Portugal May Repeal Self-ID Law and Set a Precedent Across the EU
No more gender change without a psychiatric assessment? By Marisa Antunes.
Portugal may soon make history in the fight against gender ideology and in the defense of the human rights of children, young people, and women by canceling the gender self-determination law approved in 2018. The law, one of the most liberal in Europe, was passed by the then left-wing majority led by António Costa, who is now the president of the European Council.
The current law allows adults to change their legal sex and name in the civil registry through a simple administrative procedure, without needing a medical diagnosis, psychological evaluation, or proof of any medical transition. For minors aged 16 and 17, changes were also possible with parental consent and a medical report. In other words, it allows anyone to change gender based solely on self-perception, without any psychiatric evaluation. If the repeal goes ahead, it will set an important precedent for the eight remaining European Union member states with similar laws.
In March 2026, the parliament, led by the right-wing parties PSD, Chega, and CDS-PP, approved three bills in principle that would reintroduce the need for medical validation for legal gender changes and largely block minors from changing their legal sex. These legislative changes would make psychiatric evaluation mandatory for anyone of any age seeking to change their gender and legal name in civil registries.
The proposals are currently in the specialty phase, a period of detailed discussion and amendment in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Liberties and Guarantees. After three months of tense negotiations, the committee has organized public and committee hearings during which more than 30 entities will testify before the legislation is finalized. Doctors, psychologists, and representatives of LGBT associations will soon begin to be consulted, according to the media. And, perhaps most importantly, parents and detrans people. “Youth in Transition” (Juventude em (des)Transição), the group for Portuguese parents and detransitioners integrated with Genspect, will have the opportunity to share the terrible consequences of the current law, which left a trail of destruction for an undetermined number of young people and their families.
What is at Stake?
The core legislative changes include:
• PSD’s Proposal - Reintroduces the requirement for medical validation to change gender and names for civil registries. The party argued that self-determination without clinical evaluation compromises legal certainty.
• Chega’s Proposal - Revokes the 2018 self-determination legislation and prohibits medical treatments for gender dysphoria in youths under 18, while banning the discussion of “gender ideology” in schools for minors.
• CDS-PP’s Proposal - Bans the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapies for minors dealing with gender dysphoria.
These changes may seem like decent, reasonable, and basic common-sense demands. Not so for the Left, which has created a media panic around the idea that this revocation is an attack on the rights of transgender people, despite the fact that, once approved, the new law will be aligned with two-thirds of the member countries of the European Union.
The current law has arguably contributed to a huge rise in the number of ROGD cases, a clear social contagion, which has been completely ignored by the mainstream media. Not a single line has been written about what is going on in the other countries, not the Cass Report, the WPATH Files, or the terrible impact of gender ideology on other parts of the world, or what they are doing to stop it. Day after day, the media instead published articles, which, among other things, proclaim the benefits of puberty blockers for children as if they were a cure for pediatric cancer, garnering thousands of likes on social media.
The media may choose to ignore events of the past few years, but the numbers don’t lie. Before the 2018 law, there was an average of three trans cases per week or 12 a month. By 2025, that number had skyrocketed to an average of 10 per week, 40 per month, and in the first quarter of this year, the monthly average is already at 63 cases, mostly girls changing gender to boy. This means that between 2018 and 2026, the number of trans cases skyrocketed by an expressive 425%! Even if it had been only half that, it should have merited at least some analysis by the media.
The LGBT Lobby
In reality, LGBT advocacy groups have exerted significant influence over Portuguese institutions for years, with the media often serving as their most visible platform. Portugal positioned itself as a legislative pioneer in this area when, in 2011, it became one of the first countries in the world to allow legal recognition of a change in sex and name on official documents without requiring any form of bodily modification or surgery.
However, the 2011 law still contained an important safeguard: individuals seeking to change their legal gender had to submit a medical report confirming a diagnosis of gender dysphoria (then referred to as “gender identity disorder” or transsexuality). This report had to be issued by a multidisciplinary clinical team and signed by at least one doctor and one psychologist.
That requirement was removed in 2018, when parliament approved the current self-determination law. Under the new legislation, adults can change their legal gender through a simple administrative declaration, without any medical or psychological evaluation. For minors aged 16 and 17, a medical report is still required — but only to confirm their capacity to make the decision, not to diagnose gender dysphoria.
A Tsunami of Pro-Trans Material
In Portugal, mainstream media is behaving much as it does in other parts of the world, only worse. Since the day the draft bills passed, more than 200 articles have been published attacking them—no kidding!
It’s a huge tsunami of pro-trans material with no critical gender whatsoever. The media is in ‘propaganda mode’, but that’s not surprising, since the most influential media outlets are directly connected to the socialist party, which approved the current law. And I mean really connected. Ricardo Costa, the head of Impresa, the most powerful media group that owns television channels, newspapers, and magazines, is the brother of the former Left-wing prime minister and current president of the European Council, António Costa. The ‘Público’ newspaper, which dictates the agenda of the day for the rest of the media, is ruled by David Pontes, who is married to a member of the socialist party. Carlos Daniel, the deputy director of the state TV channel, RTP, is married to the vice-president of the Order of Psychologists, one of the entities that has done the most to promote the doctrine of gender identity. We can’t even complain about the lack of media impartiality to the Regulatory Authority for Social Communication (RASC), because three of the five RASC members with decision-making power are all connected to the left-wing system.
Even the President of the Republic, António José Seguro, who will eventually veto or promulgate the promised drafts, is a socialist, though he vowed in his February victory speech that he would be the president of all Portuguese people. We will see soon enough whether he is a man of reason or a political ideologue, and whether he has the political will to protect children, young people, and women. The good news is that even in the case of a president’s veto, the bill can be overturned by an absolute majority in parliament, taking into account some of his recommendations.
Even so, every day that goes by with the law as it is, approximately two kids, mostly girls, will be put on cross-sex hormones, with all the harms that come with them. That is more than 60 new confused kids in this wicked game. Let’s hope António José Seguro is paying attention!
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