Public Opinion of Transgender Rights in Serbia

W. Luhur, I. Krstic, A. Shaw

This report presents information on public opinion about transgender people and their rights in Serbia. The data has been analysed from The Global Attitudes Toward Transgender People survey, Serbia panel, to provide new information on attitudes towards transgender people and their rights and status in Serbian society. This is of particular importance, because only a few studies provide information on the social position of transgender persons and their experiences in Serbia. This study is one of the first to examine public opinion on transgender people and their rights among adults in Serbia. Interestingly, of all 27 countries covered by Ipsos in Global Attitudes Toward Transgender People survey, only Serbia has no respondents who identified as transgender. Participants are generally not familiar with transgender people, as a great majority of respondents reported not knowing a transgender person, or rarely or never encountering a transgender person (84.3%). Only 0.1% reported having personal friends or family who are transgender. This low percentage indicates that the number of people interacting with transgender people remains low in Serbia.35 It also indicates that transgender people are still invisible in Serbian society and that transgender people may not disclose their identity due to fear of rejection, denial of services, and concern about their privacy and safety, as suggested in some research.36