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History

Homosexual activity in Viana do Castelo

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Homosexual activity in Viana do Castelo is legal.

Current status
Since Sep 23, 1982
Legal
Homosexuality was decriminalised in Portugal in 1982.
Apr 25, 1974–Sep 23, 1982
Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)
After the Carnation Revolution on 25 April 1974, Portugal’s dictatorship ended and political policing against LGBT people ceased. However, the Penal Code inherited from the Estado Novo still criminalized homosexuality under “vices against nature” and “security measures.” In practice, prosecutions became rare, but same-sex relations remained legally risky. During this period, the first LGBT activists in Portugal began to organize, issuing the “Manifesto for the Liberation of Sexual Minorities” and demanding equality.

On 23 September 1982, Parliament approved a new Penal Code, which removed provisions criminalizing consensual same-sex relations between adults. The reform took effect on 1 January 1983, finally ending Portugal’s legal persecution of homosexuality.
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1886–Sep 23, 1982
Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)
With the adoption of a new penal code in 1886, Portugal criminalised same-sex conduct. For some of this period, there was varying formality in the criminalisation but throughout LGB people were persecuted and imprisoned.
Mar 1, 1933–Apr 25, 1974
Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)
Under Portugal’s Estado Novo dictatorship (19331974), LGBT people faced systematic legal and social repression. While some laws predated the regime, the dictatorship expanded and enforced them strictly. In 1852, the Penal Code criminalized “offense against modesty,” indirectly targeting homosexual acts with prison terms or fines. In 1912, homosexuality was explicitly penalized under laws against “vices against nature,” punishable with up to one year in prison and sometimes enforced “re-education” in labor colonies or correctional houses.

With the Estado Novo’s rise, repression intensified. In 1936, Decree-Law No. 26 643 created the “state of delinquency,” which allowed the authorities to punish homosexual behavior even without a proven criminal act. Special detention centers and labor colonies were established, with sentences ranging from one to six years. During the 1940s and 1950s, police surveillance intensified, targeting cruising areas in public spaces, and arrests were socially selective, focusing on lower-class individuals while elites often escaped scrutiny.

The 1954 Penal Code (Decree-Law No. 39 688) explicitly criminalized homosexuality, applying “security measures” such as confinement in asylums or labor houses and probation. Over 12,000 people were admitted to such institutions between 1933 and 1951. Political repression also leveraged these laws; for example, in 1962, the politician Júlio Fogaça was convicted for homosexual conduct. Despite some softening of social surveillance in the late 1960s, repression continued until the dictatorship’s fall.

The Estado Novo ended with the Carnation Revolution on 25 April 1974, which brought an immediate decline in political policing of LGBT people. However, the legal framework criminalizing homosexuality remained until 1982. The Penal Code reform, effective in January 1983, finally decriminalized consensual same-sex relations between adults in private, marking the official end of Estado Novo-era legal repression.
Jan 1, 1886–Mar 18, 1933
Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)
Between 1886 and 1933, homosexuality in Portugal was criminalized under laws against “offenses against modesty” and, after 1912, explicitly under the law against “vices against nature.” Punishments included imprisonment or, in some cases, forced labor or re-education in correctional institutions. Enforcement was selective, often targeting lower-class men, while discreet members of the upper classes were rarely prosecuted. Socially, homosexuals faced strong stigma, shaped by conservative Catholic morality. There was no organized state surveillance or systematic persecution during this period, but the legal framework laid the groundwork for the intensified repression that would follow under the Estado Novo dictatorship in 1933.
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Legal
In 1852 Portugal adopted a penal code based on the Napoleonic one France saw earlier in the 19th century and did not ban homosexuality.
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Same-sex marriage in Viana do Castelo

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Same-sex marriage in Viana do Castelo is legal.

Current status
Since May 31, 2010
Legal
In 2010, the XVIII Constitutional Government of Portugal approved a marriage equality bill, making it the eighth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.

Censorship of LGBT issues in Viana do Castelo

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Censorship of LGBT issues in Viana do Castelo is no censorship.

Current status
No censorship
In Portugal, there are no laws restricting the discussion or promotion of LGBTQ+ topics.
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Right to change legal gender in Viana do Castelo

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Right to change legal gender in Viana do Castelo is legal, no restrictions.

Current status
Since Aug 8, 2018
Legal, no restrictions
The law allows adults to change their legal gender based on self-detirmination without any requirements. Minors aged 16 and 17 must have parental consent and a professional psychological opinion.
Mar 15, 2011–Aug 8, 2018
Legal, but requires surgery under federal Portugal law
Individuals in Portugal can legally change their gender and name on their birth certificate.
Until Mar 15, 2011
Illegal under federal Portugal law
Portugal created its modern civil registry system (Registo Civil) after the Republican revolution. From this point onward, sex on birth records was fixed and could not be legally altered.

No procedure existed to change gender in legal documents. Courts and registry offices would reject changes except in extremely rare court-ordered cases (and those usually involved intersex people assigned a different gender at birth).

Gender-affirming care in Viana do Castelo

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Gender-affirming care in Viana do Castelo is legal.

Current status
Since May 19, 1995
Legal
In Portugal, there are no major or excessive restrictions on the ability of transgender people to transition medically.
Sources:
www.intechopen.com/chapters/80634 - Section 3.2 Para 5
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Until May 18, 1995
Banned
Until 1995, sex reassignment surgeries were banned in Portugal.
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Legal recognition of non-binary gender in Viana do Castelo

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Legal recognition of non-binary gender in Viana do Castelo is not legally recognized.

