Berliner Boersenzeitung - Spain approves trans rights bill that has split the left

EUR -
AED 4.260899
AFN 80.158362
ALL 97.735274
AMD 445.179278
ANG 2.076169
AOA 1063.779861
ARS 1463.486047
AUD 1.792452
AWG 2.088118
AZN 1.974728
BAM 1.95178
BBD 2.340889
BDT 140.63036
BGN 1.95826
BHD 0.437391
BIF 3454.928951
BMD 1.160066
BND 1.489252
BOB 8.0115
BRL 6.460393
BSD 1.159302
BTN 99.605994
BWP 15.658749
BYN 3.794102
BYR 22737.288604
BZD 2.328814
CAD 1.594679
CDF 3347.9497
CHF 0.932003
CLF 0.029263
CLP 1122.94367
CNY 8.328167
CNH 8.33219
COP 4656.503901
CRC 585.005217
CUC 1.160066
CUP 30.741742
CVE 110.036947
CZK 24.640086
DJF 206.453013
DKK 7.463164
DOP 69.917205
DZD 151.014813
EGP 57.341587
ERN 17.400986
ETB 160.401527
FJD 2.623488
FKP 0.864042
GBP 0.865328
GEL 3.143771
GGP 0.864042
GHS 12.086108
GIP 0.864042
GMD 82.940384
GNF 10061.710714
GTQ 8.895602
GYD 242.550447
HKD 9.104376
HNL 30.329234
HRK 7.534857
HTG 152.227786
HUF 399.448339
IDR 18956.518334
ILS 3.889979
IMP 0.864042
INR 99.741413
IQD 1518.758894
IRR 48867.769059
ISK 142.212385
JEP 0.864042
JMD 185.389772
JOD 0.822444
JPY 172.386353
KES 149.89266
KGS 101.447527
KHR 4647.468203
KMF 490.998058
KPW 1044.023294
KRW 1612.653915
KWD 0.354597
KYD 0.966102
KZT 611.425446
LAK 24996.302498
LBP 103894.475134
LKR 349.611452
LRD 232.449247
LSL 20.810859
LTL 3.425372
LVL 0.701712
LYD 6.297974
MAD 10.489396
MDL 19.685287
MGA 5109.476595
MKD 61.433208
MMK 2434.949069
MNT 4160.305368
MOP 9.374112
MRU 46.177008
MUR 53.013435
MVR 17.862069
MWK 2010.359492
MXN 21.80703
MYR 4.929151
MZN 74.197206
NAD 20.811127
NGN 1772.375916
NIO 42.664336
NOK 11.957657
NPR 159.373504
NZD 1.958297
OMR 0.446035
PAB 1.159312
PEN 4.128397
PGK 4.783241
PHP 66.330271
PKR 330.618959
PLN 4.257488
PYG 8977.43282
QAR 4.215681
RON 5.071925
RSD 117.141075
RUB 90.923269
RWF 1675.264091
SAR 4.351203
SBD 9.635204
SCR 17.033332
SDG 696.613537
SEK 11.308327
SGD 1.491752
SHP 0.91163
SLE 26.275321
SLL 24326.00322
SOS 662.541151
SRD 43.065701
STD 24011.01876
SVC 10.14402
SYP 15082.997499
SZL 20.772039
THB 37.668435
TJS 11.100642
TMT 4.071831
TND 3.367089
TOP 2.716992
TRY 46.732796
TTD 7.866831
TWD 34.148279
TZS 3027.771466
UAH 48.548111
UGX 4154.443567
USD 1.160066
UYU 46.893016
UZS 14819.839482
VES 135.687081
VND 30338.619398
VUV 138.785447
WST 3.201936
XAF 654.614408
XAG 0.030698
XAU 0.000348
XCD 3.135135
XDR 0.814123
XOF 654.603146
XPF 119.331742
YER 279.981816
ZAR 20.735926
ZMK 10441.981556
ZMW 26.433672
ZWL 373.540697
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Spain approves trans rights bill that has split the left
Spain approves trans rights bill that has split the left / Photo: Thomas COEX - AFP

Spain approves trans rights bill that has split the left

Lawmakers on Thursday passed a transgender rights bill allowing anyone 16 and over to change gender on their ID card, putting Spain on track to becoming one of the few countries to allow transgender people to change their status with a simple declaration.

Text size:

Approved by 188 votes in favour to 150 against and seven abstentions, the bill now moves to the Senate where, if left unchanged as expected, it will become law within weeks.

The draft bill effectively simplifies the procedure for changing gender on a person's national identity card, allowing them to request the change based on a simple statement.

But the text has sparked a bitter dispute among activists in Spain's powerful feminist lobby and LGBTQ equality campaigners.

In Europe, Denmark was the first country to grant such a right in 2014.

The legislation is one of the flagship projects of the ministry, which is held by Podemos, the radical left-wing junior partner in Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialist-led coalition.

"At last this law depathologises trans lives and guarantees trans people's rights," Equality Minister Irene Montero told parliament during Wednesday's debate.

"Trans women are women," said the minister, a strong advocate of gender self-identification who has denounced opposition to the law as "transphobia".

Until now, adults have been allowed to request the change in Spain with a medical report attesting to gender dysphoria and proof of hormonal treatment for two years, while minors needed judicial authorisation.

But the bill drops that requirement and lets anyone from age 16 freely change their designated sex on their ID card. Even those as young as 12 can apply but only under certain conditions.

After submitting the request, the applicant must confirm the demand three months later, then it will become valid.

The legislation also bans conversion therapies, promotes non-discrimination against LGBTI people in the workplace and seeks "to advance the inclusion" of transgender women in particular who tend to be disproportionately affected.

- Friction on the left -

Adopted by the cabinet in June 2021, the bill has sparked tensions between Podemos, the driving force behind the legislation, and the Socialists who have tried in vain to modify it.

It has also divided the feminist movement between those supporting Montero and the powerful feminist lobby allied with the Socialists who are implacably opposed to the text.

"When gender is asserted over biological sex, it does not seem to me to be a step forward in a progressive direction; it seems to be a step backwards," Sanchez's former deputy Carmen Calvo told El Mundo daily in September.

"The state has to provide answers for transgender people, but gender is neither voluntary nor optional," said Calvo, who headed the equality ministry when it was held by the Socialists and one of the bill's most vocal opponents.

Activists fear the law will be open to abuse and erode women's rights, allowing men who self-identify as women to compete in women's sport or request a transfer to women's prisons.

They have also raised the alarm about minors having the right to self-determine gender -- with parental authorisation from the age of 14 and with both parental and judicial approval from 12.

Although the Socialists pushed for an amendment that would have extended judicial authorisation to include 14 to 15-year-olds, it was rejected in what was widely seen as a victory for Montero and Podemos.

"The transgender law which will be approved today in parliament symbolises the Socialist party's biggest defeat by Podemos during this legislature," the conservative El Mundo newspaper said Thursday, while the centre-left El Pais said it was "one of the laws that had most strained the coalition government".

Tensions around the legislation prompted Socialist LGBTQ activist Carla Antonelli -- the first and only trans woman to serve as a lawmaker -- to resign from the party after decades of activism.

"We have seen part of the Socialist party and the feminist movement go from defending the rights of the trans minority to ruthlessly boycotting our very existence," she wrote in an op-ed published by El Pais on Thursday.

(T.Renner--BBZ)