The Barcelona High Court has sentenced a trans-identified male to six months in prison after he was found guilty of committing a crime “against fundamental human rights and public freedoms” for posting “transphobic” comments on social media. The man, who has not been named, has also been ordered to pay a fine of 3,850 Euros (approx. $4,161 USD).
The comments were made in 2020 when the man, who will be anonymously referred to as P.O., took to social media to complain about a transgender influencer. While Spanish media did not release the influencer’s name, Reduxx has learned he is Violeta Ferrer Micó, an ex-prostitute and trans activist.
Last summer, Ferrer Micó organized and led a tour of Barcelona, called a “Trans Whoretour,” highlighting key areas where the sex industry had thrived. The tour was organized with the support of the trans theater company TiritiTrans Trans Trans Trans.
In his post, P.O. called Ferrer Micó a “prototype of a faggot with tits,” and stated “he can’t stand that I’m a woman and has a pathological dislike for me.” P.O.’s contention was that he believed he was a “real woman” because he had undergone genital surgery, while Ferrer Micó was not “genuinely” transgender because he had not.
The post reached Ferrer Micó’s work WhatsApp group and he claims that he was “outed” by them and suggested that no one had known he was transgender prior to P.O.’s remarks.
According to statements Ferrer Micó made to Newtral at the time: “From then on, I felt I had to give explanations about my gender identity. Everyone at work found out through Twitter that I never had genital surgery.”
Ferrer Micó reported P.O.’s post to X (formerly Twitter) and then filed a criminal complaint.
A Barcelona court ordered an “internet radicalism” task force to investigate P.O.’s social media and analyze his comment history to find further “publications that indicate animosity towards the group to which the victim belongs.” The subsequent report determined that the accused man was “not only belligerent with transgender women who are not operated, but also with the LGTBI collective.”
Their evidence included statements he had made in opposition of the Trans Law, which was legislation recently implemented in Spain to make changing an individual’s legal name and gender marker significantly easier. The investigation also found that between February and October of 2020, P.O. had posted several statements on Facebook, Instagram, and X in which he “denied transgender people without genital reassignment the gender with which they identify.”
Other messages that were found to be criminally transphobic included him stating that “there are only two sexes,” and that “transwomen are transvestites.” P.O. also said that “[the trans] community makes me feel infinite disgust.”
The court ruled that the “transphobic messages” had resulted in Ferrer Micó being “exposed” to his friend and work circle as a trans-identified male, suggesting that it had not been obvious or known before.
Spanish women’s rights advocates have cast doubt on that aspect of the case on social media, with one user, @OcheRadfem, asking “does anyone believe that they didn’t know he was a man? Are all the people he works with blind and deaf?”
When handing down the sentence, as reported in El Periódico, the court ruled that “the derogatory statements regarding gender identity … reflect the contempt [he] feels towards the group of transgender people who have not undergone genital reassignment surgery, and show, by questioning the gender (of the victim), a clear desire to inflict ridicule, and managing to generate [in the victim] feelings of humiliation to the detriment of [his] dignity.”
P.O. accepted the sentence imposed after coming to an agreement with the prosecution and declining to defend himself.
The court decided to suspend his six-month prison sentence on the condition that he pay the victim 3,850 Euros in compensation for the “emotional damages caused.” He must also take a course on equal treatment and non-discrimination. Failure to do so could lead to incarceration.
In addition, P.O. is disqualified from holding employment in any profession in the fields of teaching or sports for three and a half years.
The law firm who assisted in the man’s prosecution boasted of their victory on social media. The firm, Olympe, specializes in LGBTQ+ matters. According to their website, they identify as feminists, LGTBIQ+ and antiracists.
Speaking to Reduxx on the case, Spanish psychologist and author Carola López Moya, raised concerns about the fact that the media had previously referred to one of the parties in the case as a “woman,” stoking confusion and outrage. Moya is the author of “The Sect,” and was previously sued by trans activists who sought to have her removed from her profession for 5 years.
“This is an example of how the use of language far removed from biological reality generates confusion,” she said. “News media should have been talking about two males who self-identify as women from the beginning.”
On the case itself, Moya disregarded the argument between the two men as nonsensical.
“That a man believes that by amputating his genitals he is a woman… it is a sample of the dissociation that this doctrine fosters,” she said. “It instills in people a belief that it is possible to truly change their sex, and it is not.”