Date Published: 17/02/2023
ARCHIVED - Controversial trans law gets the green light in Spain
From the age of 16, teens in Spain can now change their gender on official documents without parental consent
After a two-year battle, the highly controversial trans law has finally been approved by the Congress of Deputies on Thursday February 16. This flagship legislation of the Ministry of Equality follows hot on the heels of the reform of the abortion law and allows teenagers aged 16 and older to change the gender on their passports and other ID documents without parental consent.
The trans law has caused more than a few crises within the Spanish government and several feminist groups and right-wing parties are fiercely opposed. The Association of Socialist Feminists has vowed to repeal the articles that include free gender self-determination immediately while councillor Pilar Moro has accused the Ministry of “experimenting with people”.
"They deceive people into believing that everything they want they have the right to have,” Vox politician María Ruiz added.
The detractors have likened the “harmful” consequences of the trans law to the disastrous ‘only yes is yes’ law, whose defective wording has resulted in the early release of dozens of sexual offenders.
What does the trans law say?
- The trans law recognises free gender self-determination and allows all those over the age of 16 to change their sex on official documentation like DNIs and passports. They can do so even if they are not undergoing hormonal treatment, without parental consent and without having to prove that they suffer from “gender dysphoria”.
- Minors between the ages of 14 and 16 will also be able to change their gender on the Civil Registry without being subjected to a clinical evaluation, but they must have parental consent. In the event that parents refuse, a judicial defender may be appointed to resolve the conflict.
- Children under the age of 12 can change their name on official documents, but not their sex.
- Under the new law, a person who has undergone a change of sex but wants to reverse the procedure may do so once six months have elapsed since the procedure. The reversal can only be granted if approved by a court.
- Conversion therapies will be banned across Spain, even if they have the consent of the person, and will be punishable with fines of up to 150,000 euros.
- Gay women without a partner and trans people “with the capacity to gestate” will now be able to access assisted reproduction, which is currently limited to married women or women with a proven heterosexual partner.
- The new text also recognises the filiation of children of two women, without the need for them to be married, a process that previously took months, if not years, in court.
- Finally, the reform replaces the words "mother", "parents", "woman" or "man" by "persons", "parents" or "pregnant parent," a modification intended to implement an "inclusive language."
Image: @IreneMontero
Loading
Sign up for the Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin and get an email with all the week’s news straight to your inbox
Special offer: Subscribe now for 25% off (36.95 euros for 48 Bulletins)
OR
you can sign up to our FREE weekly roundup!
Read some of our recent bulletins:
25% Discount Special Offer subscription:
36.95€ for 48 Editor’s Weekly News Roundup bulletins!
Please CLICK THE BUTTON to subscribe.
(List price 3 months 12 Bulletins)
Read more stories from around Spain:
Contact Spanish News Today: Editorial 966 260 896 /
Office 968 018 268