THE PORTUGUESE TRANSGENDER EXPERIENCE
You know, growing up in Portugal, it never seemed that great. We’re a poor country, largely ignored because of the Spain directly next to us, not really standing out for any reason other than football and Cristiano Ronaldo. I didn’t used to care about my country, but I was always proud of our LGBT policies which are amongst the best in the world. We had a rough era in the 20th century with an intensely religious dictatorship but despite this horrible past we legalised gay marriage in 2010, which means almost half of my life it has been legal. We have the same age of consent and anti-discrimination laws.
However, gender identity laws have been lagging behind. Being transgender in Portugal isn’t a horrible experience, however having to be assessed by two different teams of doctors over the course of months or years to be “diagnosed” with transgenderism and gender dysphoria, coupled with the fact there aren’t many decent public services meaning you need to take the horribly expensive private route means it isn’t easy.
The Left Bloc party has been pushing for better LGBT laws, including same sex couple adoption being legalised just two years ago due to their efforts. This year, better transgender laws have been the talk of my country due to a bill introduced by them in 2016 which focuses on allowing self-determination when it comes to your gender. This means you wouldn’t need to spend years being assessed for a “disorder” to change your gender and name legally, and if you’re between the ages of 16 and 18 all you need is parental consent. This bill passed through parliament in March, and everyone in the queer community in Portugal celebrated.
Transgender voices were finally being heard, our struggles with the health system no longer just known amongst us. I was so proud my transgender siblings from all over the country would no longer need to wait months or years to change their name and gender. So happy younger trans people would get the chance to do it before they became legal adults. It seemed like progress. However, the happiness didn’t last. I found out the President wasn’t so keen on signing this bill, and that’s when it all felt doomed to me. He is considering vetoing a law that affects thousands of people, people that are often already marginalised by their families and schools. People that have been struggling just to live their truth, because he isn’t sure this is the “right thing” to do.
I ask him this: has he ever talked to a transgender person about how they feel? Does he know what it’s like to be in our shoes? Does he know the stress and money we spend to be “diagnosed” with something we KNOW isn’t a disorder? The money we spend doing something we disagree with because we have no other choice? Does he know any of this? Well, after 25+ parents of transgender people wrote him a letter with these concerns, I hope he will reconsider. We deserve change. We deserve rights. We deserve to exist outside the clinics. We know ourselves and we know what we need. No doctor knows what’s going on inside my mind better than I do. Give us control over our identities NOW.
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