The President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has vetoed a law that would determine the measures schools should adopt to guarantee students the right to self determine their gender identity in educational settings.
In a statement issued on the presidency website, the administration explained that it rejected the neutral naming option on the grounds that the decree fails to ensure a balance in protecting the fundamental principle of personal freedom. It also noted that the proposed school measures for implementing gender self determination do not adequately respect the roles of parents, guardians, legal representatives, and the associations they form across different ages and stages of schooling.
The president therefore sent the texts back to Parliament with a message urging lawmakers to bring more realism to a topic that often clashes with deep-seated values held by families and schools in a multicultural Portugal. The aim was to avoid abstract positions that could alienate communities while still addressing the needs of students who seek to identity themselves in a supportive educational environment.
Following the veto, parent associations and school principals expressed a hope that their concerns would be listened to in a future debate. The objections were raised by the National Confederation of Parents’ Associations and by the Association of National Groups and Directors of Public Schools, according to reports from Lusa news agency.
Reaction from the political spectrum varied. The far right Chega party thanked Rebelo de Sousa for his decisive role in the process, suggesting that the president had fulfilled a function by returning the law to Parliament at a moment when the Socialist Party no longer held a majority. The president, for his part, stated that his action was about safeguarding fundamental values within Portuguese society.