TGEU member organisation Greek Transgender Support Association (G.T.S.A.) has successfully, together with other NGOs, advocated for an inclusion of gender identity as a protected characteristic in the Greek ‘Anti-Racist’ law, adopted on Sept 10, 2014 in Athens.
The definition of violence or hatred-incited crimes now includes incitement to hatred, violence and discrimination against a person or a group of persons that are identified on the basis of inter alia gender identity. A transphobic motive leads also to increased sentences, which G.T.S.A. welcomes.
The new version of the law also outlaws Holocaust denial.
However, other LGBT-related protections were explicitly taken out of the law, despite clear case law from the European Court of Justice. According to G.T.S.A. more needs to be done to upscale protection of trans people, namely:
- The legal implementation of the protection of victims and witnesses of crimes with a racist bias must include sexual orientation and gender identity on the grounds of protection.
- The revision of the Presidential Decree on the Establishment of Departments and Offices to Combat Racist violence in the Police Force must include sexual orientation and gender identity.
- The extension of the Anti-Discrimination Law in Employment and Goods Providing Services (Law 3304/2005) in order to include gender identity among the grounds of protection, plus the revision of Law 3896/2010 in order to explicitly state gender identity.
Read the G.T.S.A. Press Release “Gender identity is included in the new Anti-Racist Law”.