Current status
Not legally recognized
Even though gender self-identification is possible in Portugal, non-binary identities are not yet legally recognized here.

Hate crime protections in Viana do Castelo

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Hate crime protections in Viana do Castelo is sexual orientation and gender identity.

Current status
Since 2024
Sexual orientation and gender identity
Excerpts related to Hate crime

Article 132 – Aggravated Murder

1. When death is produced under circumstances that reveal a special reprehensibility or perversity, the offender shall be punished with imprisonment from 12 to 25 years.


2. The following circumstances reveal the special reprehensibility or perversity that is referred to in the previous paragraph, namely, the circumstance that the agent:

(...)
(f) is determined by racial, religious, political hatred or based on the victim’s colour, ethnic or national origin, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity;
(...)
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LGBT discrimination in Viana do Castelo

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LGBT discrimination in Viana do Castelo is illegal.

Current status
Since Aug 30, 2008
Illegal
From 2008 onwards, gender identity began to be included in anti-discrimination laws in different cases in Portugal.
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Jul 24, 2004–Aug 29, 2008
Illegal in some contexts
Article 13 explicitly prohibits discriminations on the basis of sexual orientations
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LGBT employment discrimination in Viana do Castelo

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LGBT employment discrimination in Viana do Castelo is sexual orientation and gender identity.

Current status
Since Jan 16, 2015
Sexual orientation and gender identity
Gender identity is now an explicit protected ground in the labour code.
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2003–Jan 16, 2015
Sexual orientation only
Sexual orientation was protected.
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LGBT housing discrimination in Viana do Castelo

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LGBT housing discrimination in Viana do Castelo is sexual orientation and gender identity.

Current status
Since Feb 12, 2019
Sexual orientation and gender identity under federal Portugal law
In February 2019, Portugal passed a law prohibiting discrimination in housing against LGBTIQ+ people. The law lists sexual orientation as a protected characteristic and while gender identity isn’t explicitly listed, it is a protected characteristic constitutionally meaning that it could still be protected from such discrimination.

Same-sex adoption in Viana do Castelo

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Same-sex adoption in Viana do Castelo is legal.

Current status
Since Mar 1, 2016
Legal
Now same sex adoption is possible for not only individuals but same sex couples.
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Until Feb 29, 2016
Illegal
Same sex couples in Portugal were previously not allowed to adopt or foster children. Between 2013 and 2016 various bills were put forward and rejected by parliament.
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Intersex infant surgery in Viana do Castelo

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Intersex infant surgery in Viana do Castelo is full ban.

Current status
Since Aug 7, 2018
Full ban
Genital 'normalisation' surgery on intersex infants was banned by Portugal in 2018 under Article 5 of the new gender identity law.
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Until Aug 6, 2018
Not banned
Before the 2018 law, there were no protections for intersex infants in law from genital 'normalisation' surgery.
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Serving openly in military in Viana do Castelo

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Serving openly in military in Viana do Castelo is legal.

Current status
Since Jan 8, 2024
Legal
Transgender and non-binary people are now allowed to serve after executive order 318/202. Executive order 318/202, stipulates that “other endocrine dysfunctions, namely dysfunctions of the gonadal hormonal system, congenital or acquired and requiring permanent chronic hormone replacement therapy” are no longer grounds for excluding candidates.
Jan 1, 1999–Jan 8, 2024
Lesbians, gays, bisexuals permitted, transgender people banned
Portugal is not one of the 22 countries that allows trans military service.

Trans people aren't explicitly banned from joining the army, but due to discrimination and regulations that also apply to cis people, but more commonly affect trans people, they are unable to join.
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Blood donations by MSMs in Viana do Castelo

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Blood donations by MSMs in Viana do Castelo is legal.

Current status
Since Apr 7, 2010
Legal
In Portugal, blood donations have rules regarding sexual behaviour but they are the same for homosexual and heterosexual people. While discrimination is illegal according to the Portuguese Constitution, discrimination is widely reported amongst the LGBTQ+ community and new legislation was discussed in 2021 to address this.
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Conversion therapy in Viana do Castelo

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Conversion therapy in Viana do Castelo is banned.

Current status
Since Jan 11, 2019
Banned
In 2019, after an open letter by 250 psychologists to the regulatory Ordem dos Psicólogos, the body affirmed that conversion therapy is malpractice and has no basis in science and is not justifiable. All psychologists wishing to practice in Portugal must be licensed with the Ordem dos Psicólogos.

Additionally, a bill that bans conversion therapy was passed by the parliament on December 21st, 2023. It was signed by the President a few weeks later and took effect on March 1st, 2024.
Until Jan 10, 2019
Not banned
There is no legislation prohibiting conversion therapy in Portugal.

Equal age of consent in Viana do Castelo

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Equal age of consent in Viana do Castelo is equal.

Current status
Since May 10, 2005
Equal
In 2005, the Portuguese Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the inequal age of consent used in Portugal was unconstitutional and therefore could not be enforced as it violated the constitution's right to equality as provided by Articles 13 and 26.
Sources:
www.tribunalconstitucional.…
www.portugalresident.com/la… (mentioned at the very bottom)
www.tribunalconstitucional.… - top of page 8 (source goes through the legal effects of a ruling of this kind by the CT)
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Until May 9, 2005
Unequal
Before 2005's constitutional tribunal ruling, Portugal's penal code enforced unequal ages of consent for heterosexual and homosexual sex.
Sources:
www.tribunalconstitucional.…
www.portugalresident.com/la… (mentioned at the very bottom)
www.tribunalconstitucional.… - top of page 8 (source goes through the legal effects of a ruling of this kind by the CT)
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