'When One doesn’t even Exist…' Trans Rights, Policy and Activism in Cyprus

This Paper documents the needs and struggles of the Cypriot trans community. It examines how national policy makers respond to pressures from the newly-formed Cypriot trans community, regional and international LGBTQI NGOs, EU institutions and human rights watchdogs, to address trans inequalities. Analyzing original empirical data, which includes interviews with self-identified transmen and transwomen who live in Cyprus, it finds that, in the attempt to strike a balance between human rights obligations that stem from Cyprus’s membership to the EU and the fierce opposition of conservative sociopolitical and institutional actors to trans equality, they engage in impromptu and ad hoc policy-making. It argues that this approach, which is presented by national policy makers as a solution to the problem of trans inequalities, in reality reinforces the institutionalization of trans discrimination. The Paper also examines how trans people and activists in Cyprus react to this policy approach. It finds that they are faced with a dire dilemma: Having to choose between legal, sociopolitical, economic and cultural non-existence and impromptu and ad hoc policies that partially recognize and address their needs and selectively respect, protect and fulfill their human rights. It thus argues that their growing manifestation of political agency is accompanied and restricted by their reluctant contribution to the imbroglio of their construction as second-class citizens. Nonetheless, it also finds that the newly-formed local trans activist community has made important strides towards tackling trans institutional and social discrimination. Based on its findings, the paper makes recommendations on both policy and trans political mobilization for equality. These recommendations are not only applicable to the country under examination. They are transferable to other countries, where trans individuals and communities struggle to have their and human rights recognized, respected and fulfilled by legal and policy systems that refuse to acknowledge their existence.