LGBTI Equal Rights Association for Western Balkans and Turkey
Transgender and non-binary people are among the most vulnerable groups and are exposed to various forms of violence and discrimination, a fact clearly corroborated by numerous research undertaken abroad (FRA, 2020). When it comes to Serbia and its context, only few research provide us with an improved insight into the position of transgender and non-binary or gender non-conforming people. After the research conducted in 2012, which dealt with problems in the domains of state administration, education system, health care system and work and employment (Zulevic, 2012), two more research directed at people from this community were published, however they contained very specific research questions: monitoring of discrimination and hate crime against trans people (Vidic, 2015) and another was a research on the perception, experience and needs related to the health care (Smiley et al., 2017). On the other hand, in research of public opinion, transgender and non-binary people usually remain invisible within the LGBT umbrella term, in which, despite its inclusivity, the principal role belongs to same-sex oriented people (lesbians and gays).1
All three research conducted up until now, concentrating on different aspects of the position of transgender and non-binary people in Serbia were conducted by the Geten, Centre for LGBTIQA people’s rights, independently or in cooperation with other organisations. From the very foundation of the organisation, Geten has been working on and dealt with the issues of gender and gender identity from the perspective of intersectionality, and through its almost two decades long activism and practice of providing different services2, the organisation directly communicates with the community, and on this basis it further advocates for the advance of their position.