Spanish soldiers are changing their gender from male to female to earn certain benefits only available to females, including higher pay and better sleeping quarters, due to a self-identification law aimed at helping transgender people.
Forty-one men in Spain’s north-Africa autonomous city Ceuta have made the drastic decision to change their gender on official documents from male to female since the so-called “Ley-de-Trans” or “Trans Law” was implemented in March 2023.
Of the men in Ceuta who’ve changed their identity, only four have also legally changed their name.
A majority of the now-female soldiers have kept every other aspect of life, including male genitalia, sexuality, and even facial hair.
“On the outside, I feel like a heterosexual man, but on the inside, I am a lesbian,” Army Corporal Roberto Perdigones told Spanish newspaper El Español. “And it is the latter that counts. This is why I made the legal change to become a woman.”
Those going through the “change” are doing so in hopes of promotions and raises, according to the Telegraph, citing military sources.
Perdigones says he was encouraged to change his gender because of “positive discrimination” and has since received a 15 percent salary increase.
“For changing my gender, I have been told that my pension has gone up because women get more to compensate for inequality. I also get 15 percent more salary for being a mother,” he added.
The soldier is looking to use his additional privilege as a woman to sue for shared custody of his 16-year-old son, assuming the courts will give him a better chance.
Perdigones changed his gender last year, and when he arrived at the barracks in Ceuta, he did so with hair too long to meet the male requirements and earrings, which the Spanish military prohibits men from wearing.
The army corporal was even given a personal bathroom because he wasn’t comfortable with sharing with either biological gender.
“I even have a private room in the barracks, all to myself, with a private bathroom. This is because I cannot be with men as I am a woman, and I did not consider it appropriate to be with biological women out of respect for them,” Perdigones said.
The transgender law, which was passed by lawmakers on Dec. 22, 2022, allows individuals 14 and older to change their identity without the need for any psychological or medical evaluation, although people between the ages of 14 and 16 need a parental or guardians’ agreement.
Children as young as 12 can go through the legal process of changing their gender identity, but their changes must be approved by a judge.
Spain’s left-wing government has also looked to add a female presence in the Guardia Civil and National Police force to 40 percent.
The government’s conservative opponents have attacked the attempts as “woke” progressive policies.
Other law enforcement agencies are seeing a rise in their members changing their genders as a form of rebellion against the law, sources told El Español.
“I have already seen several cases among my colleagues, and it is going to increase,” a Civil Guard source told the newspaper. “There are quite a few people who have requested it and are in the process. So, from time to time, the number is going to be much higher.”
