A brief history of LGBTQ+ rights in Portugal:

Portugal is one of very few countries in the world that specifically states within its constitution that no one can be discriminated against based on their sexual orientation. As far back as 1852 a law was passed to decriminalize homosexuality but unfortunately when Portugal came under dictatorship rule in 1886 the law was changed, and thereby homosexuality was re-criminalised. It wasn't until 1982 that the law was repealed again.
And in more recent times, Portugal has been leading the way in aligning the rights of same-sex couples to the same as those of heterosexual couples. In 2010, Portugal became the eighth country in the world to allow same-sex marriage, and 2012 the Gender Identity Law was passed. This law is recognised globally as being the most advanced for the equality of transsexual and transgender people. 

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And from February 2016, full adoption rights were granted by the Parliament for same sex couples.
We have heard that some conservative attitudes persist outside of cosmopolitan cities like Lisbon and Porto, but overall we believe that the majority of our LGBT friends here in the Algarve are on very good terms with their Portuguese neighbours and the local community in general. 

We are updating this page as information comes in to us.