A Bulgarian trans woman is protesting in front of the courthouse in Sofia.

[Shellianne_Kay83]

Gabriela Bankova tore her birth certificate and broke her ID card in the courthouse after an appeal meeting in the regional court related to her LGR case. She started a hunger strike, supported by allies, friends, and a few organizations, including official feminist groups, in front of the building, demanding equal rights and a legal framework for trans people in Bulgaria. 

 

She was arrested two times, and we guess that police have used her destroyed ID as an excuse to do so. According to her testimony, an officer performed a naked search on her (she is post-op), and another police officer verbally harassed her and pulled her hair during the second arrest. They insulted her both times!

 

That happened in 11 days!

 

Disappointingly, this news wasn't interesting to PinkNews, which publishes any kind of individual stories of discrimination, lawsuits, etc. This is the first of its kind protest related to trans rights in our country, and they and The Advocate just turned their backs, despite being international media. I hope that this news will find some empathy and support, at least here.

 

I am sharing some further info: an article and a TGEU Instagram post, which is incorrect in the part about how she received rejection the day she started the strike. She got rejected by the city court, which is the first court institution. I also share the petition, which can be signed by anyone and published in All Out:

 

https://www.openlynews.com/i/?id=8f3ab1ca-a8e7-4f65-bcb6-6881492f6d02&fbclid=IwAR3zsOYAtfZD0xU_tV30DwDUg7x5hV8JQLcAFkWesC2U4YC34kQLtGH9mQg

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzoFoNoo-et/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

https://action.allout.org/en/m/31a313c7/?utm_campaign=mgp-31a313c7&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social_share&fbclid=IwAR35qhugMFZBHidn0G_HpT2TTFgxYSbIFuznPQ4Pm219lnImAWKXQ2bPISE

 

 

 

 

 

[Shellianne_Kay83]

I want to add that this strike comes to show what a situation of total desperation and madness the government has driven the trans community into!

 

Also, Gabriela is sick with pneumonia, and it's cold pre-winter in Bulgaria already. 

[Carolyn Marie]

What happened to Bankova is terrible.  I hope she will be all right, and you as well.  I am fearful that things could turn authoritarian here, as well.  Some of our states have already turned into hell holes for trans folk. 

 

HUGS

 

Carolyn Marie

[Vidanjali]

Thanks for sharing this and bringing it to our attention, @Shellianne_Kay83. I signed the petition & I'll keep Gabriela in my prayers. 

[awkward-yet-sweet]

I signed it, but unfortunately petitions do even less in Eastern Europe than they do in the USA.  Sucks that she was forced to divorce her partner due to their same-sex marriage laws too.  Hopefully the legal divorce didn't change their real relationship. 

 

Eastern Europe tends to be an icky area for LGBTQ+ folks.  It seems like a large portion of the LGBTQ+ community in the central USA is from Eastern European / Balkan heritage, so I would assume there are also large numbers of folks who still haven't been able to leave.

[Shellianne_Kay83]

Thank you all for the comments and the signing!

Yes, I doubt that this strike will have any pressure on our parliament, which includes a far-right party as a fourth political power in it! They already have a bill for an "anti-LGBT propaganda" law.

 

I forgot another fact—that she has a 5-year-old child—but it was mentioned in the article! That complicates things further.

 

Sadly, it looks like the whole world wants to regress to the far-right ideologies and order of toxic standards and stereotypes. Even here in Spain, in Catalonia, you can feel the rise of that hate machine.