Two changes to Portuguese law that would affect LGBTQ+ residents and visitors were meant to be settled before parliament broke for the summer. Neither was. Both return to the Assembleia da República in September 2026, and until they are voted on, the legal position in Portugal is what it was.
The larger of the two would rewrite how a person changes their legal gender. Under the law in force since 2018, an adult changes their name and registered gender at a civil registry office without a medical report. On 20 March 2026 parliament approved three bills, from PSD, Chega and CDS-PP, that would reintroduce mandatory medical validation: a report from a clinical team with at least one doctor and one specialist psychologist. For 16- and 17-year-olds, who now need parental authorisation and a report on their capacity to decide, the bills would require a specialised diagnosis instead. PS, Iniciativa Liberal, Livre, PCP, Bloco de Esquerda, PAN and JPP voted against.
That vote settled nothing on its own. The bills went to committee, where the majority aimed at a final vote on 17 July 2026. It did not happen, and the process was carried over to the next legislative session. A bill approved in general has no legal effect, so the 2018 rules apply exactly as before.
The second change is smaller and more visible. On 17 April 2026 parliament approved a decree banning flags of an "ideological, partisan or associative" nature from public buildings, which would have covered the rainbow flag that Portuguese city halls fly during Pride. The President of the Republic, António José Seguro, returned it without promulgation on 10 June 2026. His stated objections were that the decree never defines what an ideological or associative flag is, that the same body would decide which flags fly and police the rule, and that humanitarian causes with constitutional recognition are not the same thing as party positions. Parliament can override a political veto by confirming the decree, and Chega asked for that. PSD did not insist, and the new vote also moved to September.
The backdrop is a slide in the rankings. ILGA-Europe's Rainbow Map, published on 12 May 2026, puts Portugal 12th of 49 countries at 67 per cent, down one place. The organisation gives its reason plainly: no affirmative legislation has passed since the 2024 ban on conversion practices, and a new bill now threatens protections that exist.
For anyone travelling to Portugal this summer, the practical position is unchanged. Same-sex marriage, joint adoption, constitutional protection against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, and a legal gender change without a medical gatekeeper all stand, and our Portugal country page sets out the rest. What September decides is whether the last of those survives. The EU's top court has already taken its own position on legal gender recognition, in a ruling we wrote about in March.
