Spain - Brief Version
Citation: TvT research project (2010). “Country Results: Spain - Brief Version”.“Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide” (TvT). Project website: http://www.transrespect-transphobia.org/en/countries/spain-1.htm
Date of information: January 2010
In this section, we have provided an overview with very brief summaries of the pertinent facts, for use as a quick information resource. For more detailed and elaborate information, please see the section “Elaborated Version”.
Trans Murder Monitoring results
General Country Information
Name of State: Spain
Area: 504.782 km2
Population: 43.397.000
Government: Parliamentary Monarchy
Capital: Madrid
Official Language: Spanish. Aranese, Catalonian (Balearic, Valencian), Basque and Galician are official languages in the corresponding autonomous communities.
Memberships: Spain is a member state of the European Union (EU), the Council of Europe (CoE), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the United Nations (UN).
Remarks: Franco dictatorship from 1939 - 1975.
Source: Cheers and Olds (2008: 252-253).
Recent Developments
2009: Approval of anti-discrimination legislation in the autonomous community of Navarra (Ley Foral 12/2009, de no discriminación por motivos de identidad de género y de reconocimiento del derecho de las personas transexuales).
2008: Spanish Government supports the Declaration of "Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity" presented in the UN General Assembly.
2008: Proposal for modification of the current Gender Identity Law (Ley 3/2007).
2008: Anti-Discrimination Plan, Catalonian Government (Plan interdepartamental para la no discriminación de las personas homosexuales y transexuales, Generalitat de Catalunya).
Date of information: January 2010
For more detailed and extensive information, please see the section “Elaborated Version” (coming soon).
Legal Situation
Constitution:
| GENDER IDENTITY IN CONSTITUTION |
||
|---|---|---|
| Constitution: |
Explicit mention of gender identity: no, subsumed under "sex". |
|
| Source: | Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project | |
Gender Recognition Legislation:
| GENDER RECOGNITION LEGISLATION |
||
|---|---|---|
| Legislation: |
Possibility of name and sex registry change: yes. Gender Recognition Law (Ley 3/2007, del 15 de marzo, reguladora de la rectificación registral de la mención relativa al sexo de las personas). |
|
| Date: | 2007 | |
| Proceedings: |
In the Civil Registry (Registro Civil). |
|
| Requirements: |
Of legal age; Spanish nationality; diagnosis of gender dysphoria issued by a physician or clinical psychologist who is a member of the professional association in Spain or holder of a recognized title; absence of personality disorders; two years of medical treatment, accredited by the physician, member of the professional association in Spain, under whose direction the treatment had been realized, or by a forensic specialist. Gender reassignment surgery is not required. |
|
| Privacy Protection: |
Yes (Art. 7, Ley 3/2007). |
|
| Marriage |
Modification of marriage status is not required, due to the existence of Law 13/2005 (Ley 13/2005, de 1 de julio, por la que se modifica el Código Civil en materia de derecho a contraer matrimonio), which allows marriage in independence of the registered sex. |
|
| Source: |
Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project |
|
Anti-Discrimination Legislation:
|
ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LEGISLATION |
||
|---|---|---|
| Legislation: |
On the state level: no. Law Foral 12/2009, de no discriminación por motivos de identidad de género y de reconocimiento del derecho de las personas transexuales. |
|
| Date: | 2009 |
|
| Other measures: |
Anti-Discrimination Plan, autonomous community of Catalonia. Plan interdepartamental para la no discriminación de las personas homosexuales y transexuales (Generalitat de Catalunya 2008). |
|
| Date: | 2008 |
|
| Actual Proposals and Initiatives: |
Andalusia (November 2009): Approval to admit the law proposal "Proposición No de Ley relativa a la no discriminación por motivos de identidad de género y de reconocimiento de los derechos de las personas transexuales" (initiative of the Socialist Parliamentarian Group) to legal procedures. Canaries (January 2010): Presentation of the law proposal "Propuesta de ley de no discriminación por motivos de identidad de género y de reconocimiento de los derechos de las personas transexuales" to the Parlamentarian Groups of Canaries (initiative of the Coordination Committee LGBT Canaries). |
|
| Source: |
Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project | |
Hate Crime Legislation:
| Hate Crime Legislation |
||
|---|---|---|
| Legislation: |
Explicit mention of gender identity in the corresponding legislation: no, only "sex" and "sexual orientation". |
|
|
Actual Proposals and Initiatives: |
Report of the Basque Obudsman (Ararteko de Euskadi): "La situación de las personas transgénero y transexuales en Euskadi" (Institución del Ararteko 2009): Recommendation to include discrimination on the grounds of gender identity as an aggravating cirumstance. Law proposal of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, 2009: Proposal of hate crime classification in which gender identity is explicitly mentioned. |
|
| Source: |
Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project |
|
Anti-Discrimination Regulation in the Penitentiary Context
| anti-discrimination regulation in the penitentiary context |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Legislation: |
Explicit mention of gender identity in the corresponding regulation: yes. |
|
|
Date: |
2006 |
|
| Source: |
Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project |
|
Asylum Legislation
| asylum legislation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Legislation: |
Explicit mention of gender identity in the Asylum Law: no, subsumed under "gender". |
|
|
Source: |
Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project |
|
Date of information: January 2010
For more detailed and extensive information, please see the section “Elaborated Version” (coming soon).
