Abstract
This chapter provides an account of the development of trans activism in Croatia between 2004 and 2014. The authors trace previous and recent activities and organisations to show how transphobia within some parts of the LGBT (activist) “community” has forced trans activism to evolve from the practically invisible T inside the LGBT initiatives, via trans groups/sections as a part of LGBT organisations, to autonomous trans-led activist enterprises and networks. Although recognising the challenge of coalitional engagement, the authors claim that the trans movement in Croatia has been built on an intersectional approach. In this regard, they point to the importance of forming alliances with other relevant movements, such as women’s and feminist initiatives, migrants, sex workers, youth, and workers’ rights groups.
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Notes
- 1.
Transgender or trans is used in this text as an umbrella term for people whose gender identity or expression differs from the sex assigned to them at birth.
- 2.
LGBTIQ syntax has been widely used by initiatives and groups in the post-Yugoslav context. While many issues related to the representation of BTIQ identities within LGBTIQ movement can be raised, diversity and inclusion have been an important goal for many groups that propel the movement.
- 3.
Genderphobia—prejudice and discrimination towards persons who transcend and transgress narrow social sex/gender roles, norms, and stereotypes.
- 4.
Lesbian Organisation Rijeka (LORI) was founded in 2000 in Rijeka, Croatia, while Lesbian Group Kontra (established in 1997) and Iskorak—Center for Rights of Sexual and Gender Minorities—were both registered in 2002 in Zagreb, Croatia. In 2002, LORI implemented the first national campaign focusing on the issue of LGBT rights. The campaign included a TV clip Love is Love, which was banned by national television as “inappropriate”. Iskorak and Kontra co-organised the first Pride March in Zagreb in June 2002, but due to political and organisational divergences between the two groups that arose around the second Pride March in 2003, the inclusion of trans members of the LGBTIQ community and trans visibility presented a point of contention that culminated in 2004, as described in this chapter.
- 5.
The second author was a member of the Organisational Committee of Zagreb Pride in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007.
- 6.
The reasoning for such a decision was that media might have misinterpreted the person’s statement (as we knew was frequently the case) as well as that the person might have changed their attitudes in the meantime, and the Organisational Committee took the responsibility for deciding upon this matter.
- 7.
Interestingly enough, the second theme was concerned with the Catholic church’s hate speech towards the LGBT population and its attacks on school-based sex education programs, which are the same issues that came into the focus of the Croatian public again in 2013 and 2014 with the appearance of clerical rights groups and their agenda against sexual and reproductive rights (Hodžić & Bijelić, 2014).
- 8.
These language forms continue to be used in Trans Aid’s work and occasionally appear in other LGBTIQ NGOs’ communication and articles. In addition, Trans Aid is continually developing new language forms that transgress gender as enshrined in BCS language as well as organising workshops on the topic.
- 9.
In 2008, 5000 copies in English were produced targeting the global audience. To make it internationally eligible, the regional images and examples were replaced with global ones.
- 10.
In 2008, Organisation Q organised the Queer Sarajevo Festival, which was violently interrupted at its opening, including death threats sent to the organisers. In the following year, two core members left the organisation and another two emigrated to the USA (see Selmić, 2016).
- 11.
Besides Women’s Room and Organisation Q, the conference was organised by CESI-Center for Education, Counselling and Research, a feminist NGO from Zagreb, and DEVE, an LGBT cultural center from Belgrade.
- 12.
WPATH was named Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association from its founding until 2007.
- 13.
In 2009, Cunterview.net’s video section produced Transgenderosity, a short documentary that gives insight into the history of Serbian trans community organising.
- 14.
A psychologist working at the Kontra counselling center at that time is one of very few trans-friendly health professionals in today’s Croatia.
- 15.
Support group sessions were organised by Kontra until the founding of Trans Aid, which has continually provided support groups since October 2012. Additionally, a few of Trans Aid’s support groups were held at Kontra premises in the beginning of 2013.
- 16.
This was also a time when the Criminal Code introduced gender identity as a protected ground in hate crime legislation (National Gazette 125/11).
- 17.
Forum theatre is an interactive type of theatre in which the audience has an opportunity to actively influence the outcome of the depicted story through interventions (posing questions to characters, exchanging performers, or introducing new characters).
- 18.
Trans Aid was initially named Trans Aid Croatia—Association for Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Transgender and Transsexual People(the abbreviated name was Trans Aid Croatia)—but in February 2014, the name was changed to Trans Aid—Association for Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Trans, Inter and Gender Variant Persons, with the abbreviated name of Trans Aid.
- 19.
It is important to highlight that trans activism in the post-Yugoslav region continues to develop, with new groups and initiatives being formed in addition to organisations like Trans Aid and TMB. In October 2014, trans groups formed in Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, while trans activism in Montenegro as part of activities of Queer Montenegro has been growing, including support groups and advocacy efforts. Institute Transfeminist Initiative TransAkcija is the first Slovenian trans-specific NGO that provides support to, informs, and creates the empowerment and alliance of transgender persons and the transgender community in Slovenia. TransAkcija works to increase the visibility of transgender persons and topics and advocates for the human rights of transgender persons. Trans* BiH was started by five trans persons, and their focus has been on raising the visibility of trans topics and empowering the trans community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2015, another trans initiative began forming in Croatia: TransParent, which was founded by a group of parents of trans persons. Another example of recent developments is the first Trans Pride in the region, which was held in Belgrade, Serbia, in September 2015.
- 20.
This page is available here: www.facebook.com/transbalkan.
- 21.
The Ministry of Social Policy and Youth developed its guidelines in spring 2015 (published on the Ministry’s website on 28 April 2015), and the Ministry of Health published a list of medical experts who may issue opinions in the procedure (National Gazette 59/15). The Ministry of Health also published the final prescribed guidelines in January 2016 (National Gazette 7/16), however these guidelines are filled with pathologising, inaccurate, and outdated information, despite the fact that trans activists from Trans Aid and TMB, with the support of TGEU, submitted in-depth comments during public consultations showing the problematic areas of the guidelines. Nevertheless, since the publishing of the guidelines, the National Health Council has begun issuing positive opinions to most applicants. However, further monitoring is needed to determine whether the regulation is properly adhered to in the process since there are indications that positive opinions might not be given to those who have not undergone any medical procedures such as receiving hormone therapy or having surgery.
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Hodžić, A., Poštić, J., Kajtezović, A. (2016). The (In)Visible T: Trans Activism in Croatia (2004–2014). In: Bilić, B., Kajinić, S. (eds) Intersectionality and LGBT Activist Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59031-2_2
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