There has been no legislation passed for LGBTIQ rights in Armenia since leading trans activist Lilit Martirosyan’s historic speech to the National Assembly in 2019 – but, she argues, at least she has brought some visibility to the country’s transgender and gay communities.
“After my speech, Nikol Pashinyan’s government started to speak more about LGBTIQ issues,” said Martirosyan. “[Former] governments never spoke about LGBTIQ people.”
Martirosyan is the founder of the Right Side, a non-governmental transgender and sex workers’ rights group in Yerevan. On 5 April 2019, she became the first out trans woman to speak in the Armenian parliament, calling for for an end to violence and discrimination towards trans people.
