Acknowledgments
I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Peter Mayo from the University of Malta, for his great encouragement and belief in my work during the process of conducting my Master thesis research, which is presented in this book. Furthermore, I would like to thank my friends: Loren Scott for his valuable feedback on my book, Judith Velasco Rodriguez for her encouragement and belief in me, Ivana Živković for holding a space for me throughout the book writing process, and Radoš Keravica for his moral and financial support in the months that I took off from work, to be able to write this book. Without support from all of you, this book wouldn’t have come into life.
Moreover, I would like to thank the participants of my research for their openness, trust, courage, and readiness to be vulnerable and exposed, sharing some of their most challenging life experiences with me. You enriched my life with your life stories of resilience, persistence, radical vulnerability and courage. I hope to represent your voices in the most authentic way.
Finally, I would like to thank to Brill | Sense for recognizing the value of this book, and for offering me a publishing agreement, which I signed on TDOR – International Transgender Day of Remembrance, dedicated to remembrance of trans and gender diverse people who lost their lives due to transphobia. My deepest gratitude goes to Jolanda Karada, Brill | Sense Production Editor, for her professionalism, kindness, and support in the book’s production process.
I dedicate this book to the heroes of our queer movement, who have been erased from the history of trans activism and queer activism in general: Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. This book was submitted to the publisher in June 2019, a month that marked the 50 years anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. They shall not be forgotten.