From "Ser-geant" to "Her-geant"???

 

I had to laugh at this news report.

Spanish soldiers are changing their gender from male to female to earn certain benefits only available to females, including higher pay and better sleeping quarters, due to a self-identification law aimed at helping transgender people.

. . .

A majority of the now-female soldiers have kept every other aspect of life, including male genitalia, sexuality, and even facial hair.

“On the outside, I feel like a heterosexual man, but on the inside, I am a lesbian,” Army Corporal Roberto Perdigones told Spanish newspaper El Español. “And it is the latter that counts. This is why I made the legal change to become a woman.”

Perdigones says he was encouraged to change his gender because of “positive discrimination” and has since received a 15 percent salary increase.

“For changing my gender, I have been told that my pension has gone up because women get more to compensate for inequality. I also get 15 percent more salary for being a mother,” he added.

The soldier is looking to use his additional privilege as a woman to sue for shared custody of his 16-year-old son, assuming the courts will give him a better chance.

Perdigones changed his gender last year, and when he arrived at the barracks in Ceuta, he did so with hair too long to meet the male requirements and earrings, which the Spanish military prohibits men from wearing.

The army corporal was even given a personal bathroom because he wasn’t comfortable with sharing with either biological gender.

“I even have a private room in the barracks, all to myself, with a private bathroom. This is because I cannot be with men as I am a woman, and I did not consider it appropriate to be with biological women out of respect for them,” Perdigones said.

There's more at the link.

Boy, talk about working the system!  I'm sure Corporal Perdigones was (and still is) laughing all the way to the bank.  It just goes to show:  if the system provides profitable loopholes, some people will exploit them for all they're worth.

Now, let's try that with a US Marine Corps corporal, telling his Gunnery Sergeant DI that he's now a woman - and a lesbian.  I have this mental picture of the Gunny's head exploding . . . and another of the unfortunate corporal doubling multiple times around the perimeter of the entire base wearing makeup and jewelry, with his (sorry - her!) rifle held above their head, chanting - and panting - "I'm whatever the Marine Corps says I am!"

Peter