HUMAN rights campaigner Richard Kotter from Amnesty International (AI) UK spoke movingly of the discrimination faced by transgender people throughout Europe at the monthly meeting of Amnesty Mid Gloucestershire in Stroud.

Citing a comparative analysis of European Union (EU) LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender) survey data carried out by the Fundamental Rights Agency of the EU in 2014, Mr Kotter said; “the trans respondents reported serious and repetitive victimisation in the EU. They are unable to express freely their experienced gender which perpetuates a lack of public awareness about the reality of their identities and lives. Often they are discriminated against, victimised and maltreated. So much so that they feel forced to hide or disguise their true gender identity.”

Speaking to a full gathering of local AI supporters, Mr Kotter told them the story of Norwegian John Jeanette Solstad Remo (65) who has been transgender all her life but had to hide and suppress her true identity.

In Norway, transgender people who want to legally identify themselves by their chosen gender can only do so by completing a ‘real sex conversion’ which involves psychiatric diagnosis, compulsory surgery and mandatory sterilisation.

John Jeanette does not want to go through this, she simply wants to be recognised for who she is.

But, at present, her right to a private life is violated on a daily basis because her identity documents indicate that she is male, so whenever she presents them – at the library or the pharmacy or staying at hotels – she faces lengthy questioning.

John Jeaneatte says; “When you have to spend your whole life trying to be who you really are but still get referred to as a man by public bodies and in everyday life, you never get to move on from that part of your past.”

Mr Kotter also spoke on ending discrimination against Roma in Europe and increasing the accountability of state authorities for violence.

Mr Kotter is a country co-ordinator and trainer for AI UK.

He is also a Senior Lecturer in Economic and Political Geography at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne.