Our vision
TGEU envisions a world free from discrimination where gender diversity is celebrated, where trans people are valued, and where trans movements are self-aware, intersectional, and evolving to meet the needs of a diverse and resilient community.
Our mission
TGEU’s mission is to strengthen the rights and wellbeing of all trans people in Europe and Central Asia. We strive to represent the diverse needs of our members within human rights mechanisms, build the capacity and skills of our members to meet the needs of local communities, and develop intersectional and decolonised programmes to build more resilient and connected trans movements.
Our values
We endeavour to build an atmosphere of kindness, trust, safety, appreciation, and cooperation, and emphasise celebrating the resilience and diversity within our communities. Our overarching aim is having the direction of our work set by people directly affected by the issues at hand. Read our guiding values statement here.
TGEU is a member-based organisation created in 2005. Since then, TGEU has kept growing and established itself as a legitimate voice for the trans community in Europe and Central Asia with 157 member organisations in 47 different countries. Today, TGEU has an office in Berlin, Germany, as well as a team of 10 members of staff and a Board.
Our team
TGEU Board 2020 - 2022
The Board (formerly “Steering Committee) is elected every 2 years by our membership and is the governing body of the organisation. On 7 November 2020 TGEU held its General Assembly and elected the Board for the 2020-2022 term. The current Board members are:
Jorge María Londoño
Sweden | Co-Chair
Jorge María Londoño (they/them) is a non-binary, genderqueer trans activist from Colombia based in Sweden. Jorge Maria’s activism journey started in 2012. They bring skills in leadership, governing of international NGOs, conflict management and resolution, and cooperation. They are currently chairing Youth Against Racism Sweden.
Jovan Džoli Ulićević
Montenegro | Co-Chair
Jovan Džoli Ulićević (he/him) is a trans queer man of colour from Montenegro. He is a co-founder and coordinator for community building at Trans Network Balkan. With a strong record of leadership and intersectional justice work, Džoli is committed to supporting TGEU in developing resilience, leadership, and inclusion.
Antonella Lerca
Romania
Antonella Lerca (she/her) is a Roma trans woman and sex worker based in Romania. As the current president of SexWorkCall Romania and board member of MozaiQ, she possesses great experience in intersectional and human rights activism at both local and international levels.
Carter Honorée
Belgium
Carter Honorée (he/him) is a Rwandan trans man and asylum seeker in Belgium. Carter has a wealth of experience in leading teams to success in hostile environments. He is the founder and executive director of Rwanda Gender Pride, and the co-founder of Projekat Solidarno!
Erika Castellanos
The Netherlands
Erika Castellanos (she/her) is an HIV positive trans activist from Belize residing in the Netherlands. Erika is the Director of Programs at GATE. With a background in Social Work and LGBTI health research, she is currently pursuing a degree in International Relations and Diplomacy.
Inna Iryskina
Ukraine
Inna Iryskina (she/her) is a trans woman from Ukraine. She is the co-founder of the Post-Soviet Trans*Coalition and trans program coordinator of Insight NGO. With 15 years of trans activism, she has great experience in advocacy, including work with state institutions and UN bodies.
Kristian Ranđelović
Serbia
Kristian Ranđelović (he/him) is an intersex activist and the current executive director of XY Spectrum in Serbia. He a liaison person for trans and intersex communities and medical teams working with trans people in Belgrade. As a former member of TGEU Board, Kristian was one of the co-authors of the TGEU’s intersex policy.
Olena Semenova
Ukraine
Olena Semenova (s_he/he/him) is a bi-gender trans activist based in Ukraine. Olena has vast project management skills as well as knowledge in strategic and operating communications. Currently, he is a communication officer at the National LGBTI Conference of Ukraine and a member of the ITF’s Grant Making Panel.
Sara R Phillips
Ireland
Sara Phillips (she/her) is a trans woman from Ireland and the current chair of TENI. She is a seasoned leader with over 28 years of experience in activism, advocacy, corporate and financial management, and community development within diverse trans communities in Ireland and Europe.
Staff Team
Masen Davis
Interim Executive Director
Masen Davis is the interim Executive Director at TGEU. He has been advocating for trans rights since 1998 and has spent more than twelve years leading LGBT organisations. His previous work includes serving as CEO of Freedom for All Americans; Executive Director of the Transgender Law Center; and interim co-director of GATE. Masen was one of the founding co-chairs of the International Trans Fund and continues to serve on the board of GATE. He received his Master of Social Welfare from UCLA, and Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University. On a rare day off, he can often be found at the park with his scrappy terrier, Rex.
Languages: English and basic Spanish.
