Spain passed the ‘Ley Trans,’ or ‘trans law,’ on February 16th, enshrining transgender ideology in national law—but the reality is that it has already permeated much of the country, resulting in an explosion of transgender cases in the health care system.
In January, while there was still time to stop the final passage of the proposed law, the feminist group Confluencia Movimiento Feminista published the first study of the transgender phenomenon in Spain.
It found that, since 2014, more than 40 laws and regulations have been passed at the regional level in favour of facilitating medical ‘transition’ to the opposite sex.
“The data analysed reveals an exponential increase in the volume of people cared for by units specialised in the treatment of gender identity in all the Autonomous Communities,” the study stated.
It called the escalation, which it estimated has been notable for the last five years and “accelerated in the last two,” a “result of exponential growth parallel to the approval of transgender laws and protocols in the Autonomous Communities based on the so-called “affirmative model.” The growth came principally through an expansion in the number of young people and children seen for gender treatments, particularly females. In one region, women made up 86% of the cases of sex reassignment procedures and, in another, 70%.
The study found that in Valencia, the number of transgender cases grew by more than 10,000% between 2016 and 2021. In Catalonia, it grew by 7,000% between 2012 and 2021, with the number of new cases increasing by 40% between 2020 and 2021. In Madrid, between January and August of 2022 alone, the endocrinology departments of the city’s six public hospitals received a total of 848 visits from referrals by the gender identity units, almost half of which were first consultations.
The study also found that in many of the regional health systems, protocols prohibited all non-affirmative psychotherapy and did not require a psychological evaluation before starting cross-sex hormone treatments.
“In childhood and adolescence, it is explicitly recommended not to establish mental health assessment as a prerequisite for hormone therapy,” the study read.
Protocols only recommend referrals to mental health for minors undergoing hormonal treatment for “psycho-emotional accompaniment.”
It noted a difference between parts of the country that had passed laws in favour of gender ideology and those that had not.
“Although with great caution, we can observe differences between Autonomous Communities with or without a transgender law: in the Autonomous Communities without a transgender law, there are clearly more men [undergoing transgender treatments] and a slower rate of growth in the cases of women and minors,” it found.
It concluded: “In other words, where a service is installed and the transgender ideology begins to be publicised, more cases occur.”
Now, these protocols have been solidified in national law, which also allows for the “self-determination” of gender. Citizens can now change their gender in the civil registry without medical evidence, and change it an unlimited number of times.
But elections are right around the corner and the country’s political Right, which is likely to oust the current socialist government in the next elections, has pledged to undo the law should it come to power.
Alberto Nuñez Feijóo, the leader of the centre-right Partido Popular (PP) said in comments to the press that if his party won elections he would reverse the law, but there is little evidence of his party’s strong stance against the creep of transgender ideology. In fact, the party only abstained (instead of voting against) the ‘trans law.’ Additionally, his party passed a law in the Madrid regional government in 2016 that allows minors to undergo cross-sex hormone treatments without the consent of their parents.
The PP is again governing the regional community, though with support from the conservative Right party VOX, which has challenged the PP on this point. VOX, under regional leader Rocio Monasterio, refused to support this year’s budget unless the PP agreed to reverse the regional transgender law. The PP refused.
VOX, in addition to pledging to take down the law should it have the chance, is challenging it in the country’s legal system, a move that the PP has not yet committed to.
