“I am lost… Where is the patriarchy?”
That’s what the sign says. The sign on the effigy of Spain’s First Vice President, Carmen Calvo, which is hanging by the neck from a tree.
This chilling spectacle is the work of Spanish trans activists.
They hung up the effigy during the early hours of the morning on Friday 19th February in a small square in Santiago de Compostela, the capital of Spain’s Galicia region.
No doubt it is supposed to serve as a warning to anyone who dares oppose their demands.
Spain’s Equality Ministry has prepared a draft bill that would allow people to formally change their sex without any medical diagnosis or treatment. Anyone over 16 could legally change their sex, or list themselves as ‘non-binary’, on official ID documents and at the civil registry with only a simple sworn statement.
Following the result of the 2019 election, Spain has a coalition government made up of ministers from the Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) and Unidas Podemos. The latter is determined to push through self ID legislation and it is to this party that the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, belongs.
Certain members of the Socialist Workers Party, however, oppose the introduction of self-ID and have been critical of this bill. In June 2020 they outlined the dangers of such legislation in an internal document that was subsequently made public. The statement was titled “Arguments Against Theories Which Erase the Reality of Women”.
“There is a growing polemic regarding the use and confusion, sometimes with a hidden agenda, of some fundamental feminist concepts, such as sex and gender. There are some theories (specifically queer theory) which are gaining ground around the academic and activist world, and which deny the existence of biological sex, given that they blur and obscure the material realities of women. If we deny the existence of sex, we deny the inequality which is measured and constructed on the basis of this biological fact.”
Carmen Calvo was one of the signatories to this document.
You may remember that back in November we reported on the persecution of 84 year old Lidia Falcón, lawyer, writer, life-long advocate of women’s rights and founder of the Feminist Party of Spain. She become a target for Spain’s trans activists due to her defence of women’s sex based rights and her opposition to self ID legislation.
Prominent trans activist, Mar Cambrollé, of the Trans Platform Federation, filed complaints against her. Although the case has recently been dropped, for months she faced charges for ‘hate crimes’.
Now Spanish trans activists have another target in their sights; Carmen Calvo. Not only did she sign the Socialist Party statement critising self ID, in recent weeks she has continued to voice her concerns over the proposed legislation and she has been blamed for delays in the bill becoming law.
It seems that, yet again, Mar Cambrollé of the Trans Platform Federation is leading the charge.
Trans Platform Federation have demanded Calvo’s resignation and even threatened to go on hunger strike if the bill is not passed into law.
According to Spanish publication, El Común, Trans Platform Federation have marked out Carmen Calvo for weeks as being ‘for it’.
And now there is an effigy of Calvo hanging by the neck from a tree in a Spanish square. Because rage, violence and intimidation often result from women saying “No” to males.
We salute your courage and integrity, Ms Calvo. Tus hermanas están contigo.
Just had a quick look at the trans responses in Spain. Some of it’s along the lines of: “ it’s just a carnival tradition of hanging / burning political effigies . Franco banned it, so stop whining about it you fascist trans-murdering pigs.”