Equality of Trans* People in Deeds, not only in Words

“For me personally, as a guest facilitator, it was important to see the group members’ proactive position and commitment to the principle of “Nothing about us, without us”. The safe, trans* friendly space in every way contributed to the constructive work of the group. At the meeting, the group’s mission, values, goals and objectives were developed to lay main foundation for further effective work,” - said Timur, facilitator of the RGT.

“For me, a face-to-face meeting is important, first of all, to personally get to know other fellow trans*people: this cannot be replaced by social networks, emails and video conferencing. We agreed on the basic procedures for the Group’s work - a start has been made! I will note such an important detail as setting up of a glossary of correct and outdated, stigmatizing terminology in the context of trans*people’s lives. As always, there were disputes, arguments of activists from different countries of EECA about the peculiarities of self-identification of trans*people. These discussions led to the crystallization and accuracy of each term. During work, we also outlined immediate tasks which we will implement starting the fall of 2019”.

“The meeting turned out to be rich and productive, but at the same time, humanly warm and sincere. I am very grateful to ECOM for the initiative to include trans*people in the work, the provided platform and resource support, for the trans*sensitivity and willingness to hear the voice of the trans*community,” said Anton Mackintosh, coordinator of the T-Action trans*initiative group.

“Finally, the first face-to-face meeting of the working group of trans*people took place! As a member of the working group and head of the organization for transgender people, Trans*Generation (Ukraine), I want to thank ECOM for this opportunity, as well as for its flexibility and willingness to change. Unfortunately, in many organizations and initiatives, the inclusion of the trans*community is still carried out on conditions set up by cis-people, on their ideas about what we need. Such approaches not only harm the work, but also undermine the trust and desire to cooperate. It was great to see that ECOM is practicing modern approaches, friendliness, openness to new experience and recognition of expertise in trans*issues directly behind the trans* community. I am sure that our cooperation will contribute to a tangible improvement in the quality of lives of trans*people in EECA in the near future!”, added Friedrich Chernyshev.