The project will provide a safe space for self-support groups and a number of services that are vital for the most marginalised sub-groups of the LGBTQ community – trans and intersex people. These groups have been scapegoated during the inflow of the anti-gender ideology that corresponded with the debates around the ratification of the Istanbul Convention in 2018 and led to the rejection of the Convention. We are facing unprecedented barriers to trans/intersex people legal gender recognition since early 2023. The Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) provided an interpretative decision of an earlier decision of the Constitutional Court which stated that “sex” is understood in a purely biological way in the Bulgarian Constitution and consequently cannot be changed within a person’s lifetime. Since then, LGR court cases are turned down and trans people are left to fend on their own. 

We will support the trans community in leadership building and strategic planning for lifting the barriers to LGR. The Rainbow Hub will serve as an incubator of trans community leaders. 

Activity I: Trans Leadership Training

This training will serve as the starting point to strengthening leadership within the trans movement and will focus on community organising and advocacy. It will be implemented as part of the LGBTIQ Leadership Academy held by Bilitis annually. We expect to train a group of 15 activists, and 4-6 out of them to be self-identified trans community leaders. 

Activity II: Trans Strategy Self-Organizing Community Meetings 

The trans community leaders will organise strategic meetings within the 12 months of the project to set clear advocacy goals, engage the community, escalate issues to decision-makers, etc. 

Activity III: Outreach to Trans Community, Transmission Self-Support Group Re-Activation

These are communication activities with two target groups: the trans community which will be reached mainly through social media/closed FB groups,, and the wider public which will be reached and influenced by a strategic communication campaign. 

Activity IV: One-on-one consultations for trans people at the Rainbow Hub Community Center

The Rainbow Hub Community Center is the main venue for the provision of capacity-building support and tailored services to the trans community, including leadership building workshops, strategic community meetings, etc.

Expected outcomes: 

• Organising trans leadership training (part of the LGBTIQ leadership academy that Bilitis holds annually).

• Hosting a trans community self-support group at the Rainbow hub to serve as an incubator of new leaders;

• Supporting trans-led initiatives – both financially and technically, including artistic work, meetings with politicians, and other forms of advocacy for trans rights;

• Provision of services to 50 trans/intersex individuals, including legal and psychological consultations that will improve their access to health, education, employment or justice;

• Organising special events for allies at the Rainbow Hub that will help the trans rights movement to emancipate and grow.
• Supporting public awareness activities, which are trans- led, and aim to change the negative perceptions of trans people and stop their demonization.