Spanish soldiers and policemen are changing their gender in order to access benefits intended for women, an investigation has found.
Spain’s Left-wing government introduced a self-ID law in 2022 that made it simple to transition formally, while at the same time boosting benefits for women in the military and security forces.
Since the change was introduced, 41 men have become women in the Spanish territory of Ceuta in North Africa. Only four of that number have changed their names.
According to a report in online newspaper El Español, the vast majority of the 37 newly registered women are employed by the military or the police.
‘On the inside I am a lesbian’
Roberto Perdigones, an army corporal who registered as female in the last year, now earns more money and lives in superior accommodation.
“On the outside I feel like a heterosexual man, but on the inside I am a lesbian. And it is the latter that counts. This is why I made the legal change to become a woman,” Corporal Perdigones, who continues to sport a beard, told El Español.
Sources close to Ceuta’s security forces said male officers are changing their legal gender in the hope of gaining promotions.
Corporal Perdigones said “positive discrimination” was an incentive for becoming a woman.
“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 per cent more salary for being a mother,” he said.
The corporal explained that he was planning to sue for shared custody of his 16-year-old son because he thought his new gender status will give him a better chance in the courts.
After changing his gender last summer Corporal Perdigones arrived at the barracks with longer hair than is permitted for men, and earrings, which male soldiers are not permitted to wear.
“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.”
Under Spain’s transgender law, anyone can switch the gender entered on their ID card and passport by formally requesting the change, without any additional requirements such as a psychological or medical report, as was the case previously.
From the age of 12 children can also do so – but a court has to approve the move unless, in the case of 14 and 15-year-olds, their parents approve.
Spain has sought to boost the number of women in the Guardia Civil and National Police forces to 40 per cent.
The government has been accused of a string of “woke” progressive policies while in power, galvanising conservative opposition.
Some policies have also backfired, including a reform to sexual consent, which ended up leading to the early release of a number of offenders.
The Socialists were punished at the ballot box last year but managed to keep hold of their majority by a razor thin margin.
They are now embroiled in a major row over an amnesty offered to imprisoned Catalan politicians who conducted an illegal referendum to split from Spain.
The amnesty has been set up to gain the support of Catalan MPs in the Spanish parliament, so the Socialists can cling to power.
Sources told El Español that officers in the Civil Guard, the National Police and the Local Police in Ceuta were also changing their sexes for benefits.
A Civil Guard source said many are doing it as a “rebellion” against the progressive laws.
“I have already seen several cases among my colleagues, and it is going to increase, because 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,” he adds.
