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Reserving the Right to Be Complex: Gender Variance and Trans Identities in the Greek Legal Order

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Reserving the Right to Be Complex: Gender Variance and Trans Identities in the Greek Legal Order Reserving the Right to Be Complex: Gender Variance and Trans Identities in the Greek Legal Order R. KASAPIDOU PhD 2020 Reserving the Right to Be Complex: Gender Variance and Trans Identities in the Greek Legal Order Roussa Kasapidou A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of Manchester Metropolitan University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Business and Law Manchester Metropolitan University 2020 Table of Contents Table of Contents Abstract 9 List of abbreviations 10 Acknowledgements 12 Chapter 1. Introduction 16 1.1. Having Questions 16 1.2. Thesis Structure and Chapter outline 23 Part A. Theories, Disciplines and Worlds 30 Chapter 2. Queer and Feminist Theorising and Trans Studies 31 2.1. Claiming a Voice, Establishing a Field 31 2.2. Epistemological Tensions, Gender Ontologies and Border Wars 37 2.3. Letting a Thousand Trans Theories Bloom 45 2.4. At the Same(?) Time, Somewhere Else… 51 Chapter 3. Theories of Trans Engagement with Law and the State 64 3.1. Trans Rights 65 3.2. Civil Registration, Gender Classification and the Modern State 77 3.2.a. Civil Registration as a (Gendered) Mode of Modern State Governance 78 3.2.b. Sexology, Law and the Categories in-between Categories 86 3.2.c. Interpretation as an Instance of Power 91 Chapter 4. Methodology 96 4.1. Accountable Epistemologies: 5 RESERVING THE RIGHT TO BE COMPLEX Positionality in Knowledge Production 97 4.2. Doing Trans Research from Somewhere Specific 99 4.3. Research and Analysis: The Reasons, the Ways, The Sources, The Challenges 105 4.3.a. Texts 105 i. Doing History 105 ii. A Fragmented Archive of Gender Regulation 109 iii. Contemporary Legal Texts 115 4.3.b. Interviews 116 CLOSING PART A 124 Part B. Sex (Re)Classification in the Twentieth Century 126 Chapter 5. Sex Classification in the Twentieth Century (I) 128 5.1. Civil Registration in the Modern Greek State 128 5.2. The Early Texts and the “Predominant Sex” Thesis 133 5.3. The Published Cases and the Beginning of Taxonomic Conflations 138 Chapter 6. Sex Classification in the Twentieth Century (II) 147 6.1. Civil law 149 6.1.a. Sex Classification – Civil Registration 149 6.1.b. Marriage and the Person-Who-Changed-Sex 154 6.2. Criminal law 157 6.2.a. Criminal Cases – Police Periodicals 157 6.2.b. Medical Law – Criminal Liability 168 6.3. Alternative Frameworks 175 Table of Contents Closing Part B 185 Part C. Contemporary Legislation on Gender Identity 187 Chapter 7. (Anti)Discrimination in Employment: Legal and Political Imaginaries and the Forgotten Provisions 189 7.1. Forgetting the Law 189 7.2. Remembering Reality 196 7.3. Making Sense of a “Success” 203 Chapter 8. Navigating the Crisis: (Legal) Violence and (State) Racism by any Other Name 210 8.1. The End of the World as We Know it 211 8.2. In Parenthesis 216 8.3. Racist Crime 224 8.4. Violence and All “the Rest of it” 227 8.5. “Racism is an Enemy of All of Us” 239 Chapter 9. Identity Documents, (Mis)Recognition and the New Legislation on Gender Identity 246 9.1. Amending Legal Documents under the Previous Legal Framework 247 9.2. The Tyranny of Discretion and Bureaucratic Survival Skills 252 9.3. The New Legislation on Gender Identity Legal Recognition 262 9.3.a. Introducing the Bill on Gender Identity 262 9.3.b. Law 4491/2017 On the Legal Recognition of Gender Identity 265 9.3.c. Defending Sex, Defending the Nation: 275 7 RESERVING THE RIGHT TO BE COMPLEX The Orthodox Church and Far-Right Common Front 275 i. Nation, Orthodoxy and the Future under Attack 276 ii. Defending All Borders 283 9.3.a. In the Spotlight 288 Closing Part C 296 Chapter 10. Conclusion 298 Suggestions: Reserving the right to be complex 313 Appendix A – Terminology 318 Appendix B – Interviewees 324 Bibliography 328 GREEK LEGISLATION 375 LITIGATION IN GREEK 377 LITIGATION IN ENGLISH 379 PARLIAMENTARY MINUTES 380 POLICE JOURNALS 381 Other legal sources and official documents. 381 Abstract Abstract Within the Greek legal order, gender identity recognition and the legal implications of trans identities have, in recent times, increasingly become the subjects of legislation and legal analysis. Nonetheless, in this newly emerging debate, context- specificity and historicity are often side-stepped. In this vein, the present thesis asks: How did issues of gender variance emerge in the national legal order during the previous century and how were they discussed and regulated before the existence of LGBTI+ rights? Starting from the premise that the legal management of gender identity adheres to different large-scale political projects on a macro level while, on a ground level, it is materialised through bureaucratic informality and individual survival strategies, the thesis proceeds to explore the following queries: To which processes and projects does recent trans-related legislation