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The Portuguese Rainbow: LGBTQI+ Rights and Experiences
  • ISSN: 1476-413X
  • E-ISSN: 1758-9509

Abstract

This article reviews Portugal’s path in addressing non-normative gender identities, focusing particularly on legal gender recognition. While recognition is not limited to enshrining rights in the law – especially the right to the acknowledgement of (self)identity by the state – the legal step is one that is clearly fundamental to making overall recognition a reality. Portugal is an interesting case study, having shifted in less than a decade – the second of the twenty-first century – from a complete absence of trans issues in legislation to the passage of a law on gender identity based on self-determination. Using analysis of legislation and interviews of trans people and representatives of the LGBTQI+ movement conducted during two research projects spanning the last fifteen years, we analyse the macro-level transformations and how they are reflected, at the micro-level, in the trans people’s inclusion in or exclusion from legal recognition, and in the extension of this basic condition of citizenship.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • FCT’s Strategic RD Unit Funding (Award UIDB/03126/2020)
  • FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology (Award SFRH/BPD/108873/2015)
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2023-02-16
2026-04-10

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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): gender identity; legal gender recognition; Portugal; rights; self-determination; trans and non-binary people; trans rights; transgender

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