Spain: A military officer takes advantage of the trans law to get benefits in the Army

On the outside, he is an ordinary man. But on the inside, Spanish Army Corporal Roberto Perdigones claims that he is a lesbian woman. He wanted this to be reflected in his identification documents. This is possible thanks to the Spanish Trans Law, which since 2023 has allowed citizens to legally change their gender because they feel like it. The decision to do this has allowed Corporal Perdigones to enjoy a series of benefits and privileges available exclusively to women per Spanish law.

Roberto Perdigones told his story in an interview with El Español and exemplified a situation that opponents of the Spanish Trans Law have criticized since it passed. The law, promoted by the previous administration's Ministry of Equality, which was in the hands of the far-left party Podemos, allowed Roberto Perdigones to legally adopt a female identity, without changing his life in any way.

"Since I can do it, I will do it," the military officer told the media outlet El Español. "Before I was screwed for complying with the law. Now, I continue to comply with the law but, after finding my gender situation, I have come out in favor. And if someone criticizes me, they may be committing a crime of transphobia," he added.

The government's gender perspective

The Spanish government, designed with a gender perspective, offers a series of benefits to women with the aim of reducing social gender gaps. The Spanish government wants to encourage women to join the Armed Forces. Females in the military receive incentives, which vary from one government to another, but are generally maintained in an understood pact between progressives and centrist conservatives.

A higher pension and his own room in the barracks

Corporal Roberto Perdigones fits the category of intersex/bigender when it comes to certain things. As the military officer explained to El Español, his retirement pension has increased. He will now receive the same amount as other women, who earn more once they finish their service. In addition, he also got a 15% salary increase for having a child, a benefit only available to women. Roberto is now seen as a woman in the eyes of Spanish law.

In the Army barracks, Corporal Perdigones has a private room, as he told the media, since he could not share a barracks with the men of his regiment and he did not want to bother the women. For this reason, he has a single room with a bathroom, something that the others do not have. Corporal Perdigones also said that he hopes to get promoted more easily thanks to the positive discrimination in favor of women that exists in the Spanish Armed Forces.

Affirmative action measures in civil service

This affirmative action is similar in other government bodies and forces. Military personnel can choose to become part of the National Police or the Civil Guard. Women have certain benefits when it comes to applying. One example of this is that physical tests have lower scales that have been adapted for biological women.

The paradigm that Corporal Roberto Perdigones presented in his interview was criticized at the time. Former minister Irene Montero, who wrote the law, and her team claimed that cases like this would not be allowed since they are fraudulent and these individuals seek to achieve legal and job benefits. However, examples such as Corporal Perdigones appear sporadically in the national press and cast doubt on whether this is the case. The Trans Law promoted by the extreme left was one of the weak points of the previous government, which ended up separating the Podemos party from the current administration. It has since led to terrible results in various elections.