relate and how can it be comprehended within them? How does such legislation translate into legal reality as a lived experience in Greece and how can it be appraised on a symbolic and material level? With these questions in mind, the thesis analyses texts that were compiled through archival research to create a genealogy of the legal management of gender identity during the previous century. It unearths categorical conflations, interpretative workings and other dominant epistemic gestures that created a chaotic nexus within the supposedly self-evident process of registering and categorising legible citizens. Multiple contemporary legal sources and a set of semi-structured interviews are then used to appraise the main pieces of legislation relating to gender identity issues at state and ground level. Exploring the way in which trans rights can be understood in a national context of traditional ethno-sexual values, the thesis makes an argument for complex in concreto readings of such legislation that go beyond its mere understanding as a linear and universal narrative of progress or assimilation. 9 RESERVING THE RIGHT TO BE COMPLEX List of abbreviations AKOE Apeleftherotiko Kinima Omofylofilon Elladas (Liberation Movement of Greek Homosexuals) AN.EL. Aneksartitoi Ellines (Independent Greeks) CC Civil Code CEE Central and East European CommDH Commissioner for Human Rights ECRI European Commission against Racism and Intolerance ECtHR European Court of Human Rights EEN Efimerida Ellinon Nomikon (Journal of Greek Jurists) EU European Union FRA Fundamental Rights Agency GG Government Gazette GHM Greek Helsinki Monitor GNCHR Greek National Commission for Human Rights GTSA Greek Transgender Support Association HRW Human Rights Watch ILGA International Gay and Lesbian Association IMF International Monetary Fund LA.O.S Laikos Orthodoxos Synagermos (Popular Orthodox Rally) LGBT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender LGBTI+ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and more LGBTQI+ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and more MRG-G Minority Rights Group-Greece ND Nea Dimokratia (New Democracy) NGO Non-Governmental Organisation OCG Orthodox Church of Greece OLKE Omofylofiliki Lesviaki Koinotita Ellados (Homosexual Lesbian Community of Greece) 10 List of Abbreviations P.D. Presidential Decree PASOK Panellinio Socialistiko Kinima (Panhellenic Socialist Movement) PC Penal Code R.D. Royal Decree RVRN Racist Violence Recording Network SOKADRE Synergazomenes Organoseis kai Koinotites gia ta Anthropina Dikaiomata ton Roma stin Ellada (Coordinated Organisations and Communities for Roma Human Rights in Greece) SYRIZA Synaspismos Rizospastikis Aristeras (Coalition of the Radical Left) TGEU Transgender Europe TSQ Transgender Studies Quarterly UN United Nations 11 RESERVING THE RIGHT TO BE COMPLEX Acknowledgements In my experience, writing a PhD is a lonesome and sometimes lonely process. The withdrawal and isolation of these years have been afforded to me and endured thanks to several people. I am sincerely grateful to the people, whose support and contribution has improved my work, fed my mind and nurtured the rest of me. Also to those, who might not be explicitly named here, but still accompanied my effort in their own way. Above anyone else, I am indebted to the people who conversed with me on- record during this research. Agreeing to be recorded, transcribed, translated and quoted selectively in someone else’s text shows a level of strength that I can only admire and a level of trust that I can only hope I have not betrayed. Continuing, I want to express my gratitude to the people that were involved with this study1 in different stages and to different extents. Firstly, to Stephen Whittle for giving me a chance when there was no other in sight. I will always be grateful for this. To Kate Cook for engaging generously, during a period so close to her retirement, with the chaos that was the first version of this text. To Kay Lalor for listening to me patiently, reading my texts carefully and guiding me gently. Although her contribution to the outcome is immeasurable, I retain responsibility for all of its flaws. To the MMU staff and colleagues with whom, in these years, I shared office space, uncertainties, lunch, and, occasionally, homesickness. Especially, to Maria Manifava who was assigned to provide administrative support but offered so much more. To Kelly Dannielle for taking me by the hand and showing me the ropes. And, of course, to Shyamenda Purslow for being my rock and literally submitting this thesis in my absence. Finally, to Rebecca Jackson for working hard, under so much pressure, to polish the final text in the nick of time. Further, I would like to acknowledge some of the unique people that I encountered during my time in Manchester. Ελισάβετ and Λύο who made the UK a 1 The title borrows from Leslie Feinberg’s alleged quote ‘I reserve my right to be complex.’ 12 Acknowledgements warmer place for me and radically softened the experience of being away from Athens.
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