Social Situation
Health Care
AVAILABLE FORMS OF GENDER REASSIGNEMENT THERAPY
HORMONE THERAPY
MASTECTOMY
HYSTERECTOMY
VAGINOPLASTY
PHALLOPLASTY
METOIDIOPLASTY
BREAST AUGMENTATION
HAIR REMOVAL (PHOTODEPILATION, ELECTROLYSIS)
FACIAL SURGERIES
CHONDROLARYNGOPLASTY
| PUBLIC COVERAGE and organization OF GENDER REASSIGNMENT THERAPY | ||
|---|---|---|
|
National Public Coverage: |
On the state level, by the National Public Health System: no. Real Decreto 63/1995, de 20 de enero, sobre ordenación de prestaciones sanitarias del Sistema Nacional de Salud. |
|
| Regional Public Coverage: |
On the regional level, by the Public Health Systems of the following autonomous communities:
|
|
| Organization of Gender Reassignment Therapy: |
In "Gender Identity Disorders Units" ("Unidades de Trastornos de Identidad de Género"). In Aragon and in the Autonomous Community of Valencia: in different health centers. In Extremadura: referral to other autonomous communities. |
|
| Interventions covered by the Regional Public Health Systems: |
(not all Units have surgery services). |
|
| Public Coverage of Treatments performed in Private Health Centers |
On state level: no. On the regional level: Subsidies for trans perons in the Basque Country, abolished 2009 (Ayudas dirigidas a las personas transexuales, Gobierno Vasco 2007). |
|
| Source: | Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project | |
Date of information: January 2010
For more detailed and extensive information, please see the section “Elaborated Version” (coming soon).
Trans Murder Monitoring results
| 1. cristina "Smail" L. | valencia | |
|---|---|---|
| Name: | Cristina "Smail" L. | |
| Age: | 36 | |
| Date of Death: | March 24th 2009 | |
| Location of Death: | Valencia (Spain) | |
| Cause of Death: | Beaten to death | |
| Remarks: |
Victim was of Moroccan descent. The burned body was found in Aldaia. The autopsy revealed that the death had occured in a different place 48 hours before, that fatal injury was inflicted by a blunt object, and that the body was moved later to Aldaia and burned on a dirt track behind the cementery. |
|
| Follow-up: |
According to court sources, three men were arrested in August 2009 on suspicion of the homicide of Cristina L. The magistrate of Torrent let the three accused men out on conitional bail. |
|
| Sources: |
Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project: ABC 25.03.2009 & Las Provincias 26.03.2009, Levante-emv 26.03.2009 Follow-up: SentidoG 08.09.2009, Jeresgay.org 10.09.2009 |
|
| 2. Linsia C.C. | Burgos | |
|---|---|---|
| Name: | Linsia C.C. | |
| Age: | Approx. 40 | |
| Date of Death: | 3-4 days befor October 8th 2009 (the body was found on October 8th in a state of advanced decomposition). | |
| Location of Death: | Burgos (Spain) | |
| Cause of Death: | Strangled, with stabbing injuries | |
| Remarks: |
Sex worker, migrant (of Colombian descent). An acquaintance of the victim was not able to reach the victim by phone and called the police. |
|
| Follow-up: |
The police research, conducted by the Brigada Provincial de la Policia Judicial of Burgos, indicates that the likely perpetrator is an inmate of the prison of Pamplona, arrested at the end of October for aggravated robbery together with three others, who are presumed to have also been involved in the crime. Robbery is the supposed motive for the murder. The LGBT groups demand that transphobia be considered an aggravating circumstance in the case. |
|
| Sources: |
Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project: El Mundo, 08.09.2009 Follow-up: Noticias Navarra 29.10.2009 |
|
| 1. rosa pazos | sevilla | |
|---|---|---|
| Name: | Rosa Pazos | |
| Age: | 47 | |
| Date of Death: | July 11th 2008 | |
| Location of Death: | Sevilla (Spain), own apartment | |
| Cause of Death: | Stabbed to death | |
| Remarks: |
Stabbed in the thorax. |
|
| Follow-up: |
The autopsy revealed that the death was caused by stab wounds in the thorax, although this conclusion was later questioned. In October 2008, the homicide case was shelved because no indications of a fight or robbery could be found. It was concluded that the lung perforation could have been caused by an old pleural drainage and not by a stab wound. |
|
| Sources: |
Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project: Follow-up: Diario de Sevilla 07.10.2008 |
|
For a general surview and more information see the section "Monitoring TMM”.