Moritz G. Sander
Operations Director
Moritz oversees TGEU’s administration and finances. He joined TGEU in 2012 and was the Senior Finance Officer for three years before becoming Operations Director in 2019.
He previously worked as assistant director for several theater companies and as a management assistant in a consultancy. Moritz has been active in the Berlin queer/trans community for more than a decade. He is a retired drag performer, curator and show host and an active Feldenkrais teacher as well as a happy parent.
Languages: German, English, some French and Spanish.
Richard Köhler
Senior Policy Officer
Richard oversees TGEUs policy and advocacy work at the European level and has been a trans activist for more than a decade. Starting with TGEU as a member of the steering committee he has continuously initiated change to develop the structure and policy of TGEU drawing from his wide experience in international project management and NGO consultancy. Richard has a background in International Business Administration with specialization on NGOs in Russian-speaking countries.
Languages: German, English, Russian, some French, basic Turkish.
Lukas Berredo
Communications Coordinator
Lukas is an activist from Brazil. Throughout his 15 years of activism, he had the opportunity to work in different organisations in Brazil, Chile, China, and Germany. He studied multimedia design and communications and got a Master’s Degree in “International Relations.”
Lukas joined TGEU in 2016 and coordinated the TvT project until 2020. He took on the role of Communications Coordinator in 2021.
Languages: Portuguese, Spanish, English, and basic German and Chinese Mandarin.
Anwar Ogrm
Senior Programmes Officer
Anwar is an activist from France, combining different struggles, such as queer and trans rights, gender equality and anti-racism. Back in Paris, Anwar was engaged in several grassroots organisations addressing racism as well as queerphobia from an intersectional perspective.
Advocacy work and empowerment for queer and trans Muslim people is one of his priorities. As Senior Programmes officer, Anwar is behind most of our relationship with the membership, supporting our members and ensuring TGEU’s projects and programmes are tailored to their needs and priorities.
Languages: French, English, German, Moroccan Dialect
Sanjar Kurmanov
CACEE Project Manager
Sanjar is from Kyrgyzstan and worked several years as Executive Director of Labrys, Kyrgyzstan’s main LGBTQIA organisation. Sanjar built his expertise on legal gender recognition as well as developing partnerships with the sex workers movement, drug users and community building in Kyrgyzstan.
Sanjar has been part of the PROtrans project from the beginning and will ensure the coordination of the project, monitoring discrimination and violence against trans people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Languages: Kyrgyz, Russian, English
Leo Mulió Alvarez
Health Officer
Leo comes from Spain, with a background as psychologist working with trans communities and as a trainer on gender diversity. Most of his activism has been supporting the development of Legal Gender Recognition in Spain, with a focus on self determination.
In his position as Health Officer, Leo is committed to raise awareness on depathologisation of trans identities, working towards it and making healthcare accessible for all trans people. Joining TGEU, improving the health and wellbeing of the community is one of his main goals.
Languages: Spanish and English.
Milena Papakoch
Operations Officer
Milena was born in North Macedonia and lived many years in Bulgaria and Greece. S_he is an LGBTI activist and is involved in many informal support groups in the Balkans. Milena has great experience and expertise in operational matters. Before joining TGEU, Milena worked for the leading human rights organisations in North Macedonia as a Finance Officer and Finance Manager. Milena also has experience in Social Entrepreneurship and services for marginalised groups. Milena received an MBA in European Management from ESCEM, France.
Languages: Macedonian, English, Bulgarian, ex Yugoslav (Serbian, Montenegrin, Bosnian, Croatian) and basic Greek
Miles Rutendo
Community Building Consultant
Founder of Queerstion Media, Miles is a journalist and brings 10 years of experience within media & communication, LGBTQ and migration activism.
Miles has worked previously for RFSL as coordinator for a Global LGBT Leadership training Rainbow Leaders as well as Editor for Soginews global LGBT news site.
Miles wants to amplify the voices of trans asylum seekers and refugees in Europe and intersectional perspectives through activism and journalism where he has more than 10 years of experience.
Languages: Shona, Swedish, English
Jonas Hamm
Policy Officer
Jonas became first involved in trans activism in 2011 on a local level in Bremen, where he co-founded a trans organisation for strategic litigation as well as legal and financial assistance for trans people seeking justice in the courts. He was later part of a broad coalition to found a national trans association in Germany and has been doing advocacy work on a national level since then, working for legal gender recognition based on self-determination. He received a Master in Sexuality Studies from Hochschule Merseburg and a Bachelor’s degree in Gender Studies and English from University of Bremen. He is a certified systemic counsellor and has been working in a Berlin-based organisation as a trans counsellor for five years before joining TGEU.
Languages: German, English, some French.