The governing Socialist Party, the far left Left Bloc and the animal rights party have all proposed legislation to ease laws regarding sex change in Portugal.
The three proposals were debated in Parliament last week but not voted on. They will now be discussed further in a smaller working group which should try and concentrate them into just one bill, to be voted on at a later date.
Some of the proposals have raised alarms among opponents. If the left bloc has its way, for example, any person over the age of 16 will be able to undergo sex reassignment surgeries or hormonal treatment, at no cost, and all public and private organisations must accept the new gender of choice, reissuing relevant documents per request.
The proposals go so far as to allow for changes to be made to birth certificates, a move which critics say amounts to state sanctioned lying and institutions would be obliged to allow people to use bathrooms of their choosing, regardless of their biological sex.
Concern has also been raised by the fact that, should the proposal become law, children under the age of 16 – no minimum age is stated – would be able to go to court to try to overturn parental opposition to a sex change procedure.
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