TGEU Countries: Serbia Besides working directly with the community, our activities include advocacy aimed at improving the situation of LGBTIQ people in Serbia. trans people and makes recommendations has been the reporting on Andreja Pejic, a famous Austral- nature and the purpose of human nature. All those are signs of for the improvement of the situation of ian model born in the former Yugoslavia. Her Serbo-Cro- the times. It is obvious that God still loves us because He is send- trans people in Serbia. atian background made her story even more interesting ing us this warning, like the warning He sent to Serbia – those Presentations of policy papers for Serbian media. In higher-quality magazines, articles are warnings to make us reflect upon ourselves and the path we the presentation of a policy paper on the situation were held in March and April 2015 in the are less sensationalistic, but readers’ unedited comments have taken, the path we are taking and that we accept as a nor- of trans people in Serbia in the National Assembly. National Assembly, hosted by the Board for Minority can be openly transphobic. Apart from Andreja, two oth- mal human path”. and Human Rights and Gender Equality. er trans women have frequently been featured in Serbian One of our major successes in 2015 has been As an expert organisation on trans issues, The policy paper was presented at both events media – Maza, a pop singer, and Helena, a former major This example of hate speech is particularly worrisome policy paper on the situation of trans people in and offers a comprehensive analysis of the situation in the Serbian army. However, Serbian media remains because it is not his first statement of this kind – this Serbia as part of the National Assembly’s LGBT Gayten-LGBT was requested to create a of trans people and the specific challenges they inaccessible to people of other trans identities. Also, the archbishop always makes similar statements before Path to Institutions: Bridging the Gap project, face in their everyday lives. language used in these articles still needs improvement: Pride Marches – and especially considering that over whose purpose is to analyse LGBT issues and After the presentations, the authors of every “sex change” is the only term used for the gender-con- 90 per cent of Serbians identify as Orthodox Christians. propose measures to improve the quality of life of policy paper were asked to make one priority firmation process, and when translating foreign articles Just before this statement, the Patriarch of the Serbian recommendation to the Board, which the Board substantial mistakes are quite common (“bi-gender” is Orthodox Church directly blamed the Pride March, pre- this policy paper analyses the current situation of would communicate to the National Assembly. translated as “bipolar”,5 and so on). viously scheduled for first the Sunday after the floods, trans people (including the difficulties they face The main recommendation of our policy paper LGBT citizens. Emphasising legal gender recognition, was that the National Assembly promptly adopt The most prominent case of hate speech in the media socio-economic status and healthcare), Gayten-LGBT’s model law on gender identity, is related to the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest winner, examines domestic legislation and which would regulate legal gender recognition Conchita Wurst. A few days after the contest, there were Societal violence international standards as regards for trans people. terrible floods in Serbia, and all Serbian media outlets Of all the incidents reported to ProTrans, 25 per cent in- broadcast the statement of the Archbishop of the Serbian volve discrimination, of which four (66%) are related to Orthodox Church, who said that God was using the floods legal gender recognition. Two transsexual persons had The situation is particularly difficult for trans sex work- caught in the act, or if a sex worker, a client or a witness to encourage people to repent, and that the weather con- similar difficulties trying to change their personal docu- ers, one of the most marginalised groups in Serbian so- makes a statement regarding the exchange of money ditions in Europe were God’s punishment for this year’s mentation after their final surgery in their transition pro- ciety. Trans people engage in sex work because of the for sex. In practice, however, sex workers are arrest- Eurovision contest winner, who claims to be Jesus Christ cess: in both cases, the registrar officer stated that there difficulties they face in finding other jobs, and they do so ed for standing in hot spots (areas where sex workers and promotes the dissolution of human nature. is no official procedure for that request and told them in order to earn money for gender-confirmation surgery, gather and where sex work takes place) and then asked but also because sex work often provides them with the only opportunity to live in their identity. In Serbia, sex 6 to go to court. In one of the cases, the registrar officer to retroactively write statements at the police station, “What is happening in Europe right now? That unfortunate recommended that the trans person hire two specific which are used against them. female person, male person, I don’t know his name, is being af- lawyers to represent her case, which required a signifi- work is a misdemeanour punishable by up to 30 days in + 80 + for this natural disaster. in the areas of education, employment, firmed as Jesus, promoted and put on a pedestal as a role model cant amount of money. In both cases, the process took prison. Trans sex workers who work on the street are Media representations and reporting of trans people con- for future generations, and in that way human nature and hu- months and was successful only after the intervention exposed to high levels of violence, including physical tinue to be quite sensationalistic, but there has also been man beings are being destroyed. For example, preparations are of a third party close to the individuals. This situation is and sexual violence from police and illegal arrests. Ac- significant improvement in recent years due to the in- now again being made for that parade, that shameful parade, consistent with the experiences of other trans people cording to the law, sex workers can be charged only if creasing visibility of trans people. A major breakthrough which is destructive of the Christian ethos, of nature, of human over the years: though the process of changing one’s + 81 +