For Irene Montero, Spanish Minister of Equal Opportunities (Podemos) the so-called Ley Trans which allows the totally self-determined free choice of one's 'gender identity' (self-id) is aabsolute emergency and should be approved as soon as possible: The plan is to have it in port by the first two weeks of February.. Spanish feminism has been mobilising against the Trans Law for months, but Montero does not consider women's objections. although he claims he wants to find mediation. He says that the"gender identity is not an ideology, but a right', that international bodies are pressing in this direction. And it goes on its way. In Italy, the concept of 'gender identity' is the cornerstone of Zan's proposed law against homobi-transphobia. approved by the Chamber of Deputies in recent weeks and awaiting discussion in the Senate. In Italy, gender-critical feminism has also been mobilised, but the drafters of the law (from Zan to Boldrini), just like Montero, refused any confrontation.. What will happen in Spain - and what is happening or has already happened throughout the western world, the erasure of women to make way for the phantasmagorical 'gender identity'. is therefore also very important for us and for all gender-critical feminists. Here is the whole story of the Ley Trans.
Madrid, 30 October 2020. Ministry of Equal Opportunities launches a preliminary public consultation for the future project of the "Trans Law which allows the registration of sex change without the need for a medical report or treatment to change physical appearance.
The general management of the collective "Sexual diversity and LGTBI rights"on Twitter announces the opening of the consultation until 18 November to gather the opinions of citizens, organisations and associations before the draft regulation is drawn up. Everyone can send their contributions from Friday 30 October to 18 November by email.
With the new regulation, the Ministry of Equal Opportunities' wants to 'depathologise' trans people, allowing the registration of sex change without any medical or psychological report or changes in a person's physical appearance or function through medical, surgical or other procedures.
In response, more than 100 feminist organisations belonging to theAlianza contra el borrado de las mujeres (Alliance Against the Eradication of Women) flooded the mail of the Ministry of Equal Opportunities with protests against the Trans Law that Irene Montero had just brought to public consultation.
The Alliance sent e-mails with the subject "Trans Law erases women" to protest against "the consequences of legal atrocities in different areas of life".
"How Contra Borrado we have developed urgent reflections so that all feminists can send a letter to the Ministry with these contributions," explained feminist Carmen Freix.
All feminist organisations complain that from this email address not even an automatic reply arrived of thanks and receipt. A silence that is not surprising, however. Irene Montero avoided meeting feminists critical of the Ministry of Equal Opportunities for months for its assumption of queer postulates that "erase women".
Here are the highlights of the document which Contra Borrado has made available to explain how this law represents a threat to women and which you can read in the original language here
WE CONSIDER THAT
Laws already exist which formally recognise the full rights of transgender people. In 2007, the requirement to undergo surgery for a legal sex change was removed. In practice, in Spain only a medical and psychological report is required to prove dysphoriain the same way that people with disabilities, among others, are required to undergo a series of tests to prove that they are.
Women's rights are based on gender. To erase this is to nullify all legal and regulatory protections for equality..
The Government announces this law months after members of the Government signed a 'argumentation' prepared by the PSOE. The 'argument' opposes sex change with simple 'self-determination', i.e. without legal requirements or precautions against fraud. It emphasises that biological sex is a real fact on which the discrimination suffered by women is based. To combat discrimination, there are sex-based rights such as Article 14 of the Constitution, laws against gender-based violence, laws on equality in careers and awards, as well as those establishing sports categories for women and exclusive women's prisons. Rights seriously damaged by the announced law.
The so-called 'trans law' is in reality the erasure of women and the equality that has been won. It claims that sex is arbitrarily assigned and that anyone can change their legal gender if they claim to have a female, male, non-binary, fluid 'identity', etc. The text is a fundamental step in the direction of legal erasure of women and their replacement by 'gender identity'. determined by will. Removing women from the law will not make sexism disappear. If legal sex disappears, so do women's rights against machismo.
CONSEQUENCES
IN CHILDHOOD: The right to free development of the personality during childhood is violated. Girls and boys are indoctrinated with a deeply reactionary and anti-feminist ideology. Incorporating the notion of 'gender identity' or 'gender expression' means making natural and accepting the very sexism that produces violence and inequality in our society. The promotion of equality is undermined and traditional gender stereotypes are perpetuated. Talking about the wrong bodies and promoting gender as an identity contradicts all equality norms, reinforces sexism in childhood and lays the groundwork for undermining the healthy development of girl-children.
