Moderator: Pip Gardner Chief Executive of The Kite Trust and Board Member of TGEU

Biography:

Pip Gardner (they/them or ze/zir) is a queer and trans activist based in the UK. They are the Chief Executive of The Kite Trust, supporting LGBTQ+ youth in the East of England. They were previously part of UN Women’s Generation Equality Youth Task Force and were awarded DIVA Diversity Champion of the Year in 2023. 

Jimena González Deputy in the Madrid Assembly and a Trans activist

Biography:

Jimena González is a deputy in the Madrid Assembly and a Trans activist. She has a doctorate in Linguistics and has been a teacher and researcher at several universities in Spain and also in Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic. She has also worked for the rights of LGTBI+ workers at UGT, one of the largest unions in Spain.

Marija Jovanovic Cultural & Artistic Programme Coordinator & Co-Founder at Spektra

Biography:

Marija is a queer activist for the human rights of LGBTIQ individuals, a feminist, and one of the founders of the Association Spectra as well its working team member for the past 7 years and a final-year student of psychology. She began her activist engagement in 2015 when, at 17, she volunteered to help organize the second Montenegro Pride. She is currently engaged as the Coordinator of the Feminist Program in Spectra, through which she implements projects focusing on feminist education, creating campaigns and other forms of communicating feminist messages, values, and goals, as well as building the capacities of the trans community. Her passion project is bringing vulnerability and overt expression of emotion to the forefront of feminist activism through artistic performances and speeches.

Stavros Mpoufidis Member of the Greek Transgender Support Association

Biography:

Stavros Boufidis is Psychiatrist – Psychotherapist, Member of the Hellenic Psychiatric Association, Co-Founder – Scientific Associate of the Special Clinic for Sleep Disorders – 1st Department of Neurology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2000-2013), Secretary of the Intercultural Department of the Hellenic Psychiatric Association, and Member of the Transgender Support Association. He has a rich activist and volunteer background working with several NGOs, collectives and solidarity movements, supporting more vulnerable population groups such as refugees, victims of torture, victims of human trafficking, homeless people, LGBTQI+ persons with continuous and diverse active participation from 1993 until today, while as a psychiatrist he also recommended the depsychiatrization of trans persons  within the context of the legal recognition of gender identity in Greece (law 4491/2017). He was Vice President of the Board of Directors of Médecins Sans Frontières – Greece (2002-2005), Secretary General of the Board of the Medical Center for the Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and Other mal-treatment, Thessaloniki (2000-2003) and Member of the seven-member interdisciplinary committee of the Ministry of Health for gender identity for persons aged 15-17 years (2017-2019). He created and managed the first shelter for hosting / protection of victims of trafficking / victims of domestic violence in Thessaloniki (2004-2010) in collaboration with the Medical Center for the Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and Other Ill-Treatment.

Kristian Ranđelović Founder & Director at XY Spectrum

Biography:

Kristian Ranđelovićis an activist for LGBTI+ rights in the Balkan region, focusing on the rights of transgender and intersex people. Ranđelović has developed the first transgender support group in the Balkans. He is one of the co-founders of the Belgrade-based organization XY Spectrum, which tackles issues of intersex, trans and non-binary persons.