Official statements regarding Gender Identity and Human Rights
2008: The Spanish Government supports the Declaration of "Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity", presented in the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN 2008).
2006: Support at the UN Human Rights Council for the joint Declaration condemning human rights violations on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity (Norway - Geneva 2006).
1989: Support for the Recommendation 1117 / 1989 on the condition of transsexuals, which recommends that the member states of the Council of Europe create legislation regulating the registration of change of name and sex, privacy protection, and the prohibition of discrimination (Parliamentary Assembly CoE 1989).
1989: Support for the Resolution on discrimination against transsexuals (European Parliament 1989).
Date of information: January 2010
For more detailed and extensive information, please see the section “Elaborated Version” (coming soon).
Recommendations
Recommendations of the Issue Paper "Human Rights and Gender Identity" of the Commissioner of Human Rights of the Council of Europe:
Member states of the Council fo Europe should:
1. Implement international human rights standards without discrimination, and prohibit explicitly discrimination on the ground of gender identity in national non-discrimination legislation. The Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity should be used to provide guidance for national implementation in this field. (…)
4. Abolish sterilisation and other compulsory medical treatment as a necessary legal requirement to recognise a person’s gender identity in laws regulating the process for name and sex change.
5. Make gender reassignment procedures, such as hormone treatment, surgery and psychological support, accessible for transgender persons, and ensure that they are reimbursed by public health insurance schemes. (…)
7. Prepare and implement policies to combat discrimination and exclusion faced by transgender persons on the labour market, in education and health care.
8. Involve and consult transgender persons and their organisations when developing and implementing policy and legal measures which concern them.
(Hammarberg 2009: 43-44).
Date of information: January 2010
For more detailed and extensive information, please see the section “Elaborated Version” (coming soon).
Sources
Law Texts
Aprobación de la Proposición no de Ley, relativa a la inclusión en el Servicio Andaluz de Salud del proceso de reasignación de sexo de las personas transexuales y medidas de acompañamiento para la normalización social de las mismas, en sesión del pleno de 10 y 11 de febrero de 1999, BOPA Boletín Oficial del Parlamento de Andalucía, 09.03.1999 http://www.parlamentodeandalucia.es/webdinamica/portal-web-parlamento/pdf.do?tipodoc=bopa&id=5231 (January 2010).
Constitución Española, approved 31.10.1978, ratified by referendum 06.12.1978. http://www.la-moncloa.es/NR/rdonlyres/79FF2885-8DFA-4348-8450-04610A9267F0/0/constitucion_ES.pdf (January 2010).
Instrucción 7/2006 de la Dirección General de Instituciones Penitenciarias, del 9 de marzo, sobre integración penitenciaria de personas transexuales. www.mir.es/INSTPEN/INSTPENI/rchivos/i-7-transexuales.pdf (January 2010).
Ley 3/2007, de 15 de marzo, reguladora de la rectificación registral de la mención relativa al sexo de las personas. Boletín Oficial del Estado, BOE Nº 65, 16.03.2007. http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2007/03/16/pdfs/A11251-11253.pdf (January 2010).
Ley 5/1984, de 26 de marzo, reguladora del derecho de asilo y de la condición de refugiado (abolished). http://noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/Derogadas/r1-l5-1984.html (January 2010).
Ley 12/2009, de 30 de octubre, reguladora del derecho de asilo y de la protección subsidiaria. Boletín Oficial del Estado, BOE Nº 26, 31.10.2010. http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2009/10/31/pdfs/BOE-A-2009-17242.pdf (January 2010).
Ley 13/2005, de 1 de julio, por la que se modifica el Código Civil en materia de derecho a contraer matrimonio. Boletín Oficial del Estado, BOE Nº 157, 02.07.2005. http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2005/07/02/pdfs/A23632-23634.pdf (January 2010).
