Our colleague Anna de Nicolás, tells us her testimony of a day that has made history.
On the 16th of February, the last vote was held in the Congress of Deputies that would result in the definitive approval of Law 4/2023, of the 28th of February, for the real and effective equality of trans people and for the guarantee of the rights of LGTBI people.
It was perhaps the least solemn session, it was about approving technical partial amendments that had been approved in the Senate and had to be ratified in Congress, and although it was going to be something lacking in pomp and mere formality, I wanted to be there.
Uge Sangil, president of FELGTBI+ had previously invited me to attend the first legislative procedure in Congress, but as it was an initial act, it did not seem essential to me to attend, as it was the beginning of the procedure.
Why did he invite me? Because for some time I have been representing Colors Sitges Link at the level of the LGTBI+ State Federation as coordinator of the trans policies group, which in turn is part of the Federal Permanent Commission, which is a federal decision-making body. The purpose of this group is to make the voices of the different associations heard, including that of Colors Sitges Link in the elaboration and knowledge of the negotiation that is carried out by the associations with the government.
For those of us who have followed the process, it has been a tough one. Basically, it can be summed up in the fact that transgender people had a law that was already obsolete, Law 3/2007 of 15 March, regulating the rectification of the registration of the mention of the sex of persons (may he rest in peace), which obliged them to undergo hormone treatment and to follow a series of medical requirements that considered transgender people to be mentally ill. At the same time, on 26 March 2007, under the aegis of the United Nations, the Yogyakarta Principles were presented, which are a charter of human rights from the LGBT perspective. Principle 3, promulgated 11 days after the approval of the Spanish law, states:
Principle 3: The right to recognition as a person before the law: The sexual orientation or gender identity that each person defines for himself or herself is essential to his or her personhood and constitutes one of the fundamental aspects of self-determination, dignity and freedom. No person shall be forced to undergo medical procedures, including sterilisation, sex reassignment surgery and hormone therapy as a requirement for legal recognition of their gender identity. No person shall be subjected to pressure to conceal, suppress or deny their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Later, in 2012, the European Parliament echoed this recommendation and called on member states to legislate against the marginalisation of trans and lgtbi people.
In 2014, Denmark became the first country to provide for depathologisation and the administrative change of gender and name without a medical report.
The same year, in 2014, the various autonomous parliaments began to legislate in this regard, with the approval of Law 2/2014, of 8 July, on non-discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and recognition of the rights of transgender people in Andalusia. In Catalonia, Law 11/2014 of 10 October was passed to guarantee the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people and to eradicate homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.
In ten years, laws accepting gender self-determination are passed in Navarra, Basque Country, Cantabria, La Rioja, Aragón, Comunidad Valenciana, Murcia, Extremadura, Canary Islands, Comunidad de Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha,…
In 2017, an attempt is already being made to establish a state law that will equalise these autonomous laws and make them reach where the autonomous legislation cannot because it is a state competence, the civil registry.
The 2017 attempt is unsuccessful, but the PSOE supports the paper. Later, in 2018, the World Health Organisation removes transsexuality from the list of mental disorders, which means that there is no longer the possibility of diagnosing something that is not an illness.
In short, a consensus text is reached in the Council of Ministers on 27 June 2022 and the first vote is held (not without controversy due to unjustified delays) on 22 December 2022. The regulation goes to the Senate and is voted on 8 February 2023, returns to Congress for the final vote on 16 February and is approved in the Congress of Deputies with 191 votes in favour, 60 against and 91 abstentions. It is published on 1 March and enters into force on 2 March 2023.
Being at the Congress, to witness something so special has been important. A mixture of feelings. A day of stress, of not having slept, of rushing to get a good place to watch the session (I was behind a column), to see the atmosphere together with the rest of the activists was also very emotional. I must admit that some of the speeches brought tears of emotion to my eyes, and that is because, in some way, the dignity of the trans person and also of the LGTBI collective is repaired and given a voice and a vote.
Finally, the laws are cumbersome and cumbersome to enter into, but they change people’s lives in a way that nothing else does. This law is a great step forward, but it has also left non-binary people behind, with no recognition of their identity.
So from Colors Sitges Link, we will continue to fight to see on paper, in writing, those rights that are so hard to obtain and that can so easily be taken away.
