#chega

Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning:

On Friday, Portugal's parliament voted to advance three bills that would dismantle some of Europe's most progressive gender identity protections, in a joint effort between the country's center-right governing coalition and its surging far-right opposition. Colelctively, the bills would ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth, require adults to obtain approval from a medical team before changing their name or gender marker on civil documents, and prohibit the discussion of "gender ideology" in schools for anyone under 18—a provision that mirrors the "don't say gay" laws sweeping American red states. If enacted, the legislation would revert the country to a 2011-era framework that treated being transgender as a disorder requiring intensive clinical diagnosis steps rather than an identity people could freely embrace. The bills still face several procedural steps before becoming law, but with a commanding parliamentary majority behind them, they appear well on their way.

The bills are sweeping in scope and echo efforts to target transgender people in the United States and, increasingly, internationally. One bill, from PSD, the center-right party that leads Portugal's governing coalition, would return name changes and gender marker changes to a 2011-era framework requiring adults to obtain a formal diagnosis of "gender incongruence" from a multidisciplinary clinical team including a physician and a psychologist—a process that requires navigating Portugal's limited number of specialized sexology programs and that activists fought for years to eliminate. Because the bill revokes 2018 protections in their entirety, it would also eliminate broad anti-discrimination protections based on gender expression, school nondiscrimination for trans students, social name protections for minors and nonbinary people, and sports.

Another bill, proposed by Chega, the country's far-right party, would ban all gender affirming care for trans youth, prohibit the discussion of "gender ideology" in schools for anyone under 18, and would return to legal language pathologizing transgender people. The Chega bill would also weaken anti-discrimination protections for transgender people in bathrooms, prisons and sports competitions, allowing them to be overridden on a case-by-case basis when "security, privacy, or physical integrity" of others is deemed at stake. A third bill, from CDS-PP, the coalition's Christian conservative junior partner, would specifically ban puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors. LGBTQ+ organizations warned that the bills would also strip protections for trans youth who have already begun socially transitioning at school and in their communities.

All three bills passed first reading on a vote of 151 to 79. During the debate, members of parliament used incendiary language toward transgender people that appeared borrowed directly from the American far right. Paulo Núncio, representing CDS-PP, called gender-affirming care for minors "the greatest delusion of wokism against children in Portugal. “Chega MP Madalena Cordeiro declared that "a man is a man and a woman is a woman.” After the vote, Chega's parliamentary leader Pedro Pinto declared victory, telling reporters that "fortunately the right has united" and that "a man will always be a man and a woman will always be a woman."

"These initiatives represent a step backward for all trans and intersex people and an attack on the bodily integrity and individual autonomy of everyone," read a statement from more than 60 civil rights organizations published on ILGA Portugal's website ahead of the vote. On the day of the debate, demonstrators gathered in the rain outside the Assembleia da República in Lisbon, where organizers read a manifesto that linked the vote to the broader erosion of democratic rights.

[...] The bills now head to committee, where they will be debated and could be amended before returning to the full parliament for a final vote. The three bills will need to be reconciled during that process, and the PSD bill—as the governing party's proposal—is likely to form the basis of any final legislation. If the bills pass, they would land on the desk of President António José Seguro, a center-left Socialist. Seguro has the power to veto legislation or refer it to the Constitutional Court. For now, the 2018 law protecting transgender people remains in full effect.

Sad times in Portugal: That nation’s parliament passed harmful and sweeping anti-trans laws, such as bans on gender-affirming care for minors, require medical approval for gender marker or name changes, and a “Don’t Say Gay or Trans “ law in schools.