News
Featured Image
 Shutterstock.com

April 12, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – The Spanish province of Madrid, which includes the nation’s capital, has passed a law on “transgenderism” that requires schools to allow “trans” males free access to women’s restrooms and changing rooms, and prohibits therapy for those who want to be cured of transsexual inclinations.

Although three bishops of the province have denounced the law and have even declared it non-binding on the conscience of Catholics, the archbishop of Madrid has made virtually no public statement on the matter, and says he hasn’t read the declaration of his suffragan bishops.

The law, which is called “The Law of Identity and Gender Expression and Social Equality and Non-Discrimination” declares that “Every person has the right to construct for themselves a self-definition with respect to their body, sex, gender, and sexual orientation. The orientation, sexuality, and gender identity that each person defines for himself is essential for his personality and constitutes one of the fundamental aspects of his dignity and freedom.”

This “right” of gender self-determination must be accepted by all institutions, public and private, according to the law. This holds even without surgery, hormonal treatments, a psychological diagnosis, or even government documentation. Simply declaring one’s gender as a certain sex is sufficient to impose the “non-discrimination” requirement, forcing businesses and organizations to treat the individual as if he were a member of the opposite sex.

The law also provides for hormonal treatment for “transgender” minors to prevent them from passing through puberty according to their natural sex, and it mandates instruction in schools to indoctrinate students in gender ideology, as well as the creation of publicity campaigns to legitimize transgenderism with the general public.

The bishops of Alcalá de Henares and Getafe, whose dioceses are within the province, have issued a declaration in opposition to the law, “unjust, and therefore, it obligates no one in conscience.”

However, the archbishop of Madrid, Carlos Osoro, hasn’t signed and even claims not to have read the declaration. In a recent interview with the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, the archbishop said that he is waiting for the whole national bishops’ conference to react before makes a public statement about the law, although when pressed he conceded, “I don’t like it,” and added, “I would place limitations on it.”

Find LifeSiteNews' translation of the Spanish bishops' declaration here.