This Thursday is a historic day for the trans collective: the Congress of Deputies definitively approves his law. Day of “joy” and “relief” for successfully reaching the end of a stormy process. It is also a time to stop along the way and heal the wounds of trans people: “There has been a lot of violence. There is nothing to repair so much suffering,” underlines the president of the State Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Trans, Bisexuals, Intersex and more (Felgtbi+), Oops Sangil.
With the obstacles overcome and with the trans law at the gates of the Official State Gazette, Sangil acknowledges in an interview with ‘El Periódico de España’, from the same publishing group as this newspaper, that he feared on more than one occasion that the norm would decline due to hostilities and political clashes. And he regrets the consequences that this has had on the lives and mental health of trans people.
“There has been a lot of violence. The group has suffered a lot, to the point of feeling beaten, violated; to the point of wondering ‘why am I still here?’ A part of the group, especially minors, have lived with distress this violence that has occurred with the law, with complex processes that have triggered emergency mental health“, he stresses.
The person in charge of Felgtbi+, a transgender person, denounces the transphobia that has accompanied political debate, hate speech and the questioning of trans identities: “It has been two years in which frustration and disappointment have been two constant elements. There have been times when hate speech has been total,” he laments.
And that has translated, he details, into suffering. “In these years, autolytic thoughts have been present in minors.” “To trans people we are not worth it so much suffering,” he says.
“Ideologies contrary to Human Rights”
Sangil did not expect such a strong reaction against the law, a “purely ideological reaction” that he attributes to a lack of sensitivity and empathy with the human rights of others: “When we talk about human rights, there is no room for discrepancy and lack of respect. It’s as if we were talking about a law against racism and there were those who were against it.”
“I think that the one who has complicated the processing of the law has not been the citizenship, the citizenship is mostly in favor. The political class has lacked pedagogy when processing this law without paying attention to ideologies contrary to human rights“, he thinks.
When asked if the PSOE has failed the LGTBI movement during the processing of the law (due to the opposition of leaders such as former vice president Carmen Calvo and amendments that sought to limit gender self-determination in minors), Sangil indicates that within the party there have been people who have intoxicated to other militants, representatives and senators with “interested and provocative lies” that “do not make sense or are sustained.”
Although he defends that at all times there have been socialists allied to the cause, he does not hesitate to say that “there has been a lack of a strong hand to separate” these intoxicating people.
Are you referring to the Prime Minister? “Yes, I think he should have intervened more forcefully in the last stage,” he concedes.
And he remembers while speaking to Carla Antonelli, who left the Socialist ranks for not sharing the party’s position during the processing of the law: “I know that Carla has suffered, cried and hurt, but I know that she is not sorry because above everything is his activism, his identity and his life. It was worth it to her.”
The fight does not end with the law
Sangil is aware that the fight does not end with the approval of the trans law, that the regulation is an important step, but there are other battles to fight.
To begin with, it is necessary that the law be applied well, that it be developed according to regulations and that it be put into operation. “The trans-exclusionary movement is still there, alive, it is the extreme right and they are not going to stop going against the trans collective. But also, PP and Vox are going to take this law to the Constitutional Court, we are clear about it. We have to keep fighting for rights“, it affects.
Likewise, it emphasizes that the law has not included the rights of non-binary trans people and has fallen short in terms of the rights of trans minors and intersex people.
Is the activist afraid that the political problems around the law of only yes is yes spill over into the trans law, which is approved at a time of tension in the Government due to the reform of the Penal Code? “No, the trans law is an administrative law. There doesn’t have to be any kind of controversy because a lot of work has been done so that it has legal security and it has been the PSOE who has implemented it, the former vice president Carmen Calvo. There doesn’t have to be any kind of clash, it’s been overseen by the coalition,” she says.
In these two years, there have been many voices critical of the trans law that, even from feminism, have charged against the norm arguing that it will go against women’s rights. Given this, the activist affirms that it is a hoax, “a fallacy.”
“This law does not try to erase anyone, but get rights. Trans people do not appear out of nowhere. We had a law in 2007, a proposal in 2019 and nothing happened and suddenly the reaction came. We have always existed, we have never erased women, we have always worked with the feminist movementby his side, and we will continue to be there,” he promises.
For Sangil, these two years have been very hard on a personal level, but the approval of the law alleviates his suffering and frustrations. “I cannot avoid being a transgender person and obviously because of this law all trans people have been questioned, my identity too. On a personal level it hurts, but I have assumed to be visible and to be in this situation and obviously you get ahead.”
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This Thursday is a happy day after the misfortunes.
“Getting to this moment has been exciting because there is a lot of work behind it. You feel joy because we have put everything we had of ourselves as activists and as people. We have law, it is not magic, but we are going to start building real equality“, celebrates the president of the Felgtbi+.