IN EDUCATIONParticularly worrying are the consequences that this law has in education and childhood. In autonomous communities where laws on 'gender identity' or 'sexual self-determination' have been passed"Educational protocols based on 'gender identity in the brain' or 'assigned sex' are imposed by legal mandate.neuro-sexist and unscientific theses that have been refuted by science. Sex is not assigned, it is observed. We are born male or female in the human species. Educating on the basis of these unscientific concepts prevents creatures from overcoming the roles and stereotypes associated with women and men, stereotypes that limit the free development of their personalities. False beliefs based on the conversion of gender into identity promote the most outdated sexist postulates against which education has fought, and represent a maltreatment of children. Children are condemned to conform to traditional sexist roles by explaining to them, for example, that if a boy plays with toy kitchens and loves ballet he has a female gender identity and therefore must be a girl.
IN HEALTHGender dysphoria or gender incongruence is a disorder that has been recognised for years and has a major social influence. The person presents significant distress due to a perceived incompatibility between their sex and the associated normative social roles. Dysphoria occurs mainly among girls and adolescents. At the end of adolescence it disappears in 80-85% of cases. This is why science advises against intervention with any invasive technique or measure. However, in the name of 'gender identity', the following are administered hormone blockers to stop the appearance of secondary sexual characteristics, as well as irreversible surgery leading to various permanent consequences, including infertility.
IN STATISTICS: Without disaggregating data by biological sex, all inequality and violence will be rendered invisible in statistics. And the reality will be falsified. Sex is an objective, immutable and observable variable. It is essential in health, work, psychology, education, crime.... Reducing it to something that satisfies a person's desires without criteria other than stereotypes or sexist sentiments cancels all research, all intervention and all fight against inequality between men and women on the basis of sex and gender. The breakdown by biological sex is compulsory in order to have official statistics in all areas. and also to be able to develop treatments and drugs adapted to the biological characteristics derived from sex.
IN SPORT: This law presupposes the cancellation of women's sports categories. The acceptance of men who self-identify as women in these sports categories prevents women from competing on equal terms. It violates the principle of material equality contained in our Constitution. Women's right to physical integrity is compromised by increasing the risk of suffering serious injuries when they have to compete or train with men who self-identify as women, i.e. stronger and bigger people.
IN THE SAFE SPACES: The spaces reserved for sex which until now were safe spaces for women: changing rooms, school bathrooms, women's shelters, prison modules ... would cease to be. Men would be able to enter without any problems if they are registered in the civil register as women, with no other requirement than their declaration of will. Self-determination of sex' opens the door to a legal fraud which compromises women's safety. There is a clear threat to the safety, physical integrity and sexual freedom of women in these spaces if they were shared with men.
Increasing LESBOFOBIA AND HOMOGRAPHY: Transgenderism queer has colonised much of the LGTBQ+ community and promotes the idea that sexuality has to do with 'gender identity'.. So according to this point of view homosexuality is the attraction to people not of the same sex but with the same 'gender identity'.. It is a further step towards traditional restorative therapies that violate the rights of homosexual persons, especially lesbian women. It is emphasised that their sexual attraction to women must be corrected to yield to the subjectively perceived gender that has to do with their desires. Social acceptance of the existence of "lesbians with penises" heterosexual men who are self-determining women. Lesbians are forced to have sex with them and threatened as transphobic if they refuse, supporting the false idea that attraction is for "perceived genders".
USE OF QUEER LANGUAGE. The language is the tool through which we construct our representation of the world around us. It can enhance anything or make it invisible depending on how it is used. Queer neo-language proposes and disseminates terms that normalise the denial of sex as a biological category and with it the reality, needs, discrimination and rights of more than 3.7 billion women in the world (more than 24 million in this country). The word woman is replaced with the subjective concept of 'gender identity'. This is disguised as protection of minority rights, diversity and integration. Women become 'menstruating persons', 'human females', 'pregnant persons', 'persons with uterus or cervix'. The term CIS women is intended to be imposed in order to legitimise men as self-determining women. Queer language has infiltrated political statements, legislation, the media and sectors such as education, health, sport and trade unions.. Some companies use queer language when looking for new customers, even for truly feminine products. The acceptance and use of this new language hinders and weakens the defence of women's rights. It opens the door to the legalisation of reproductive exploitation and to the lack of protection of women against sexual exploitation. sexual and reproductive exploitation in all its forms.
Our critical voices are censored and persecuted. Not only have we not been listened to, but selective censorship is imposed on us, so that our proposals are silenced by labelling them as "incitement to hatred". e sanctioning them criminally, administratively or through the regulatory mechanisms of private social networking companies such as Twitter.
This behaviour by the government is inconceivable in a democracy.. The government's attitude is misogynistic and undemocratic since political pluralism protects all ideologies unless you are a woman. With the complicity of the institutions that host these misogynist groups, Feminist women who defend gender-based rights are harassed for exercising their freedom of expression.
(translation by Sara Punzo)
Here you can find more documentation on Ley Trans
Here the feminists' open letter to the government
