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Annons
Paola Revenioti: No, it's not. Police have been randomly arresting trans people in the street for the past three years, usually under charges of prostitution and the pretence of checking their identification. They have tended to hold them in a cell overnight and take them to court the next day. It's barbaric, but in the past, a large percentage of these people would, in the end, be acquitted. What we're seeing now, though, is that they're being made to pay huge, unreasonable fines. Has it ever happened to you?
Once, three years ago, I happened to be in the Iera Odos area. It's a place people do street work, but I wasn't. I had to spend the night in jail and the next day in court. The worst part of it was the disgrace I felt, even when I knew I was innocent. Anyway, they stopped doing that at some point and got to randomly forcing people to undergo HIV tests. Which is just disregarding basic human rights. Is this clampdown related to the financial crisis, in your opinion?
The trans community has always faced the same problems. One way it is related, though, is that the fines they're made to pay once they are arrested can be up to 700 Euros. This is already a downtrodden social group. It's hard to find a job as a transgender person and there's usually no family support to fall back on. Most people have to turn to prostitution to make a living, and that doesn't even work these days because people don't spend as much on prostitutes. Having to pay this kind of money to the state is only making things worse.
Annons
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I'm not sure – it's not like the trans community is large in Thessaloniki. I doubt it consists of more than 200 people. The Archbishop of Thessaloniki, Anthimos, has always been very vocally against the gay community, LGBT rights and, most recently, the Pride Parade. The persecution is all coming from the police, though.
Do you think the recent crackdown has anything to do with the setting up of Thessaloniki Pride?
Who knows? Could they be trying to terrorise the people so they don't take part? It's something we are forced to consider, given it really got intense just a couple of weeks before the event. This week, the Greek government closed down the state-owned media organisation, ERT, which has led to a lot of speculation about the prospect of yet another election. Say that happens – is there any hope for LGBT Greeks?
Greeks are now facing the ugly side of themselves. We haven't shown any respect to our history, the people who died for our freedoms and those who had to emigrate to escape that same ugliness in past decades. It's an oxymoron; such a beautiful country has fallen into a deep paranoia. I went to the supermarket the other day and there was a long queue at the till. A few people started shouting; "It's a good thing we've got the Golden Dawn." We've elected certified criminals. We are completely insane and I wonder if we were always that way but just chose to ignore it because we had money. I don't know, I'm confused. I recently spoke to Tom Bianchi, an American artist and gay rights activist, about the onset of HIV in the US. He said that AIDS forced the gay community to grow up and take matters into their own hands. If the persecution against gays escalates, could it have the same effect happen for Greece's LGBT community?
You're optimistic and that's good. Then again, think about this; if the state forced Panathinaikos or Olympiakos to close down, people would riot for days. Would the same thing happen if they closed down the national healthcare system or an anti-drugs organisation? They wouldn't give a shit. But Athens Pride, which took place last Saturday, went well…
It went really well. Thousands of people attended, and half of them weren't even gay. If this whole situation with having fascists in our Parliament did any good at all, it's that it brought people together. That's what we have to realise. These matters concern us all. My downfall means your downfall. Still, I doubt any Greek TV channel even mentioned Athens Pride.
Annons