Transgender People in a Changing World: Views on Gender Identity in the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

The way each country treats minority groups within its territory can be considered a criterion for assessing its level of civilization, since the less protection it offers to those in a vulnerable situation, the greater the distance from the basic principles that guide human rights. Among the most vulnerable groups today, based on sexuality, are transgender people, who suffer discrimination that denies them access to some of the most fundamental rights simply because they do not recognize themselves as belonging to the expected gender based on the sex they were assigned at birth. The fight for the establishment of human rights in favor of sexual minorities has proven to be arduous; however, some countries, such as Portugal and Spain, are attentive, protecting the integrity of transgender people, moving away from the legislative leniency that characterizes some “Schizophrenic States”, as is the case in Brazil. For this work, bibliographical research was used, based on the scientific­‑deductive method.