Denied the registration sex change requested by a sergeant who wanted to use the trans law to “promote to second lieutenant"
El Civil Registry of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has denied the request for a Air Force sergeant to register for it as a woman to get a job promotion. The judicial authority at the head of the Civil Registry has appreciated in this case that the applicant's intention was not to rely on the assumptions legitimized in the call trans law, but to benefit from the consequences of being a woman in terms of positive discrimination, according to the magistrate's order.
The Army sergeant's objective was promote second lieutenant committing a legal fraud (even though there are no quotas or positive discrimination measures in the Army). This resolution can be appealed before the General Directorate of Legal Security and Public Faith. The resolution of the administrative body, in turn, can be appealed before the ordinary courts.
The denial order, dated September 18, explains that the interested party presented the documentation in writing requesting the sex registry rectification preserving his own name. As stipulated in the regulations approved on May 26, the registry summoned the interested party on two occasions to carry out interviews: a first on April 27 and a second on July 26 — the maximum period for this second appointment is three months-. On this second occasion, the interested party was interviewed by an official and, in his responses, he persisted in his desire to complete the registry rectification.
Law fraud
Of the statements that the interested party facilitated that day, the order states, “It is not possible to deduce with sufficient certainty that the purpose pursued with your request is consistent with the objective pursued by the Law.”. First of all, the judge notes that there was “nophysical change” in the interested party. Nor that he requested the name change, given that, he assured, “that his name is also a woman's”. The soldier, in addition, referred to himself at all times in the masculine, he did not show “no gender expression in the context of social expectations”, nor in relation to the way of dressing, nor in the use of one or another name or pronoun, nor in behavior, nor in voice, nor in aesthetics.
He was unaware, in turn, of the difference between gender expression and gender identity, and stated “who feels like a woman, but does not want to be treated as such until her sex is rectified”. Likewise, he insures the car, “He indicated that he did not know of any support group for trans people, nor did he need psychological support from anyone.”. In short, the magistrate concludes that “Because of his profession as an Air Force sergeant, he wants to be promoted to second lieutenant.".
Abuse of rights
In reality, it would not have been of any use to him either, given that changing his sexual identity from man to woman would not have meant any advantage for the sergeant when it came to promotion to second lieutenant: in the Army there are no quotas or measures of positive discrimination, and from a legal point of view, there is no discrimination between both sexes when it comes to occupying jobs or destinations. The only advantage for women is that they must undergo less demanding physical tests to enter the Armed forces.
The key to the decision made by the Civil Registry of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is not in the trans law itself, but in the third guideline of the Instruction that the General Directorate of Legal Security and Public Faith promulgated on May 26 on the registry rectification that establishes that “The person in charge will ensure that there is no fraud of law or abuse of rights.".
This case can be used in other civil registries when dealing with cases that may be suspected of fraud.
The fraud of law is particularly noteworthy on this occasion: “Consequently, the use of the legal norm to obtain a purpose different from that provided for in the law, in addition to being fraudulent and contrary to the legal system, incorporates a special contempt for the dignity of the person who, in the case of people transgender, it has taken a long time to be recognized as a human right".
