page_title: LGBT rights in Portugal
section_title: Public opinion
hierarchical_section_title: LGBT rights in Portugal / Public opinion
caption_attribution_description: English: Ambassador Sherman attending Lisbon Pride 2016
context_page_description: Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in Portugal improved substantially in the 2000s and 2010s and are now among the best in the world. After a long period of oppression during the Estado Novo, Portuguese society has become increasingly accepting of homosexuality, which was decriminalized in 1982, eight years after the Carnation Revolution. Portugal has wide-ranging anti-discrimination laws and is one of the few countries in the world to contain a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation in its constitution. On 5 June 2010, the state became the eighth in the world to recognize same-sex marriage. On 1 March 2011, the President ratified a gender identity law, said to be one of the most advanced in the world, which simplifies the process of sex and name change for transgender people. Same-sex couples have been permitted to adopt since 1 March 2016.
  The country, while still influenced by Roman Catholicism, has progressively become more accepting of same-sex relationships and homosexuality.
context_section_description: A Eurobarometer survey published in late 2006 showed that only 29% of Portuguese surveyed supported same-sex marriage and 19% supported the right of same-sex couples to adopt (EU-wide average 44% and 33%).
  Opinions on same-sex marriage have considerably changed since then. A 2009 survey by the Catholic University of Portugal revealed that 42% of respondents were in favour of same-sex marriage and another survey by Eurosondagem, Rádio Renascença, SIC TV, and the Expresso newspaper stated that about 52% of the Portuguese public were in favour of same-sex marriages. An Angus Reid poll on 11 January 2010 showed that 45.5% of those polled were in support of same-sex marriage, but this was less than the 49.3% that opposed. A Eurobarometer survey published in 2015 showed that support for same-sex marriage had risen significantly to 61%.
  Views on adoption had not been changed significantly at the time same-sex marriage was passed into law: only 21.7% favored adoption, while 68.4% opposed allowing same-sex couples to adopt.
  However, in 2014, during parliamentary debates on an initiative to legalize stepchild adoption for same-sex couples, polls showed that a majority of the Portuguese population supported both stepchild adoption and full adoption rights.
caption: From left, Israeli Ambassador Tzipora Rimon, U.S. Ambassador Robert Sherman, Canadian Ambassador Jeffrey Marder, Danish Ambassador Michael Suhr, Belgian Ambassador Boudewijn Dereymaerker and Dutch Ambassador Govert de Vroe attending the 2016 LGBTI Pride parade in Lisbon[81]
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