PORTUGAL: Genspect Support Group Received by the Presidency of the Republic
By Marisa Antunes
Parents from “Youth in Transition” appeal to the President to approve legislative changes that would restore mandatory psychiatric assessment before legal gender change
Imagine you are 18 years old and suddenly decide that you want to amputate your penis or remove your breasts. You go to a psychiatrist, who agrees without hesitation and immediately begins the process of gender transition – no questions, no bureaucracy. Your entire future is decided in a 20-minute consultation.
Surreal, isn’t it? It sounds like the plot of a dystopian streaming series.
Yet this is precisely what has been happening to the sons and daughters of the parents of “Youth in Transition”, Genspect’s Portuguese support group, and they wanted to share in a hearing at the Presidency of the Republic.
Although the President of the Republic, António José Seguro, was not personally present, the meeting with his advisers responsible for youth affairs and legal matters demonstrated considerable openness at such a crucial moment in Portugal. Parliament is currently considering proposals to repeal the country’s gender self-determination law, which was approved in 2018 and allows individuals to change their legal gender without any psychiatric assessment, based solely on self-identification.
The purpose of the meeting was to urge the President of the Republic, António José Seguro, to sign into law the proposed bills that would restore the requirement for a psychiatric report to assess vulnerabilities associated with the sharp rise in people identifying as transgender, including body dysmorphic disorder, sexual trauma, autism spectrum conditions, internalised homophobia, and other associated factors.
It has been a long journey to reach the doors of Belém Palace, the official residence of the President.
Created two years ago, Youth in Transition has worked tirelessly to reach the media – including the national news agency Lusa and the public broadcaster RTP – in an effort to alert other parents and young people to what they say is happening in both public and private hospitals, where a single consultation is often enough for young people to be referred for the gender medicalisation process.
They have met with little success.
The lack of information in Portugal about the real impact of both the gender self-determination law and its interaction with the country’s conversion therapy legislation is striking, and there have been very few exceptions to what the group describes as a broader pattern of silence.
And yet public demand for information is overwhelming. On social media, “Youth in Transition” has generated thousands of views, while its Instagram account alone attracted approximately 400,000 views over the past month.
Fortunately, official institutions such as the Presidency of the Republic and several centre-right political parties are well aware of these concerns and have shown themselves willing to listen to the experiences of these parents and hear what they say is happening in Portugal regarding gender identity.
Next September, these parents from “Youth in Transition” will appear before Parliament, where lawmakers will debate the repeal of the gender self-determination law, which allows legal gender change without a psychiatric assessment. They intend to speak openly about their children’s experiences and what they describe as the irreversible harm caused by doctors and psychologists operating under the gender self-determination law and the WPATH guidelines implemented throughout the country’s public hospitals.
It is worth recalling that, in 2017, before the gender self-determination law came into force in 2018, there were 146 registered changes of legal name and gender in Portugal – an average of three per week. That number has risen substantially, with the first quarter of 2026 recording an average of 64 changes per month.
As “Youth in Transition” noted in a press release that mainstream media chose not to cover:
“Only one-third of European Union countries have legislation similar to that currently in force in Portugal. Returning to rigorous medical assessment before referring individuals for gender transition procedures with irreversible consequences is not a step backwards. It is a return to respect for the ethical principles of the Hippocratic Oath in medicine and for the scientific evidence.”
And this is sorely needed.
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