S.A.T.T.E. GREEK ASSOCIATION OF SOLIDARITY OF TRANSVESTITES AND TRANSSEXUALS (SATTE)
Athens 06-01-2004 http://clubs.pathfinder.gr/SATTE e-mail: satte@in.gr

Press Release Official Complaint To The Minister of Education and Religion Mr. Euthimiou   CIRCULATION:
To The President of The Greek Parliament Mr. Kaklamanis, Home Department/Office, Ministry of Justice, Head of Greek Parties, European Parliament, Amnesty International, International Humanitarian Accosiations, International and Greek Gay and Lesbian Organizations, Mass Media.

In December 10th we received the following official complaint from three(3) transsexuals: "In the midst of September 2002, we decided to attend a night high school in order to continue our education. Namely we went to the night high school of Peristeri, and we spoke with the principal and we stated to him that we wanted to enroll and he looked, more likely to say, confused and obviously shocked, and he refused to accept our registration pretending that the school had no vaccancies. He then advised us to address to another night high school to enroll.We asked our familiar persons and friends were else we could find another night high school and they told us that we could go to a school to the Patisia area (downtown Athens) so we went there, and there we had the same answer: the school had no vaccancies. After all these disappointments and and upon the foundation of Greek Association of Solidarity of Transvestites and Transsexuals (SATTE), we decided to report all these facts and request form our association to help us in order to find a night high school to continue our studies. After all these statements, we have nothing else to add ." Thank you in advance The undersigners (signatures following)" At the beginning, before we state our arguments, we have to make clear that we have the names of the three persons that made this official complaint, and we can give them to the Minister of Education and to the Public Prosecutor and we state clearly that we will take any measures provided by the law in order to solve this problem.  The Greek Constitution states clearly that the right in education and knowledge is a right of any Greek citizen. In the present case we have a straightforward violation of constitutional rigths . These particular principals of those night high schools considered the three transsexuals as citizens of third degree and refused to enroll them, violating their rights derived from the constitution and the Greek laws. The attitude of these schoolmasters is not only unacceptable, but also dispicable. The Ministry of Education and the Minister in person, must take all the necessary measures in order to prevent the appearance of so racist attitudes in the future. Such attidudes are not a living proof of a country that is going to hold the 2004 Olympic Games. The principals who refused the three transsexuals their right in education are administration officers. They are the official representatives of the Greek state and they denied three members of our ?inclusive? society what all Greek citizens deserve: The right to education. We declare, that if the Ministry of Education or whoever is responsible does not provide the transsexual members of our society the right to education, we will take any measures provided by the law The law must be applicable to all Greek citizens and we demand the same for us. If some people don't want that, then we will bring them to the court of law. This is an obligation to our dignity!!! What’s more, Greece is a part of the European Union and such shameless incidents seriously degregate our country. So we will take all the possible measures and protest to the European parliament and to all the international organizations we can. It is not acceptable in the year 2004, the year of the Olympics in Greece, such facts taking place in our country. If the Greek state does not provide us with all the rights the other Greek citizens are entitled to, we will procceed and protest all over the world. The President
The General Secretary Paola Revenioti Marina Galanou e-mail: paola@ath.forthnet.gr
e-mail: marinagalanou@yahoo.gr mobile phone: +306977842251, mobile phone: +306939051558