Ley Foral 12/2009, de 19 de noviembre, de no discriminación por motivos de identidad de género y de reconocimiento del derecho de las personas transexuales. http://www.derecho.com/l/bon/ley-foral-12-2009-discriminacion-motivos-identidad-genero-reconocimiento-derechos-personas-transexuales/ (January 2010).
Ley Orgánica 8/1983, de 25 de junio, de Reforma Urgente y Parcial del Código Penal. Boletín Oficial del Estado, BOE Nº 152, 27.06.1983. http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1983/06/27/pdfs/A17909-17919.pdf (January 2010).
Ley Orgánica 10/1995, de 23 de noviembre, del Código Penal. Boletín Oficial del Estado, BOE, Nº 281, 24.11.1995. http://www.boe.es/aeboe/consultas/bases_datos/doc.php?coleccion=iberlex&id=1995/25444 (January 2010).
Real Decreto 63/1995, de 20 de enero, sobre ordenación de prestaciones sanitarias del Sistema Nacional de Salud. Boletín Oficial del Estado, BOE Nº 35, 10.02.1995. http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1995/02/10/pdfs/A04538-04543.pdf (January 2010).
Real Decreto 1030 / 2006, de 15 de septiembre, por el que se establece la cartera de servicios comunes del Sistema Nacional de Salud y el procedimiento para su actualización. Boletín Oficial del Estado, BOE Nº 222, 16.09.2006, http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2006/09/16/pdfs/A32650-32679.pdf (January 2010).
Law Proposals
EAJ-PNV (2008). Proposición no de Ley presentada por el Grupo Parlamentario Vasco (EAJ-PNV), sobre modificación de requisitos contenidos en la Ley 3/2007, de 15 de marzo, reguladora de la rectificación registral de la mención relativa al sexo de las personas transexuales. Boletín Oficial de las Cortes Generales. Congreso de los Diputados IX Legislatura, Serie D, Nº43, 30.06.2008. http://www.senado.es/legis9/publicaciones/html/maestro/index_D_043.html (January 2010).
Proposición no de Ley relativa a la no discriminación por motivos de identidad de género y de reconocimiento de los derechos de las personas transexuales, BOPA, Boletín Oficial Parlamento de Andalucía, 06.11.2009. http://www.parlamentodeandalucia.es/webdinamica/portal-web-parlamento/pdf.do?tipodoc=bopa&id=42513 (January 2010).
International Declarations
European Parliament (1989): Resolution on discrimination against transsexuals, 12.09.1989. Official Journal of the European Communities, C 256, 09/10/1989.
Norway-Geneva (2006). “HRC 3rd session. Joint statement on Human Rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity”, 01.12.2006. http://www.norway-geneva.org/unitednations/humanrights/hrc011206/ (January 2010).
Parliamentary Assembly CoE (1989). Recommendation 1117 / 1989 on the condition of transsexuals. http://assembly.coe.int/main.asp?Link=/documents/adoptedtext/ta89/erec1117.htm (January 2010).
UN, General Assembly (2008). 70th and 71st Plenary Meeting. Morning Session. http://www.un.org/webcast/ga2008.html (January 2010).
Other Sources
Cheers, Gordon and Olds, Margaret (2008). Geographica - Weltatlas mit Länderlexikon. Tandem Verlag.
Consejo Interterritorial, Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo (2006). Criterios, acordados por el Consejo Interterritorial, que deben cumplir los CSUR para ser designados como de referencia del Sistema Nacional de Salud. http://www.msc.es/profesionales/CentrosDeReferencia/docs/↵
AtencionTransexualidad.pdf (January 2010).
Generalitat de Catalunya (2008). Plan interdepartamental para la no discriminación de las personas homosexuales y transexuales. http://www.transexualia.org/DOCUMENTACION/plancat.pdf (January 2010).
Gobierno Vasco (2007). Ayudas dirigidas a las personas transexuales. http://www.ejgv.euskadi.net/r53-2291/es/contenidos/ayuda_subvencion/trans_2007/es_trans/trans_2007.html (January 2010).
Hammarberg, Thomas (2009). Human Rights and Gender Identity CommDH Issue paper July 2009. https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1476365&Site=CommDH&BackColorInternet=FEC65B&BackColorIntranet=↵
FEC65B&BackColorLogged=FFC679 (January 2010).
Institución del Ararteko (2009). La situación de las personas transgénero y transexuales en Euskadi. Informe Extraordinario de la institución del Ararteko al Parlamento Vasco. http://www.ararteko.net/RecursosWeb/DOCUMENTOS/1/1_1719_3.pdf (January 2010).
