Transgender group sues veteran footballer Vasilis Tsiartas over his Facebook comments against sex change law

The Greek Transgender Support Association filed a lawsuit against former Greek national football player Vasilis Tsiartas over his recent post on Facebook following the passing of the gender identity law in the Greek parliament. The support group took action on behalf of transgender activist Marina Galanou, who had reportedly received threats against her life. The lawsuit, which was presented on Saturday, was directed at the veteran player, among other people who had uploaded threatening posts against Galanou. Tsiartas had uploaded a comment on his Facebook page wishing that the children of the MPs who had voted in favour the bill, would be the first to use it and change their sex. The clause that had caused an uproar granted teenagers, as young as 15 years old, the right to decide on whether to undergo a sex change. In a subsequent post on his Facebook page, Tsiartas had commented that God had created Adam and Eve. The official Greek Orthodox Church, as well as the religious spiritual leaders of the Eastern Orthodox Christian faith, had condemned the bill.
The lawsuit, as Marina Galanou said in a statement, was filed on the basis of the anti-racist law and other provisions of the Criminal Code against Vassilis Tsiartas, but also against all those who had threatened her physical well-being or life and had used vulgar language to degrade her.