After months of sometimes heated debate within the ruling left, Spanish MPs definitively adopted a law on Thursday allowing people to freely change gender from the age of 16, at a time when other European countries are slowing down on this controversial subject.
Battle horse of the radical left party Podemos, an ally of the socialists in the government of Pedro Sánchez, this so-called “transgender” law allows people who wish to change their gender on their identity papers via a simple administrative declaration as soon as the age of 16.
It will therefore no longer be necessary to provide medical reports attesting to gender dysphoria and proof of hormonal treatment followed for two years, as was the case until now for adults.
The text — adopted by 191 votes to 60 with 91 abstentions — also extends this right to 14-16 year olds, provided that they are accompanied in the procedure by their legal guardians, as well as to 12-14 year olds, if they get the green light from justice.
Spain thus joins the few countries in the world authorizing gender self-determination via a simple declaration, like Denmark, the first country to have granted this right in Europe to transgender people in 2014.
“Today we have taken a giant step” in recognizing the “free determination of gender identity”, launched Podemos Minister for Equality Irene Montero, defending a law that “depathologizes” transgender people .
” Caution “
The debate over gender dysphoria, that is, the distress caused by a mismatch between a person’s biological sex and the gender with which a person identifies, has gained momentum in many countries in recent years with the increase in requests for transition, particularly among minors.
But the adoption of this law in Spain comes at a time when several countries, some of which were hitherto at the forefront on the subject, are slowing down.
In Sweden, the authorities decided a year ago to end hormone therapy for minors, except in very rare cases, citing the need to exercise “caution”. They have also come to drastically restrict the use of breast removal for teenage girls.
In Finland, a similar decision was taken as early as 2020 on hormone therapy, while in France, the Academy of Medicine called for “great medical caution” in the treatment of young patients and “the greatest reserve” on hormonal treatments.
Finally, the United Kingdom last month blocked a Scottish law on transgender rights, similar to that of Spain, adopted at the end of December by the Edinburgh parliament after heated debate.
This episode weakened Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who announced her resignation on Wednesday, after a heated controversy arose from the incarceration in a women’s prison of a transgender woman convicted of raping two women before her transition.
“rushed”
In Spain, the “trans” law has sparked fierce opposition from the right.
“We are not here to experiment with people. […] We see countries backtracking because they now see that they rushed in, which caused a lot of suffering. Let’s not do the same thing, ”insisted Maria Jesus Moro, MP for the Popular Party, on Thursday.
But this text has also caused deep divisions within the left and the feminist movement, as the country prepares for general elections at the end of the year.
The text has been ardently defended by Podemos and by Spain’s largest LGBT organization, FELGBTI+, which hopes, according to its president Uge Sangil, that this law will “encourage other countries to follow” the Spanish “example”.
But other, dissonant voices have been heard on the left, with some feminists believing that the notion of gender self-determination jeopardizes decades of struggle for gender equality.
“claiming gender as above biological sex […] seems like a setback to me,” denounced the former number two in the Sánchez government, Carmen Calvo.
The Socialists tried to amend the text to extend the obligation of a green light from justice to 14-16 year olds but did not find enough support in Parliament.
“Opening this door” of gender transition “without any restrictions to children seems to me to be hasty” and “very dangerous”, commented for his part Rim Alsalem, UN special rapporteur on violence against women, in an interview. everyday life in madrid El Mundo.
An unprecedented “menstrual leave” in Europe
Spanish MPs also voted definitively on Thursday for a law creating “menstrual leave” for women suffering from painful periods, an unprecedented measure in Europe intended, according to the left-wing government, to break a taboo.
“It’s a historic day for feminist progress”, launched on Twitter the Minister for Equality Irene Montero, member of the radical left formation Podemos, an ally of the socialists within the executive.
Adopted by 185 votes in favor, 154 against and 3 abstentions, this text makes Spain the first country in Europe and one of the few in the world to incorporate this measure into its legislation, following the example in particular of Japan, Indonesia or Zambia.
With this law, “a woman’s work stoppage in the event of incapacitating periods” linked, for example, “to pathologies such as endometriosis” will be “recognized as a special situation of temporary incapacity” for work.
“It is a question of granting this pathological situation an appropriate regulation in order to eliminate any negative bias” for women “in the world of work”, adds the text.
No details are given in the law on the duration of this sick leave, which must be granted by a doctor and will be financed by Social Security.
This “menstrual leave”, however, aroused reluctance within the socialist wing of the government and was even criticized by the UGT union.
This socialist trade union center, one of the two largest in the country, was particularly concerned about a possible brake on the hiring of women by employers wanting to avoid these absences.
For its part, the Popular Party, the main formation of the right-wing opposition, warned against the risk of “marginalization” and “stigmatization”, and against the “negative consequences on the labor market” for women.
This “menstrual leave” is one of the flagship measures of a much broader bill aimed at strengthening access to abortion in public hospitals, which practice less than 15% of voluntary terminations of pregnancy (IVG) in the country, due in particular to massive conscientious objection from doctors.
Because of this situation, and also the lack of a specialized clinic nearby, women sometimes have to travel hundreds of kilometers to be able to have an abortion.
This law will also allow minors to abort without the authorization of their parents at the age of 16 and 17 by going back on an obligation introduced in 2015 by a Conservative government.
Abortion was decriminalized in Spain in 1985, then legalized in 2010, but abortion remains a right fraught with pitfalls in this country of Catholic tradition.
The law adopted Thursday also provides for a strengthening of sex education in schools, as well as the free distribution of contraceptives or menstrual hygiene products in high schools.
Spain is a country considered as a benchmark in terms of women’s rights in Europe, particularly since the adoption in 2004 of a law on gender violence. Claiming to be feminist, the Sanchez government has more women than men.