The SAD REALITY Rights and Law of Transexuals in Portugal
30/11/2009
Submitted by
Justice and Law
29 November 2009
The SAD REALITY Rights and Law of Transexuals in Portugal
I begin to write this text in extreme anger, frustration, sadeness and impossobility to help my life and others who are in a worse condition than myself!
After Transexuals finishing the whole clinical proccess scarcelly provided by the state (if you do not have the money to go private), which can take 5 or more years of psichological and physical trauma of various degrees, your journey is not over. During this 5 years into which you endured your clinical process, you had also to endure carrying your natal name and sex, since there is nothing that anyone can help you with that. So, you had to be prepared to be called for ex: John Male although being already presented in society as Barbara Female. If you could live with that for 5 or more years, than you would be entlitled for another 5 years or more of another sort of calvary. Now it would be the judicial part. Where all countries now the transexual would end his suffering and begin to live his life happy and in peace once for all, here another battle would begin.
After transiotioning, since there is no law to be able to change your documents (if someone does not belive, just go the home office and ask about it... After being laughed at and questioned, they just tell you coldly “honey there is nothing we can do to help”.. You just think “fantastic” you are stuck).... But after some searching you find out that might be a way for your salvation and that you can still be called Barbara and female after all. The way you learn is: Prosecuting the Portuguese State so that you can get a LAW only for you that will enable to change your documents. You think to yourself “great” I have found a solution. So you initiate a process, and come to learn that it will only cost you 30 thousand euros, a lot more psichological trauma, and continued humiliation.
You come to learn during this extensive process that can take up to 5 years or more to go into judgement, that your documents provided are not worthless for the court, and that you have to go again to medico-legal examinations (YES show down there that you REALLY have done surgery and are not lying), your process has to go to various different judges, as one only has no competency of judging your case as it is so complex (YES change of name and sex here is very complex), and at the end you may or not be finally called Barbara.... As if you perhaps by chance get a judge that says is a bit “off day”, the discrimination might just ruined your entire life.
Getting your court case at the end, you still have to face the judge. Your life will be brutally broken down, slowly, piece by piece, by curiosity, by power of law, asking questions from all sorts of the spectrum, as if you are being incriminated for a crime you did not comit. Sensibility and Respect might be out of luck for you that day (they will purpousedly make for you a day of remembrance, a day where you were obliged “YES obliged” to tell your most intimate and reserved life), but in your mind you just need to get your documentation, and in the future you might figure out some miracle or disapearing act to eliminate that thoughts of that specific day in court, when everyone were so nice to you, and at the end where the most only doing a favour, as remember a law does not exist, and therefore the judge and goverment are only doing a favour to help you, so you better be greatfull for all their effort to you....
So here we go: money, bureocracy, discrimination, humiliation, TIME CONSUMING, etc...
But remember one fundamental little aspect! While all this goes on and on, weeks, months and years, you still have to live your daily life, with your familly and friends if you still have any, and be totally dependant on them, since “oh yes” you are still battling for your basic human right of a name and a gender! No job for you, no social life, no nothing....
Once the court process is over, if you are not a grandmother already, and are lucky to have still a quality life, you then embark to finally live your life in peace and happiness trying to forget as much as possible your past and what “people” has done to you! You remember your friends and familly who from the first day believed in you and stood proudly next to you through all this 10 years or more so that you could finally have your dream to be called Barbara and be treated as a woman in society and everywhere you would go from now onwards.
We still are portrayed, and seen by the media as deprived prostitutes and sex labourers. No lawyers, Engineers Students and etc. can be transexual in this country unless you are a prostitute. Missinformation between Transexuals and Tranvestites are still widelly portrayed confusing and stigmitizing even more our condition and ultimate cry for some help. Portugal, want to be seen as “helping” this minoroty and can maybe achieve part of this view outside. But here nothing has been done so far, and nothing is close to being done to give dignity and right of life to us, who are contantly forgotten and portrayed as incapable. If only they knew, the gifts, the studies and information many of us know and could help this country! “IF ONLY THEY KNEW”... For now I might be thinking of leaving Portugal, and acquiring other citizenship, as some other countries have provided me that.... I will have to think about it..... For Portugal, I still have some hope that we could be recognized by our goverment.... I see new countries joining the EU already with the Gender Identity Law and here, one of the first countries to be in the EU still nothing has or even is being done to address this need! For their defence, they can say: “OH but it is only a few Transexuals 50 or so, not more and we can take care of them”... If this was the case, I would not be writting this precise text at this precise moment.... There is a non official estimate of around 1000 transexual persons or more here and not only 50 portrayed.
Unless they are open minded, and able to see that something is needed to be done, this problem will continue on and on... Some will have luck through the judicial court and be called Barbara´s and be legally females, others, after the whole calvary faced, will have their most fundamental rights negated to them, without propper justification.....
