Translator introduction
As a trans person and committed anarchist living through the right-wing’s rapid and effective assault on trans existence in the United States, it’s clear that the need for powerful and effective mass organizing is of life and death urgency. Yet, for the most part, the responses I see tend to mirror those criticized at the end of this article: defensive, non-combative, diffuse and without strategy. This piece from the Liza especifist anarchist organization in Spain, which itself is a critical response to an essay put out by the Union Communiste Libertaire in France, represents some first steps in a different direction; one that’s more strategically aware and revolutionary.
The militants in Liza have made a point over the years of engaging in serious and constructive debate with other militants on the question of strategy, always with a focus on the specifics of context. We can see how the bulk of this article is spent analyzing the recent history of trans
struggle and backlash in Madrid, before finally offering a response. This format really shows the conjunctural approach of the Spanish especifists, which is refreshingly different from the one-size-fits-all theory and praxis common among US anarchists. It is my hope that by bringing some of these discussions into the anglosphere, it can help us build a queer movement that can move beyond self-protection to make tangible gains and build toward the complete liberation of all oppressed and exploited peoples.
-Coco, participant in Militant Kindergarten
Original text:
Liza’s Gender Commission also suggests reading the translation of “Toward a TransCounteroffensive” by the UCL (Union Communiste Libertaire), as a companion to this article.
Written by comrades from a French context, it presents a conjunctural analysis of the trans question on both the national and international levels. In it, they explicitly include trans issues in the feminist struggle, giving some key reasons for their decision to incorporate these ideas to
their political practice.
We encourage you to read their text, which can be found here: https://www.regeneracionlibertaria.org/2025/01/16/hacia-una-contraofensiva-trans/
This article represents our own reflections on the trans question. This is our attempt to adapt our comrades’ analysis to our own context, including our commitments to feminism and especifismo. We don’t believe the trans struggle will be resolved with a simple article. For us, we’re most interested in how to coordinate between different sectors of the working class and in the strategic debates about how to develop enough force to confidently push beyond partial demands. We want to know how we can win enough small-scale victories to make it possible to build a revolutionary social force. No more, and no less.
This article definitely won’t resolve such a complex issue, but it can highlight exactly why political organizations (especially those claiming to be on the same side) must explicitly include trans people as legitimate and valid members of the struggle, and not just the feminist struggle either, but the working-class struggle in general. We’ll come back to this subject later, but for the moment, let’s start with a quick analysis of the legislative situation surrounding the trans question where we live.
The present situation of the trans question in the Spanish state
To go along with the international conjunctural analysis at the beginning of “Toward a Trans Counteroffensive”, we’d like to include some quick remarks about the situation in the Spanish state specifically. The Trans Law was approved at the state level in February 2023. Since then, Madrid’s right-wing has managed to repeal some parts of the law at the regional level. Then on June 25, 2024, the government put out a press release affirming that the Council of Ministers would be filing an appeal regarding the constitutionality of the way the rules were being applied in the Community of Madrid [an autonomous administrative region, encompassing Madrid the
surrounding area].
The fate of all this remains an open question, but it’s clear that in the context of Madrid, the law, as it was originally proposed, is facing setbacks. You can see this in the pathologizing language at the legislative level, the cancelling of a center related to LGBTQ history, the added obstacle of requiring individuals to change their gender on their national ID before being allowed to change it their other documents, and the cutting back of school facilities that the original law was trying to make accessible to trans students.
It’s worth pointing out that although they did file an appeal of unconstitutionality, there’s still a lot of internal debates in the government about the issue, with one side being represented by die-hard transphobes. This hasn’t changed with the 41st Federal Congress that began in December 2024. This Congress approved an amendment banning trans women from signing up and participating in the “women’s category” in competitive sports, using characteristically right-wing arguments to delegitimize and discriminate against trans women. And, following their political roadmap, they have changed the acronym “LGBTQ+” to just “LGBT”, essentially excluding a large portion of sexual dissidents today.
While it’s true that not everyone’s in favor of these amendments, these resolutions are a very real example of the ongoing instability of trans rights, as well as the constant opportunism of political parties trying to attack each other and mobilize public opinion toward their own interests. In the process, they deny trans people the legal ability to assert their right to basic necessities and to be protected from discrimination. Like Shon Faye says, politically speaking, the trans debate is always on the table, but never in a way that gets to the actual needs of trans people, but instead only to talk about made up problems, like the supposed dangers for kids in bathrooms or the potential threat to women’s rights.
When it comes to the limitations and insufficiencies of the Trans Law, another blatant problem is its acceptance of conversion therapies. Although they’re prohibited at the state level, not a single restriction has been put on those defending these “therapies”, and they continue to be practiced. An association called “No es Terapia” says this is due to the fact that the power to initiate disciplinary proceedings rests with high-level, administrative bodies acting in accordance with the policies and guidelines of the autonomous government. Faced with quiet acquiescence like this, queer people are going to keep suffering from the effects of degrading acts and violence. This kind of bad administration is only one example of the many challenges that even a well-intentioned law has to deal with if it’s going to create real changes.
