Major human rights organizations, including ILGA-Europe and TGEU, have expressed deep alarm over three bills in the Portuguese Parliament that threaten to severely roll back the rights of trans and intersex individuals. If passed, the legislation would end legal gender recognition based on self-determination, reintroducing outdated medical gatekeeping and pathologizing requirements. The proposed package also seeks to ban gender-affirming care for minors and remove existing protections that prevent non-consensual, medically unnecessary interventions on intersex children. Advocates warn that these changes would cause Portugal to drop significantly in European human rights rankings, undermining its status as a former leader in legal protections. The organizations emphasize that this move is part of a broader trend of democratic backsliding across Europe, where vulnerable groups are increasingly targeted under the guise of “child protection.”
Date: March 18, 2026. Source: ilga-europe.org