Top Spanish court considers far-right challenge to LGBT law
International
Spain’s Constitutional Court said Tuesday it would consider a legal challenge lodged by the far-right Vox party against a new law extending rights for transgender teenagers and encouraging tolerance for sexual diversity in schools.
The wide-ranging LGBT rights law passed in February allows any Spanish citizen over 16 years to change their legally registered gender without medical supervision. Minors aged 12-13 still need a judge’s authorization, while those between 14 and 16 must be accompanied by their parents or legal guardians. Previously, transgender people needed a diagnosis by several doctors of gender dysphoria.
The Constitutional Court issued a statement confirming it had considered a legal brief lodged by Vox lawmakers and would analyze alleged violations of parental rights, the right to religious expression, freedom of speech and equality of all citizens before the law.
Vox said the recent legislation, which was promoted by the far-left United We Can party within Spain’s governing coalition, introduced “state interference in areas that should remain strictly personal.”
The far-right movement argued that a parent’s right to oversee the religious education of their children, which is guaranteed in the Spanish constitution, was violated by the introduction of material in schools aimed at teaching children to respect and tolerate sexual diversity.
It also attacked the introduction of gender self-identification, which allows anyone to change their legal gender without prior authorization from a doctor or judge, endangers women’s rights. It referred to the case of a convicted rapist being held in a women’s prison in Scotland while transitioning. That inmate was transferred to a men’s prison after being assessed by prison authorities.
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