The bell violently breaks the stillness of the corridors of a public high school in Seville announcing the time for recess. Within seconds, they are assaulted by hundreds of young people who, relieved, are looking for a break. Among the teachers, however, a climate of uncertainty reigns. They have been urgently summoned -with less than twenty-four hours notice- to an extraordinary assembly.
In a matter of minutes, almost all of them have filled the large space of the teachers' lounge, presided over by the serious face of the school's director. A general murmur echoes in the room, and the looks suggest more doubts than certainties. The head of the institute, paused, takes the floor: a boy, no older than fourteen, expressed to the management the day before, his desire to be known as Ana.
The hand of an association - which, curiously enough, is present in the promotion and management of all these cases - and without prior announcement, went to the institute, demanding compliance with the "Action Protocol on Gender Identity in the Andalusian Educational System.The "Education" program, which was launched before the start of the 2014-2015 academic year by the Ministry of Education of the Andalusian Regional Government.
None of those gathered knew what they were talking to him about. "But do we have to call him Ana right after the break?", asked one of the attendees. "This is the way it has to be", the director replied with little confidence. "At least, there will be some medical or psychological report, or some judicial opinion to back up your position, won't there?", questioned another. "Nothing, and according to the Protocol, it is also not mandatory for there to be".
Perplexity reigned in the atmosphere and the director added: "In fact, in a short period of time, a member of the CEP will be sent by the Department to Centro del Profesorado, dependent on the Consejería de Educación [Teacher Center, dependent on the Consejería de Educación]. to provide the corresponding courses on the prevention of gender violence to the teaching staff, students, and even to the parents of the school's students.". The meeting ended with more questions than there were at the beginning.
This is one of the cases that have occurred lately in the national territory. In February, the case of Luken, a resident of Guipuzcoa, who, at only four years of age, was recognized by a judge in Tolosa as a girl, came to light. She may not know how to tie her shoelaces with sufficient dexterity, and she certainly does not read a page of her primer. But the door has been opened for him to pass over his own sex.
Neither the boy who now wants to be Ana has been offered a time for reflection, nor the little Luken to wait until he has the use of reason. Until they are eighteen, they will not be able to vote, drive, sign a substantial contract or open a bank account. But in the complex world of self-acceptance, emotions and affections, they have been left alone.
Precisely when the wind of confusion is at its strongest; just when the night of doubt has grown darkest; just when they most needed a clear light and a safe haven, they have been abandoned to their fate. All the proposal they have received has been: "Don't fight; surrender. That I am at your side to see you surrender your weapons."
Not long ago, the priest and journalist Santiago Martin alluded to the sufferings of Christ as he hung on the Cross. He was referring to those who rebuked him in his agony. They did not do so with insulting words; they simply repeated what the devil had intended some time before: "Save yourself by coming down from the cross!"they said. "Reject God's plan! work according to your will! surrender!". But on Calvary Jesus found in his Mother the gaze that sustained him: "....Let the Father's Will be done in you, My Son!".
Even in the hour of the storm, these children, like so many others, do not need associations or protocols that instrumentalize their pain to achieve their ideological ends. We must encourage them to remain firm in hope. And in this way, they will understand that "the acceptance of one's own body as a gift from God is necessary to welcome and accept the whole world as a gift from the Father and as a common home". (Encyclical Laudato si').
