The Las Palmas judge dismissed the lawsuit and said the defendant was within reason to believe Ventura was a male given his masculine aesthetics and physical attributes, The Objective reports.
Marcos Ventura argued in the lawsuit that famous writer Lucia Etxebarria referred to him as a "man" in a 2020 social media post, which the plaintiff claimed violated the "right to dignity, equal treatment, and non-discrimination" law in Spain.
The judge ruled that Etxebarria's statements in the post complied with "the necessary finding of a sufficient factual basis on which to express public opinion." Ventura has been ordered by the judge to pay the writer's legal costs.
Refusing to entertain the idea of a settlement, Ventura sought 11,000 euros in damages, claiming that he had been "subjected to public harassment and scorn, multiple insults and numerous offensive comments derived from the public exposure and the target that the defendant put” on him, by “exposing [him] to her hundreds of thousands of followers."
The judge refuted Ventura's allegations and said no crime had been committed nor did Ventura suffer any damages.
Guadalupe Sanchez, the writer's lawyer, welcomed the ruling and said: "This sentence, although not final and subject to appeal, is an important step in the defense and prevalence of freedom of expression against those who want to impose censorship based on identity issues."
