Parliament approved measures to ensure the right to gender self-determination in schools

Parliament approved this Friday, in the latest global vote, measures to be taken by schools to guarantee the right of children and young people to self-determinate gender identity and protection of their sexual characteristics.

The final text concerning the bills presented by the PS, BE and PAN was approved by these political forces together with the Livre, with the PSD, Chega and IL voting against and the PCP abstaining.

According to the text, schools must establish “channels of communication and identification” by identifying the responsible person or people “who may include the situation of children and young people exhibiting a gender identity or expression that does not correspond to their assigned sex. be conveyed “birth”.

Upon becoming aware of the situation, the school must, together with parents, guardians or legal representatives, conduct an assessment of the situation “with a view to gathering all necessary information to provide support and supervision, and to identify organizational needs and possible forms of action to ensure the well-being and healthy development of the child.” or a young man.”

Schools will also have to ensure that “the child or young person, in exercising their rights and taking into account their expressed wishes, has access to bathrooms and changing rooms, ensuring the well-being of everyone by making any accommodations they consider necessary.”

This clause in the text, the only one to mention bathrooms, has caused controversy and was one of the most discussed by MPs in oral statements on the vote made this Friday in Parliament.

PS MP Isabel Moreira stressed that fundamental human rights are at stake and stressed: “The privacy of young people and children must also be protected. It’s not about the bathroom, it’s about protecting that privacy when accessing different areas, and every school is doing that. this is why the law does not say anything about the fact that every child and young person can go wherever he wants.”

Regarding BE, parliamentary leader Pedro Filipe Soares said he voted for the text “out of the love” he has for his children and the children of others, and against “the hatred of those who want to promote in public schools a form of permanent war against human rights.”

In the same vein, Livre’s only deputy, Rui Tavares, noted that in politics, “it is more difficult to talk about love than hate,” and MP Ines Sousa Real of PAN also rejected the “culture of hate.”

Minutes earlier, Chegi’s deputy, Rita Mathias, had protested the diploma, calling it “toilet politics.” The PSD, through the voice of MP Emilia Cerqueira, also justified the no vote, saying there was no doubt about discrimination against youth and children.

“What we are not is a party that imposes an agenda on everyone, without even taking into account the age at which such measures are aimed. (…) We must let children be children,” the social group said. democrat.

The text approved today also states that schools must issue guidelines to “ensure the right of a child or young person to use a self-assigned name in all school and extra-curricular activities that occur within the school community,” without prejudice to ensuring “adequate identification of the person by means of a document identification” in situations such as registration, exams or other similar situations.

In terms of clothing, it also states that children should be able to choose according to the option they identify with “where there is an obligation to wear a uniform or any other gender-differentiated clothing.”

In conjunction with the School Association Training Centers (CFAE), training activities aimed at teaching and non-teaching staff should also be encouraged “to promote practices that lead to the achievement of effective respect for diversity of expression and gender identity, which makes it possible to overcome the imposition of stereotypes and discriminatory behavior.”

We are talking about legislation on self-determination of gender identity in schools after the Constitutional Court decided in 2021 to regulate this topic by the government, considering that this issue is within the exclusive competence of the Assembly of the Republic.