Scarlet Jenkins
THE Spanish Government has pledged to create a law protecting transgender people.
“This Government supports the people of the LGTBI collective with all its letters,” a Ministry of Equality spokesperson said.
The Government promised to legalise self-determination of gender and the depathologisation of being transgender.
This means that Spain will begin to recognise being transgender as a health or behaviour condition, rather than its current status as a ‘medical condition’.
Three laws will be made in order to put legislation into place: the LGTBI equality law, the trans law, and the equal treatment law.
The upcoming legislation was explained yesterday by Spain’s Minister of Equality, Irene Montero.
Her statement went on to address Spain’s previous history with the transgender community, stating that they are, ‘aware of the historical debt it has with trans people.’
A recent transphobic attack in Cordoba in March left a 17-year-old transgender girl, Brianna, semi-unconscious on the floor after being verbally abused and attacked twice.
On social media, Brianna said: “I’m too young to go out in terror, to walk the streets in fear of being killed for being who I am.
“But despite the fear I also have anger, courage, hunger, and thirst for justice and I don’t want this to happen to any more women.”
Data released by the OSCE Hate Crime Reporter showed that 16.2% of Spain’s hate crimes reported in 2018 were related to ‘sexual orientation or gender identity’ in Spain.
“The LGTBI collective and trans people suffer an intolerable violation of rights daily,” said Montero yesterday.
The LGTBI equality law, the most advanced of the three, will be mainly educational.
It will be an attempt to ‘stop discrimination against the community’ and assure they ‘have their rights’, according to The Huffington Post.
It is unknown when these laws will come into force, but the Ministry has said it will be enacting them urgently and considers trans rights ‘a relevant political issue.’