The Trans Law has no real response to extreme forms of violence like conversion therapy. But beyond that, it also doesn’t recognize nonbinary people, lacks measures that can confront already existing transphobia, and fails to call into question the premises on which capitalism and patriarchy rest, such as the binarism of sex and gender, the heterosexual couple, and the nuclear family.
In the context of Madrid, the origins and the significance of the legal loopholes that were pushed for in the original legislation are another important part of all this. For the right-wing, rollbacks to the Trans Law constitute a show of force, making their intentions clear: to identify the queer population, and the trans population in particular, as a threat to “women and children”. Conspiracy theories like these are used to take advantage of people’s fear of sexual violence in order to demonize entire groups that they, for some absurd reasons, assume are the perpetrators of that violence, such as migrants and trans people. Some of the other horrible things coming from the right-wing include: claiming that these groups are chronically ill and ideologically vetoing LGBTQI+ celebrations and representation in culture.
We also can’t forget the clear identification of a certain sector of feminism with the extreme right when it comes to transphobia. Although this alliance might seem unlikely due to the right’s uncontrollable misogyny and historical hatred of feminism, there’s no denying the overlaps given their arguments and attacks against trans people, even going as far as mobilizing together on more than a few occasions. We should remember that the representatives of this section of feminism are not only part of the institutionalized, neoliberal wing of feminism but also take part in social movements where they act as the vanguard of trans-exclusion. Their strong anti-trans positions led to a split in the historic March 8th protests in Madrid. The official protest organized by the Comisión 8M continued including trans people as part of the feminist movement, draping itself in trans flags, while the self proclaimed “Feminist Movement of Madrid” created a separate, parallel protest based on open transphobia and anti-sex-worker positions.
The continuous overlap that we can see between the legislative and social arenas in these disputes makes it clear that we need to look beyond the legal system if we want to understand the situation of a given population, like trans people. We can’t forget that transphobia, like all forms of discrimination, is manifested in every aspect of our daily lives. So, trans people experience various forms of violence at school, at work, in social life, and in family life, not to mention the challenges in accessing employment and housing. Trans people who choose to do hormone therapy or surgery are greatly impacted by budget cuts and the privatization of healthcare. This is even worse when combined with the lack of education on the part of healthcare professionals regarding the issue.
As libertarians, we don’t believe that the challenges facing trans people (like with all other discrimination and social hierarchy) will be fixed through the law. We believe that only with the end of capitalism can we radically transform society, overcoming material inequality and destroying the institutions that support it. Because of the limitations in making specific demands, we believe it’s necessary to articulate those demands in a structural and systemic way that can point the way toward the emancipation of the working class. In other words, rather than our ultimate objective, we see legal reforms as just another important stop on the road. We believe that winning certain partial demands can only bring us closer to victory if they’ve been achieved by linking together different sectors of the working class with a strategic vision.
We believe in the necessity of the Trans Law, just as we believe in protections to public health, in abolishing the anti-immigration Ley de Extranjería, and in legislative demands that seek to make gains in housing, among other things. We also re-affirm that trans people are members of the feminist struggle and part of the working class. As such, they are heavily impacted by the privatization of public services and by generally increasing precarity. In addition to these multiple processes of dispossession, there are also the specific forms of violence experienced by Trans people due to growing transphobia, which is a distinct focus of the far-right both locally and internationally.
Still, what we really want to get across is that laws are fickle and unreliable, something that’s all too clear in the case of Madrid. This means that to keep any working-class rights that have been won, a strong and coordinated working-class organization is essential. This is why it’s crucial to understand the plurality that exists within the working class. Although trans rights don’t speak directly to cis people, they are a victory for the working class in its entirety. This is especially true when they’re gained through coordinated struggle, which develops the necessary social muscles for confronting the growing precarity brought on by neoliberalism. Of course, it’s also crucial since we’re all part of the same class, and because we want the necessities of life to be met for all members of that class. For us, these necessities are naturally different but equally legitimate.
We also want to highlight how important it is to consider the needs and demands of different sectors of the working class; they all suffer from capitalism and from the interconnectedness of all other forms of domination to it. So, the specific contributions of each sector are key to understanding our common enemy in its totality, for developing tools and analyses of struggle that don’t just replicate the logic of said axes of domination but that can point toward emancipatory horizons for everyone.
Response to queer collectives and the need to rethink our struggle
In the wake of these attacks on the trans population, there have been a few different responses. In the broadest sectors of society, NGOs have been predominant. In more radical circles, we see protests critical of International Pride Day (J28) as well as informal networks for organizing events and spaces for queer collectives. When participating in these spaces, we’ve detected a notable reluctance toward syndicalist perspectives. Instead of deepening the discussions about different forms of social organization, symbolic protests and creating queer-specific spaces become the priority.
