities, or we tolerate some people who are at the margins . . . as long as they stay where we believe they are supposed to be,” she said in an interview.