A corporal in the Spanish Army has revealed how an administrative gender change under Spain’s new Trans Law has seen their pension increase, unlocked the child benefit since they are now recognized as a “mother,” and facilitated a move to a private room in the barracks with their own private bathroom.
“On the outside, I feel like a heterosexual man. But on the inside, I am a lesbian woman, which prevails. That’s why I made the legal change to being a woman,” said 35-year-old Roberto Perdigones in an interview with El Español online newspaper.
The soldier explains that they are a man, equipped with male genitalia and a beard. They have also fathered a son and remain attracted to women.
Roberto is one of dozens of officials stationed in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta to have used the far-left trans legislation to their advantage with reports this week suggesting that as many as 37 soldiers, police officers, and public officials have changed their gender in a purely administrative capacity in order to access extra perks as women.
Some are calling it fraud, but Roberto disagreed, citing that they have done everything required under the new legislation to make the change. In Spain, an individual can now legally change to the female sex through their own self-declaration with the Civil Registry of the gender they identify as without the need for medical reports or hormone treatment.
“As I can do it, I do it,” Roberto explained. “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.”
It took just two meetings with the relevant authorities in which Roberto insisted they identified as a woman for the gender change to be processed, unlocking several perks for the soldier.
“By changing my sex, as I have learned, my pension has increased. Because women earn more in their retirement pension to compensate for inequality. In addition, I earn 15 percent more when having a child,” they said.
“I even have a private room in the barracks, all to myself, with a private bathroom. 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. I have only made the room for myself since the sex change,” they added.
Roberto is also free to turn up to military drills with long hair and to wear earrings, unlike their legally male colleagues.
The sex change also has wider implications in relation to Roberto’s estranged 16-year-old son from a former relationship, with the new trans law making the soldier as much a mother of the boy as the biological mother, creating greater unintended legal complications in Spanish family law.
“As a father, I haven’t seen him since the child was three years old, but now I am no longer a father, now I am a non-pregnant mother. This means that I can fight on equal terms with my biological mother,” they explained.
“I am in the process of looking for a lawyer to recover what I have lost, always prioritizing the good of the minor.”
Roberto’s is not an isolated case, with dozens of officials following suit with the speedy administrative process unlocking ample perks and protections previously reserved for biological women.
“In Ceuta, it is possible that the phenomenon is so high because, as I have been told, there are competitive academies in which they even recommend changing to a woman and Ceuta is a city of civil servants, for the most part,” Roberto said.
According to El Español, of the 41 people in the Spanish enclave to have undertaken the process to date, 37 have kept their male names, remained in their heterosexual relationships, and have made no real adjustment to their lives.
