Hi! Does anyone have insight on what is life in Portugal like for transgender and nonbinary people? Any information is accepted, and here are some specific topics I am curious about.
Are people generally accepting, just tolerant, or malicious? I am especially wondering what it is like for people who don’t “pass” as a certain gender (aka, someone would look at them and notice they are probably trans).
Do people respect pronoun preferences? Are there non-gendered pronouns in use for nonbinary people?
What is it like navigating the healthcare system as a trans person in Portugal?
@woodlands, I’ll give you the limited information I can. I believe that acceptance or tolerance of transgender and nonbinary people is noticeably behind that already granted to the other groups within the LGBTQ+ sphere. As also seen in other countries, topics such as gender-neutral bathrooms, neutral pronouns and speech (particularly difficult in a Latin language), or medical transition before adulthood are very controversial, and mainstream discussions around them still feel rather new here. However, discrimination in Portugal is rarely overt and aggressive, at least in bigger cities, especially when it comes to people regarded as outsiders (tourists, immigrants, people relocating from other areas…).
I don’t know to what extent pronoun preferences are respected - I would guess not that much. But I can tell you that the main proposal for non-gendered grammar is called the “Elu system”, which I’ve seen best explained here: Guia Prático Para Um Português Inclusivo (versão 2).pdf (ulisboa.pt).
Regarding healthcare, there are at least two studies indicating that at least half of the trans patients have faced some form of discrimination in the national (public) healthcare system.