Spanish deputies approve the “trans law” that divides the left in power

The deputies congress Spanish approved this Thursday the bill that allows you to freely change gender from the age of 16, after months of tensions within the progressive government and in the feminist movement.

Flagship initiative of the radical left party Podemos, an ally of the Socialists in the coalition executive headed by Pedro Sánchez, the text received 188 votes in favor and 150 against, in addition to 7 abstentions, and will now begin its process in the Senate.

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If the project is definitively approved in the upper house in the coming weeks -as is very likely-, Spain it will become one of the few countries in the world that authorizes gender self-determination by submitting just a personal application.

Denmark was the first European country to grant this right to transgender people in 2014.

Specifically, the new regulation must allow a transgender person to change their name and reference to their sex in their documents by submitting an application at the Civil Registry.

Until now, this modification was only allowed for people of legal age who provided a medical report and accredited having undergone hormone treatment for at least two years.

“Pride”

“What joy and what pride”, celebrated Podemos on Twitter. “We repair a historical debt and reaffirm that the rights of people trans are human rights”, he added.

“the women trans They are women”, the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, leader of the training, had insisted on Wednesday, assuring that the approval of the project was a response against “transphobia”.

The initiative, baptized as “law trans”, must also allow young people between the ages of 14 and 16 to change the mention of their sex in the Civil Registry, provided they are assisted in the process by their legal guardians.

For those from 12 to 14 years old, it is necessary that they have judicial guarantee. Currently, all minors must obtain this authorization from a judge.

In all cases, the law provides that the applicant must go to the Civil Registry within a period of three months from the initial appearance to ratify their request, “asserting persistence in their decision” to change gender.

Demonstrators celebrate in the vicinity of the Parliament in Madrid. (Paul White-AP/)

deep divisions

Approved by the Council of Ministers more than a year ago, this bill has caused strong tensions between Podemos, which made this initiative a central pillar of its government action, and Sánchez’s socialists, who tried in vain to modify the text .

It also generated deep divisions in feminism, between those who share the vision of Irene Montero and historical militants, in open war against the project.

“When gender is claimed over biological sex (…) it seems to me a setback” for women, assessed the former number two of the Sánchez government, the socialist Carmen Calvo, in an interview with the newspaper El Mundo in September.

“The State has to give an answer to the people transbut sex is neither voluntary nor optional”, he added, warning of the legal risks that the law could entail.

These longtime feminists fear that males who self-identify as women could participate in women’s sports competitions or serve time in women’s prisons.

Echoing these fears, the Socialists tabled an amendment to extend the need for judicial authorization to 14-16-year-olds as well, but it was ultimately rejected.

Accepting their defeat, Sánchez’s formation voted Thursday in favor of the text as it was, except for Carmen Calvo, who broke the party’s voting discipline to abstain, according to media reports.

This law “symbolizes the biggest legislative defeat of the PSOE against Unidas Podemos in this legislature” since the formation of the executive in early 2020, wrote the conservative newspaper El Mundo.

For its part, El País (center-left) spoke of “one of the rules that has most strained the coalition government.”

LGTBI militant and first transgender woman elected regional deputy in SpainCarla Antonelli left the Socialist Party in October in protest against the intention of her formation to modify the bill.

“We have seen a sector of the PSOE and feminism go from defending the rights of the minority trans to viciously boycott our very existence,” Antonelli said Thursday in an article published in El País.

Among other provisions, the bill approved by the deputies also prohibits conversion therapies that aim to change the sexual orientation of LGBT+ people, with fines that can reach 150,000 euros.

Source: Elcomercio