Human Lives, Human Dreams, Human Stories.....
destroyed by Time, Greed, Humiliation, Discrimination and Power.....
The SAD REALITY Rights and Law of Transexuals in Portugal
I begin to write this text in extreme anger, frustration, sadeness and impossobility to help my life and others who are in a worse condition than myself!
After Transexuals finishing the whole clinical proccess scarcelly provided by the state (if you do not have the money to go private), which can take 5 or more years of psichological and physical trauma of various degrees, your journey is not over. During this 5 years into which you endured your clinical process, you had also to endure carrying your natal name and sex, since there is nothing that anyone can help you with that. So, you had to be prepared to be called for ex: John Male although being already presented in society as Barbara Female. If you could live with that for 5 or more years, than you would be entlitled for another 5 years or more of another sort of calvary. Now it would be the judicial part. Where all countries now the transexual would end his suffering and begin to live his life happy and in peace once for all, here another battle would begin.
After transiotioning, since there is no law to be able to change your documents (if someone does not belive, just go the home office and ask about it... After being laughed at and questioned, they just tell you coldly “honey there is nothing we can do to help”.. You just think “fantastic” you are stuck).... But after some searching you find out that might be a way for your salvation and that you can still be called Barbara and female after all. The way you learn is: Prosecuting the Portuguese State so that you can get a LAW only for you that will enable to change your documents. You think to yourself “great” I have found a solution. So you initiate a process, and come to learn that it will only cost you 30 thousand euros, a lot more psichological trauma, and continued humiliation.
You come to learn during this extensive process that can take up to 5 years or more to go into judgement, that your documents provided are not worthless for the court, and that you have to go again to medico-legal examinations (YES show down there that you REALLY have done surgery and are not lying), your process has to go to various different judges, as one only has no competency of judging your case as it is so complex (YES change of name and sex here is very complex), and at the end you may or not be finally called Barbara.... As if you perhaps by chance get a judge that says is a bit “off day”, the discrimination might just ruined your entire life.
Getting your court case at the end, you still have to face the judge. Your life will be brutally broken down, slowly, piece by piece, by curiosity, by power of law, asking questions from all sorts of the spectrum, as if you are being incriminated for a crime you did not comit. Sensibility and Respect might be out of luck for you that day (they will purpousedly make for you a day of remembrance, a day where you were obliged “YES obliged” to tell your most intimate and reserved life), but in your mind you just need to get your documentation, and in the future you might figure out some miracle or disapearing act to eliminate that thoughts of that specific day in court, when everyone were so nice to you, and at the end where the most only doing a favour, as remember a law does not exist, and therefore the judge and goverment are only doing a favour to help you, so you better be greatfull for all their effort to you....
So here we go: money, bureocracy, discrimination, humiliation, TIME CONSUMING, etc...
But remember one fundamental little aspect! While all this goes on and on, weeks, months and years, you still have to live your daily life, with your familly and friends if you still have any, and be totally dependant on them, since “oh yes” you are still battling for your basic human right of a name and a gender! No job for you, no social life, no nothing....
Once the court process is over, if you are not a grandmother already, and are lucky to have still a quality life, you then embark to finally live your life in peace and happiness trying to forget as much as possible your past and what “people” has done to you! You remember your friends and familly who from the first day believed in you and stood proudly next to you through all this 10 years or more so that you could finally have your dream to be called Barbara and be treated as a woman in society and everywhere you would go from now onwards.
We still are portrayed, and seen by the media as deprived prostitutes and sex labourers. No lawyers, Engineers Students and etc. can be transexual in this country unless you are a prostitute. Missinformation between Transexuals and Tranvestites are still widelly portrayed confusing and stigmitizing even more our condition and ultimate cry for some help. Portugal, want to be seen as “helping” this minoroty and can maybe achieve part of this view outside. But here nothing has been done so far, and nothing is close to being done to give dignity and right of life to us, who are contantly forgotten and portrayed as incapable. If only they knew, the gifts, the studies and information many of us know and could help this country! “IF ONLY THEY KNEW”... For now I might be thinking of leaving Portugal, and acquiring other citizenship, as some other countries have provided me that.... I will have to think about it..... For Portugal, I still have some hope that we could be recognized by our goverment.... I see new countries joining the EU already with the Gender Identity Law and here, one of the first countries to be in the EU still nothing has or even is being done to address this need! For their defence, they can say: “OH but it is only a few Transexuals 50 or so, not more and we can take care of them”... If this was the case, I would not be writting this precise text at this precise moment.... There is a non official estimate of around 1000 transexual persons or more here and not only 50 portrayed.
Unless they are open minded, and able to see that something is needed to be done, this problem will continue on and on... Some will have luck through the judicial court and be called Barbara´s and be legally females, others, after the whole calvary faced, will have their most fundamental rights negated to them, without propper justification.....
Human Lives, Human Dreams, Human Stories.....
destroyed by Time, Greed, Humiliation, Discrimination and Power.....
