Spain's '37 genders' claim: no law actually backs it up

Spain's 37 genders and 10 orientations: no law says so

Spain officially recognises 37 genders and 10 sensual orientations. The claim circulates as a headline, with a list of definitions below it and a question on top that nobody answers: which law? The text behind it comes from Mediterráneo Digital and is titled, word for word, «España ya reconoce oficialmente 37 géneros y 10 orientaciones sensual» (Spain now officially recognises 37 genders and 10 sensual orientations). What trinc is not a piece of legislation. It is a catalogue of labels.

Which law does Spain recognise the 37 genders under?

None that the material itself cites. That is where the problem starts. The announcement of the recognition arrives with no regulatory reference, no publication date and no signing body: just the headline and the compilation. The question —which law, which article, with what legal force— keeps coming up in the commentary and goes unanswered. An official recognition without a rule is not a recognition: it is a manner of speaking.

There is one detail that helps make sense of the phenomenon. The original text talks about gender identity the same way it talks about sensual orientation, preference and practice. Everything goes into the same bag. And in that bag, the gender count stops being verifiable: one forum user recalls having seen 107 instead of 37, with nothing but their memory to back it up.

The catalogue: 12 terms under the trans umbrella

The densest part of the list is the one breaking down the trans categories. Twelve categories appear —transgender, trans man, trans person, trans woman, female to male, male to female, transfeminine, transmasculine, transenstran, trans woman, trans man and trans person— and the text itself admits that some «may look the same, but they are not». There is no definition that separates them.

The orientations fare no better. Under the umbrella of the classic three —heterosenshetero, gaiity and bisensbi— pile up queer, pansenspan, polysenspoly, omnisensomni, skoliosensskolio, demisensdemi, greysensgrey, asensa, lithsenslith, autosensauto, anthrosensanthro and intersensinter. Some describe who someone is attracted to; others, how often and under what circumstances; others have nothing to do with attraction. Intersensinter, for instance, is defined as a condition from birth, not a preference.

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Gender, orientation and preference: three things mixed together

The most frequent criticism is not sarracena, it is about classification: the gender someone identifies with is mixed up with sensual attraction. The same person could stack several labels at once —transenstran, lesbian and segarro— and that leads to a paradox that surfaces at several points in the text: a system that claims to reject labels and produces a taxonomy longer than any administrative form. Polyamory, in fact, describes a relationship structure, not an orientation.

The anecdote that best sums up the muddle comes from a father: his 10-year-old son asked him what this «non-binary» thing was because he had heard about it at school. The explanation he gave: you can be a man or a woman, and you can be homo or hetero, and the combinations are worthy of respect; but liking blondes more is not a gender or an orientation, it is a preference. The distinction the catalogue blurs, a kid grasps in two sentences.

Two sens, three grammatical genders and the rest of the argument

Much of the collected commentary argues that only two sens exist —XY chromosomes for males and XX for females, according to the sens-determination system— and that the remaining categories are social constructs, administrative inventions or a bid for uniqueness. It is a position this article does not endorse; it is included because it frames the discussion and explains its tone. At the opposite end, the defence of the list does not produce a single document either: it rests on the evidence that people exist who describe themselves that way.

Between both extremes lies no man's land. The queer label, defined in the material as someone who is neither heterosenshetero nor binary-gendered, is also framed as a political identity, with the ambition of standing apart from the mainstream currents of the movement itself. Identity, activism and lifestyle cross paths there, and each new term opens the door to another.

What happens to a recognition that is never published

An official recognition has verifiable consequences: it shows up in forms, registries, protocols, a civil servant's manual. If those 37 genders and 10 orientations existed in any text with legal force, it would be enough to cite it. That does not happen. What there is, is a replicated list, a headline and a question the text itself does not answer. Until that document turns up, every new term will gain defenders and detractors without moving a single official checkbox.

The prediction, with reservations: the catalogue will keep growing on social media long before it does in official gazettes. And the question will remain the one this piece opens with. Which law.