Spain says it will ban trans women from women’s sports – and remove the Q+ from LGTBQ+

Spain’s Socialist Party has announced plans to ban transgender women from competing with biological women in sports, as part of proposed changes to the country’s LGBTQ+ laws.

The changes, announced at a party congress in Seville, also include removing the term “queer” from the LGBTQ+ acronym.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez – who was recently re-elected as secretary general of his Socialist Party (PSOE) despite corruption investigations in his inner circle – has defended the proposals, which aim to address concerns raised by traditional feminist factions within the party .

But the planned reforms have sparked strong reactions from LGBTQ+ activists and left-wing coalition partners who accuse the Socialists – leaders of the minority government – ​​of transphobia and alignment with far-right ideology.

At the heart of the controversy is a policy change that would limit participation in female sports to individuals “with a female biological sex,” according to a document finalized this weekend, according to The Telegraph.

The move follows criticism from feminist groups who claim that existing legislation has undermined women’s rights and compromised fair competition in sports.

The changes come less than two years after the passage of Spain’s 2023 Transgender Rights Law, which allows individuals as young as 12 to change their legal gender, albeit with parental consent or the judiciary for those under 16.

They have reignited the debate over trans rights in Spain, which is widely seen as one of the most progressive and safest places for members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Carmen Calvo, a former Socialist deputy prime minister and outspoken critic of the original law, welcomed the amendments which she said would “destroy the powerful battery of equality legislation in our country,” according to The Telegraph.

She previously warned that the self-identification policy could erode hard-won equality legislation, citing cases where newly registered transgender women used the law to avoid convictions for violence against women.

Advocacy group Contra el Borrado de Mujeres (Against the Extermination of Women) also praised the decision and urged the government to review regional and national laws that currently allow self-identified women to participate in women’s sports.

“This is a critical step toward protecting the integrity of women’s sports,” the group said.

The tension reflects a broader divide within the feminist movement, with some arguing that transgender rights undermine the gains of cisgender women.

The proposed reforms have also sparked a wave of criticism from activists and political allies alike.

Irene Montero, former equality minister of the left-wing Podemos party, denounced the changes, writing on X: “A trans woman is a woman. No matter what PSOE says, this is transphobia. The rights of transgender people are human rights. Anything else isn’t classic feminism or left-wing politics, it’s just transphobia.”

She also cited reports from Human Rights Watch, which condemned sex testing in sports as demeaning and discriminatory – despite a flood of scientific evidence showing that trans women have a significant physical advantage over biological women.

A recent United Nations report revealed the staggering number of medals female athletes have lost to trans opponents in elite sport and found that male-born athletes had gender-specific characteristics, such as higher strength, that were advantageous in certain sports and resulted in the ‘ loss of fair opportunity’ for biologically female competitors.

Several transgender athletes who transitioned after withdrawing from competition have also admitted they would have enjoyed an advantage had they competed against women.

Mar Cambrollé, president of activist group La Plataforma Trans (The Trans Platform), accused the Socialist Party of co-opting feminist rhetoric to justify the introduction of exclusionary policies.

She compared the PSOE’s “perverse use of feminism” to “right-wingers who claim that migrants are the cause of crime.”

“If a progressive party uses the same ideology as the far right and identifies us as harbingers of social evil, it is very dangerous for our democracy and the fight for equality,” she said in a post on social media.

For Sánchez, the decision to support these amendments is a political gamble that risks alienating progressive voters while appealing to a more centrist base concerned about the perceived overreach of recent transgender legislation.

Sánchez, one of Europe’s longest-serving leaders, has shown deft negotiating skills to stay in power since 2018, when he led Spain’s only successful no-confidence vote against his conservative predecessor.

Last year he defied the polls to win re-election by assembling a fragile coalition and earning another term through 2027.

But the 52-year-old has been hampered by a series of lawsuits – all still in the investigative stages – targeting a former member of his cabinet, his wife and, most recently, his brother.

Sánchez stunned Spain last April when he said he was taking five days off his public calendar to consider his political future after his wife, Begoña Gómez, was placed under investigation by a Spanish judge.

Ultimately, he announced that he would remain in power and make an effort to tackle what he called fake news that is “clouding” Spanish politics.

The judge is investigating allegations of influence peddling and corruption by Gómez.

The accusations were made by Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), a small group whose leader has ties to the far right. The group calls itself a union and has often tried to sue elected officials, even the sister of Spain’s current king.

The Socialist Party took issue with the fact that the accusations were based on articles published by media outlets, mainly websites, with a right-wing slant.

Sánchez refused to answer questions when summoned by the judge, citing his prerogative as prime minister.

Gómez has also been hauled before a committee led by regional lawmakers in the Madrid region, who say they are investigating her role as director of a master’s program at a public university. She denies any wrongdoing.

The prime minister’s brother, David Sánchez, is also under investigation. In that case too, Manos Limpias was behind the accusations of alleged influence peddling.

Last week, a judge announced she is investigating how David Sánchez was appointed to his post at the Ministry of Culture of the provincial government of Badajoz in southwestern Spain. David Sánchez denied any wrongdoing through his lawyer.

Government spokeswoman Pilar Alegría said last week that while the government respects the separation of powers and judicial processes, it has found “suspicious similarities” between the cases involving the prime minister’s wife and brother.

Another case that has been ongoing for several months revolves around an alleged corruption ring of businessmen and government officials suspected of receiving kickbacks for contracts to purchase medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.