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Portugal adopts Trans law – 8 days for Legal Gender Recognit
From http://www.tgeu.org/PR_Portuese_Trans_Law
Congratulations, Portugal! It is a Trans law!
Since November 25th Portugal has a law regulating the legal gender recognition. It is filling a legal gap human rights activists have been pointing out for a long time. With the new law, the preferred gender can be obtained using a standardized administrative procedure within 8 days. Besides the application a certificate from a medical multi-disciplinary team is necessary to fullfil the pre-conditions.
TGEU welcomes this legislative step as it ends a long period of legal uncertainty for trans people in Portugal. Portugal joins also the progessive club of Spain and the Uk, the only countries in the European Union, where sterilisation is not mandatory in legal gender recognition legislation. It sends also an important signal to other states in Europe to reconsider pre-conditions and remove abusive elements ub gender recognition legislation as recommended by the Council of Ministers earlier this year.
“The right to documents corresponding to the identity of a person is a basic citizen right. We congratulate ILGA Portugal and other human rights activists in Portugal to this success.” says Richard Köhler, Co-chair of Transgender Europe.
With regard to the economic crisis, those suffering diametral from discrimination and social exclusionneed special attention.
Köhler comments further “We are confident that this law improves the lifes of trans people in Portugal significantly. After clarifying this aspects, other questions need to be tackled as well. Access to adequate health care and the job market as well as guaranteeing a life free from discrimination now need to be prioritized for both trans citizens and residents of Portugal.”
Portugal had gained sad prominence when Gisberta was brutally murdered in 2006 and only upon local and international pressure the purpetrators were brought to justice.
The legislative process was initiated by Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner, who had visited Portugal earlier this year. http://www.tgeu.org/node/109
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2 Replies
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These issues are not seriously on the political agenda in Australia … we have such a long long long way to go!
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Overseas successes helps us to see what is achievable, and can also be used when approaching Australian lawmakers to show what can be done, and even how it could be done.
Personally, I find that hearing about overseas successes also re-invigorates me, because it reminds me of what is possible.
