Lucas Sánchez is 17 years old but has great maturity. Perhaps all the things he has had to overcome in the few years he has been alive have strengthened that character. This young man from Madrid is a trans boy. He is a lucky one. Since he was very young, he has had enormous support at all times. “I knew who he was early on. Even to our parents’ surprise, we’ve known it for as long as we can remember.” But even so, his path has been arduous and difficult. In a candid interview with NIUS, Lucas talks about gender self-determination, about the alleged ‘fashion’ and the “false boom” of trans adolescents, about prejudices with their group or about the difficulties that these children and young people encounter at school. or in high school. And he also remembers the best moment of his entire process: the day he told his house who he really was and between his mother and him they chose his new name. He asks: Those directly affected by this law are trans people like you. But you, do you feel that you are at the center of the debate? Answer: Trans people and trans minors should be at the center of the debate, I think no one has asked us. I think that it is not right to debate about people’s human rights because they are still human rights. In addition, I consider that excluding minors is against these human rights and against the Spanish constitution. Q. What do you think of this law? A. That there is a law is the first step of many more. It is completely necessary and urgent. It must also be said that, at the beginning, this law was 75 pages only for the trans law, and that in the end it has been reduced to 54, unifying it with the LGTBI law (before they were two different texts). Of these 54 pages, specific for trans people are only five pages. I think it does not endorse the entire group, it leaves children under 12 years old out, migrants and non-binary people and I think it is incomplete. This law still says that children under 12 years of age have no right to self-determination. I believe and hope that once it is approved, we will move forward and improve. The problem is that they are reducing everything to politics, not to human rights. Giving rights adds, not subtracts. In recent years, hatred towards trans people has been increasing and our lives are in even more danger. Perhaps with this law we will begin not to be questioned and perhaps we will begin to be respected. They are rights that I and all trans people should have like any other citizen. Q. What does self-determination imply? A. What it implies, which is basic, is the recognition of who we are. We don’t ask cisgender people (people whose gender identity and expression matches their biological sex assigned at birth) who they are and why, or send them to a psychiatrist to see if they’re right in the head and they really are clear about who they are, nor do they force them to take hormones to reaffirm who you are. With the previous law, to change the sex on the DNI, you had to be of legal age and be hormonal for two years. Trans people do not have to be forced to take hormones, they know who they are. The 2007 law is for adults, but there is a 2019 Constitutional Court ruling that says that it is not constitutional to discriminate against minors based on age. From there, the minors were able to make the change and process their documentation. Q: Many wonder how a boy will know that his sex and her gender do not match? R. We know it and also from a very young age. For as long as I can remember, I know who I am and how I feel, but even so, my journey has been arduous and complicated. People have a lot of misinformation, they are ignorant on some issues and that generates violence, both in the classroom and in public institutions for paperwork or medical issues. I have been more or less lucky in the medical area, but at school I have suffered verbal and even physical harassment and in administrations, hostility or even the refusal to process things for which there was already a rule. But, beyond the violence that I have suffered, the important thing is how I have handled this process. Q. And how has your process been? Ever since I can remember, I have known perfectly well who he was. It had no name, but it did have a gender. He was very small and had behaviors that we would associate with a man. I always imitated my father, not my mother. At that time, my parents did not know how to associate it with him being a trans boy, but they knew something was up. At first they didn’t see it as a problem, but since he didn’t behave as expected of me, because I felt out of place, I have always suffered discrimination. When the criticism from abroad became too great, my parents sought help. We went to an LTGBI association and met different families, different people, trans men and women, and there we began to realize who I was. I was Lucas. I have been lucky enough to be born into a family that has always listened to me and supported me, but not everyone has it. There are people who don’t listen to her, don’t support her and even kick them out of the house. And so, with that fear, you should not live. Q. At school, how have you experienced it? Always complicated, students have misinformation and prejudice and do not treat you well. And some teachers do not make it easier, moreover, they have a negative influence. They themselves disrespect you and do not understand it and thus increase hatred in the educational community. I’m already doing 1st year of Baccalaureate in my fourth institute. It hasn’t been easy. Now, at last, it seems that I have found my place. Q. When they insulted you, did you tell them at home? R. No, many times I have kept quiet about it. I have been bullied since childhood. Once I arrived with an almost broken nose and told my parents that I had fallen from a slide. Sometimes, telling it is scary and generates doubts, because you fear that the consequences could be worse. At that time I had not said who he was, but since my behavior was not what was expected, they messed with me. Q. Have you changed your name and gender on your DNI? A. Yes, my documentation is completely changed. Of course, it took us about three years to change everything. One of the hoaxes that are going around is that with this law it will be very easy to change things, it will be a step, but it will not be that easy. In my case it has been a lot of paperwork and we have not always met nice people at the windows, let’s leave it there. They put a lot of obstacles in your way. Despite there being a rule that allowed me to change my name on the DNI, there were still prejudices from the people who had to carry out that rule. People may not know that there are 14 autonomous communities that already have laws, most of them with the word self-determination, in which you can change all your documentation, the only thing that they do not allow you is the change in the registry. Q. Have you had references that have helped you? I would like to say yes, but it hasn’t. The first time I met a trans man, I was 11 years old and the process was already done. Unfortunately, before there was not so much visibility of trans people. I think it’s very important to have role models, seeing yourself represented in a society in which you don’t feel represented gives you a break, you think, maybe I’m not the only one, I’m not different… It’s very difficult to get to school and see that from The beginning already determines who is a boy and a girl and the genitals that each one has. From the age of three you no longer see yourself represented, it is as if you did not exist. That leads to conflict for trans people but also for other colleagues. We do not exist for them. They deny us our existence from the moment we arrive at school. You take out a natural book and you are not there. Nobody can tell us who we are. R. What do you think of those who say that this is a teenage fad? Q. 20 years ago there were the same trans but there were not so many rights. Now, although the laws are not complete, there are 14 autonomies with self-determination laws, even if it is only to change the name on the transport pass, or the health card, or in the library and they can call you by the name you have chosen according to how you feel. But before all that did not exist. It is not a fashion, you do not say; I’m going to try, now I’m trans. It is not made, it is born. I am Lucas, I have not become Lucas. Now there is more visibility and that means that people are not so afraid to come out of the closet. In spite of everything, we must not forget that this is not a path of roses and not all environments help. This road is very, very hard and difficult and you have to put up with a lot of pressure every day. Anyone would fall apart, but a minor more. If an adult questions you, it is even more difficult. Social pressure for a minor is more important than for an adult and affects us more. R. They also talk about transition regret There are several studies that support that transition regret is very residual. But I think people don’t regret being who they are, you can’t regret who you are. Yes, it is true, that there are people who, due to their situation, have had to hide again, but they do not regret it. You are who you are and that doesn’t change. Laws should not be made thinking about who can cheat, but about giving rights. R. Your worst and your best memory of these years of transition? Q. I start with one of the worst times I remember. It was a day at school, when I was already Lucas and a teacher spent the whole day calling me in feminine and waiting for me to answer her. It was very humiliating to the point of making me cry. The best memory was when I was 11 years old when I expressed it out loud: ‘I don’t feel like a woman, I’m a man’ and I saw total acceptance in my family. My mother said, “Now let me choose the name for myself. I already chose the other one when you were born and I would like to choose the new one.” In the end we chose it together. It was very exciting.