Every border crossing for Ivana from Podgorica represents uncertainty and stress.
She is afraid that the officer at the passport control will notice that under her name and the photo, from which she is smiling with long hair, it says M/M - the symbol for male gender.
She is just one of dozens of transgender people from Montenegro who struggle with such bureaucratic obstacles.
"When you submit a document and the photo does not match what you currently look like, and when the gender and gender markings are not appropriate, it leads to major legal problems and enormous inconvenience," Jovan Ulićević, director of the non-governmental organization Spektra, told Radio Free Europe. rights of transgender persons.
According to the Law on Birth Registers, in order for the gender marking and the photograph to be 'reconciled', transgender persons should undergo sterilization, i.e. surgical correction of the genitals.
"And that is inhumane and blackmailing. In many countries this practice has been eradicated. These persons should have the possibility to change their name and gender on official documents in accordance with their gender, with what is essential and not what is imposed on them" , believes Ulićević, who performed sterilization himself a decade ago.
In order to achieve this, it is necessary to adopt a law on gender recognition based on self-determination, which is currently in the draft stage.
The Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, which initiated the process of drafting laws and policies that allow trans people to express themselves and identify themselves in accordance with their gender identity, told RSE that they will soon organize a public debate on the matter:
"The adoption of the law on legal recognition of gender identity based on self-determination will allow transgender people to change their gender and birth certificate number in their personal documents without the obligation to undergo medical intervention beforehand," says Biljana Pejović from the Ministry.
According to the latest Progress Report of the European Commission, the LGBTIQ community is one of the most troubled in Montenegro.
"I was born in the wrong gender"
Ivana from the beginning of the story, as she describes for RSE, was born in the body of the opposite sex - as a male baby.
She realized in early childhood that she does not belong to that "package with a blue bow" in which they put her, imposing certain norms of behavior on her.
"Already at the age of four, I felt like all other girls - when it came to clothes, toys that interested me. No cars, garages, football. I wanted barbies, dolls, bracelets".
However, she adds, despite this, everyone around her refused to accept it.
"It was strange for me. I didn't know that I was born a man until someone told me. How many times have I just heard – you have to behave like all other boys, it can't be like that, it doesn't suit men. But how when, I'm convinced, I've never been?"
The aggravating circumstance for her was that she comes from a small town, a conservative environment.
"Thus, the pressure was greater. My parents tried to convince me otherwise, because they were afraid for my safety, how I would react to the numerous, inevitable condemnations from the environment."
Throughout high school, she says, she experienced stigmatization, verbal attacks, and condemnation.
She lived like that for several years, and then at puberty, at the age of 15, she started the process of changing her gender.
A long way to the gender adjustment process
There are two stages on the long road to sex change – social and medical, Ivana explains to us.
"It's social when I tell people my new name, gender. In slang terms, I 'go out'. The next step is medical, which involves hormone therapy to make genital reconstruction work. That's my next step. I'm preparing for it, finishing the paperwork."
As she tells us, it is not difficult for her.
"It's something I've always wanted. This will be the final step in achieving the goal - rounding off what I've always been, even though I came into this world in a wrong form."
Bureaucratic difficulties on the way to the goal
However, until that process is formally completed, Ivana and those who are in a similar situation can hardly jump over high bureaucratic obstacles.
"My friend recently tried to enter Montenegro from Serbia, but since her image and what is in her passport photo are in contradiction, they did not want to let her go".
After that, she had to prove the reason for the confusion with the medical documentation stating that in the process of gender change.
"It is illegal for anyone to have insight into our medical condition, but it is inevitable. Another, big problem is that our officers, customs officers are very indiscreet, so it continues. By the time they determine where the problem is, a lot of people are involved in it, they gather , they interpret and that's how everyone knows our status. And we haven't been revealed to the world yet".
He also mentions the experience of a friend who could not pick up a package at the post office. "So she also gave the full set of medical documentation to the officers."
They go to Belgrade for the final sex change
By the way, gender reassignment surgery is not possible in Montenegro, so transgender people are sent to Belgrade.
"Genital reconstruction is done in Belgrade. In Montenegro, we receive hormone therapy, which usually fails. After the consultation, we bring documentation and a doctor's certificate to Belgrade, which states that we cannot do this in Montenegro."
There is also a problem in the labor market because, as he says, no one will hire transgender people.
"It's classic economic violence. At the same time, no one will openly say the reason, instead they state insufficient qualifications for the job you're applying for, lack of expertise, and the like. All transparent excuses".
On top of all that, as Ivana says, everyone she knows has big problems in the family.
"Either violence or they were thrown out onto the street, so they were left without a roof over their heads." It's very difficult".
Absence of tolerance grounds for violence
Mina Gazivoda, specialist in medical psychology, confirms for RSE that living in an environment that lacks the capacity to accept diversity of any form and degree is extremely difficult and that it impairs mental health.
According to her, the absence of tolerance and acceptance of the other and different is the basis, not only for social isolation and exclusion, but also for violence to which members of the LGBT population are exposed on a daily basis.
"And when we add to that the legal and regulatory issues that burden the transgender identity, the situation becomes complicated to a level that seriously impairs the quality of life, functioning and mental health".
It is a misconception, he states, that mental health problems are an integral part of transgender identity.
As he indicates, they are the result of bad treatment by society and/or family.
The purpose of the new law on legal recognition of gender based on self-determination is to enable everyone to live in accordance with their gender identity, which is crucial for mental health, says Biljana Pejović from the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights.
This Law will reduce administrative barriers related to the realization of the rights of transgender persons.
The aim of the law is that the change of gender marking in personal documents is achieved with minimal obstacles. People who want to change their gender will not have to provide evidence of the reasons why they are applying.
By the way, Montenegro is the best in the region when it comes to LGBT rights.
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