AMSTERDAM, January 16, 2007  –  A new coalition of European Transgender and Transsexual Groups, TransGender Europe, has received recognition by the Austrian authorities this week.

The initiative brings together 66 transgender organizations from 21 countries, after they agreed to join together when meeting in Vienna last year, for the first-ever European TransGender Council.

High on the list of priorities for the new organisation are the promotion of the human rights of transgender people – especially with regards to the legal recognition of the gender of trans people in the gender they live in, as well as non-discrimination in all aspects of life, equal access to Healthcare, and social acceptance.

“This is a major milestone towards the recognition of the rights of transgender people,” says Justus Eisfeld, chairperson of the new organization.

“Now TransGender Europe can apply for funding and make our voices heard on an international level,” says Eisfeld.

In most European countries there are strict limitations to changing one’s legal gender.

Many countries require obligatory sterilization, while other countries such as Ireland don’t allow a legal gender change at all.

The UK is the only country in Europe where the law does not require extensive physical treatments before recognising the gender role a person is living in.

Transgender people in Europe frequently face prejudice and discrimination at home, in the streets and at work.

Equal access to healthcare is a major problem for transgender people, as health professionals, including psychologists and family practitioners, are often unaware of the problems transgender people face.

The possibilities for gender reassignment are limited and often not (adequately) covered by public health insurance in some countries, such as Belgium.

A recent study undertaken by academics at Manchester Metropolitan University with over 800 trans people shows that for 1 in 5 trans people, the family doctors did not want to help, and in 1 in 18 cases the doctor actually refused to help.

About 1.5% of the Dutch population claimed in a recent large-scale representative study by the Rutgers-Nisso Groep that they identify more the other than the gender assigned at their birth, whilst almost 3% of the male population of the Netherlands identify as cross-dressers.

TransGender Europe’s planned activities for 2007 include the Second European TransGender Council in the autumn and research into the law and living conditions of transgender people in Europe.

Transgender Europe – Network and Council uses the term transgender in the broadest sense, to include transsexual, transvestite, and transgender people such as drag queens, cross-dressers and other people who feel that they don’t belong in the strict binary gender system.

Go to www.tgeu.net for more information about the organization and how you can join (membership forms will be added soon).

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