To be clear, we’re not trying to devalue the work of our comrades; we’re trying to put political questions on the table and push for more internal reflection from within the queer movement. We agree with UCL’s stance that networks of affinity are essential for the survival of trans people, but this goes hand in hand with the creation of solid, long-lasting organizations and structures capable of generating the mass revolutionary potential that was flaunted so boldly by the dissident gender movement of the past. We want, and believe it’s possible, to build a political force capable of strategically making gains today, while ensuring wide-reaching awareness and solidarity with the trans cause and taking part in deep social transformation.
In especifismo theory, social movements must gain the capacity to organize themselves autonomously, away from political parties, by establishing objectives, generating discussion, and building strategies that can move them toward their goals. We understand anarchism, not as a counter-cultural trend or as a separate movement in itself, but as an active participant and motor within the different parts of the working class, assembling together to defend their rights and to build horizontal social alternatives, whether centered around healthcare, education, housing, the trans struggle, feminism, antiracism, etc.
We aim to take part in different social movements so that we can help push for a society free of transphobia, one in which binarism, gender roles, and the imposition of the nuclear family are abolished.
In the publication Zona de Estrategia, Charlie Moya calls on us to overcome identitarianism and the potential recuperation of the queer movement’s radical social potential. We don’t want to get into the specific debates around whether or not it’s necessary to form specifically trans or queer structures, whether to focus militant force into unions in order to fight for our comrades while spreading the need to incorporate trans demands into their struggles, or whether to take part in platforms that defend public health access and seek new ways of coming together. Our intention, right now, is to expand and encourage debate. This is because we believe it is fundamental that the queer and trans movement comes together to reflect strategically on the current situation and how to organize ourselves to change it.
Likewise, we’re calling on all other organizations to do more than just put themselves in solidarity with the trans struggle by bringing in criticisms and questions specifically born out of experiences of this struggle, including their distinct arguments against patriarchal institutions.
We also shouldn’t overlook the significant divisions that the treatment of this issue has led to within feminism and on the left more broadly. For us, it’s absolutely necessary to confront right-wing discourse that blames trans people for the harms created by capitalism and patriarchy. To ignore the attacks on this part of society is to ignore the integrity of our trans comrades and to deny them their legitimate place in the working class and in the feminist struggle. It’s key that organizations form and stand up, taking part in these strategic and ideological debates to actively include trans people.
Now is the time to come together, to create robust alliances that can confront the far right, confront capitalism, and take steps toward the world we want to live in. Until we end all discrimination, whether based on gender identity, sexual orientation, race, origin or ability!
For us and for all of our compañeres
Comisión de Género de Liza
Further Reading:
Black Orchid Collective (20210) Queer Liberation is Class Struggle.
Queer Liberation is Class Struggle
Gleeson J.J, y O.Rourke E. (February 2024) Transgender Marxism. Pluto Press.
Liza (6 de marzo de 2024) 8M, feminismos y anarquismo especifista en Liza. Regeneración.
Mayo, Charlie. (22 de febrero de 2024) ¿Por qué el movimiento LGTBIQ+`debería disolverse? Contra el efecto pacificador de la izquierda. Zona de Estrategia.
Union Communiste Libertaire (21 de diciembre de 2023) Pour une contra-offensive trans.
References:
Faye, Shon (2021) Trans: un alegato por un mundo más justo y más libre. Editorial Blackie
Books
Galaup, L. (3 de julio de 2023) Vox inicia una cruzada en las instituciones contra producciones culturales con contenido LGTBI.
López Trujillo, N. (22 de diciembre de 2023) En España hay 15 Comunidades Autónomas con leyes trans o LGTBI, pero Madrid es la primera en “recortar” las suyas. Newtral.
https://www.newtral.es/reforma-ley- trans-madrid/20231222/
Lucas, J.C. (10 de enero de 2024) Las terapias de conversión aún existen en España y una asociación quiere frenarlas. El Salto.
Martos, B. (15 de enero de 2024) La reforma de la Ley Trans en Madrid. ¿Qué derechos vulnera? Amnistía Internacional.
Ministerio de Igualdad (25 de junio de 2024) El Gobierno interpone recursos de inconstitucionalidad contra la Ley Trans y LGTBI de la Comunidad de Madrid.
No es Terapia. Cambio Legislativo. https://www.noesterapia.net/legislativo
Noticias Jurídicas (18 de julio de 2024) El Constitucional suspende provisionalmente partes de la ley trans de Ayuso, entre ellas la posibilidad de permitir terapias de conversión.
Público (12 de febrero de 2024) El feminismo se separa de nuevo en el 8M de Madrid con los derechos de las mujeres trans como punto de discordia. Público/Europa Press.
Regueros, P. (28 de diciembre de 2023) “Las mujeres trans no existen”: los tuits tránsfobos de la nueva directora del instituto de las mujeres.
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