– Our Agenda & Demands.

GREEK TRANSGENDERED SUPPORT ASSOCIATION

AGENDA & DEMANDS

The charter members of the Greek Transgendered Support Association agreed, in accordance with the principles and aims of the Association’s charter, the adoption of the following outline of our demands.

A – LEGISLATIVE DEMANDS

1. Extension of the anti-discrimination law 3304/2005, to include discrimination on the grounds of gender identity, in the workplace, in the provision of services (public and private) and in the rental of housing or work premises (the current law covers sexual orientation but not gender identity, i.e. trans people).

2. Extension of the anti-racism law 927/1979 (propaganda and hate speech law) to include gender identity (the current law does not cover sexual orientation or gender identity).

3. Extension of the penal section of law 3719/2008 (on registered partnerships), in particular the articles concerning hate crimes and hate attacks, to include gender identity (currently this law covers sexual orientation but not gender identity, i.e. trans people)

4. Recognition by law of gender identity, and the ability to change their documents for persons who undergo a gender transition:
a) For those who have undergone sex reassignment surgery, a change of sex should be recognised by law (currently this is achieved by court order due to legal precedent).
b) For those who have transitioned but have not undergone sex reassignment surgery, the ability to change their documents under the following conditions:
(i) Certification by an endocrinologist at a state clinic of having undergone hormone replacement therapy (with cross-sex hormones) for at least two years for the purpose of gender transition, or certification of surgical breast augmentation (for trans women) or breast reduction (for trans men) combined with appropriate hormone treatment.
(ii) Certification of medical supervision by a psychologist to ascertain the gender identity of the person, not as a clinical condition, but as the gender of choice.
The relevant Spanish law, can be considered as a model for this.

5. Revision of the law on prostitution, to change it from a misdemeanour to a minor offence in order to disengage the judicial system from the “aftoforon” system (requiring the processing of an offence within 24 hours of an arrest) that often operates as a process of humiliation and putting-down of transgender women who are forced to practice prostitution due to social exclusion. Also abolition of Article 347 of the Penal Code which speaks of «unnatural acts of buggery between males”.

B – INSURANCE, WELFARE, HEALTH

1. The possibility of public funding through public insurance funds of gender transition procedures in state hospitals. Provision of psychological support and medical coverage.

2. Drafting through the National Health Service of safe guidelines for people wishing to enter the process of gender transition, listing the clinics with specialised doctors (gender specialists).

3. Removal of crossdressing, transvestism and transsexuality from the list of psychiatric disorders (a list analogous to the ICD-10 of the World Health Organization – WHO). However, at the same time as the removal of transsexuality from the list of psychiatric disorders, we are asking that it be considered as a medical (but not clinical or pathological) condition requiring psychological support and appropriate endocrinological or other treatment in order for the external appearance of the person to follow the gender of choice. The recent proposal of specialised doctors at a conference in Amsterdam, and the legislation recently adopted by the Government of France, can be considered as a model for this.

4. We seek to cooperate with public and private institutions and individuals, in order to create a hostel for the support of marginalised transgendered people who are in physical difficulty and suffer from their exclusion from society.

C – EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

1. Creation of a program by the Ministry of Education to tackle discrimination towards the adoption of a barrier to discrimination for teachers, parents, students, university students, and the fostering of a climate against homophobia and transphobia in educational institutions at all levels.

2. Briefing and training of security forces on issues of diversity and in particular on gender identity.

3. Ability to offer special programmes through the Employment Service, for the education, information and employment of transgendered people in the same direction as existing programmes for the education and employment of other vulnerable minority groups.

These is the basic outline of our targets and demands.
Each of the modules will be further processed and analysed with specific proposals.

The charter members,

Athens, 16/03/2010