The news of the death of Paola Revenioti, one of the most iconic figures of the Greek LGBTQI+ movement, has caused great sadness.

Her loss has deeply moved those who knew her, collaborated with her, or stood alongside her in the fight for human rights, with the first messages of condolence flooding social media.

The announcement of Paola Renevioti’s death

Among those who publicly paid their respects was Kostas Marmatakis, who, in a Facebook post, wrote with evident emotion:

“We didn’t get to have that coffee with the girls, damn it… Safe travels (I’m not afraid of you—you know all about the road, the good and the bad).”

Who Was Paola Revenioti

Paola Revenioti was born on June 29, 1958, in Piraeus and grew up in Keratsini. From a very young age, she faced the intense discrimination experienced by transgender people in Greece. She has never hidden the fact that, due to social exclusion and her inability to find work, she was forced to work as a sex worker, and she even chose to speak openly about this experience, highlighting it as a broader social and political issue.

In the early 1980s, she became an active member of the Greek Gay Liberation Movement and very quickly emerged as one of the most recognizable figures in the Greek LGBTQLGBTQ+ movement. As she stated in an interview with Vice: “I was never an unhappy trans woman. I never lamented my fate; I made my own choices. I had a good life.”

A defining chapter in her journey was the publication of the magazine “Kraximo,” which ran from 1982 to 1993. The magazine was a landmark of its time, featuring political articles, interviews, cultural topics, and issues concerning the rights of the LGBTQI+ community, at a time when such discussions were virtually nonexistent in the public sphere.

Despite the persecution, arrests, and legal battles she faced because of her activism, she never stopped fighting, turning every obstacle into an opportunity to challenge social prejudices even more vigorously.

Her activism was not limited to issues of gender identity. Paola Revenioti consistently linked the struggle for the rights of trans people to social inequality, poverty, and exclusion, advocating for a more comprehensive understanding of equality and human rights.

She was a founding member of the Greek chapter of ACT UP for the fight against AIDS, helped organize one of the first Gay Pride events in Greece, in 1992 on Strefi Hill, and in 2003 she was elected president of the Association of Solidarity for Transvestites and Transsexuals of Greece (SATTE), continuing to fight for equality and visibility for transgender people.

Since 2011, she has devoted herself to filmmaking and documentaries through ThePaolaProject, documenting the stories of people who rarely find a place in the public narrative. In 2014, she presented the documentary “Kaliarda,” which was screened, among other venues, at the Premiere Nights, the National Theater, and the Globale Festival in Berlin. This was followed in 2021 by “Pikrodafnes,” featuring Eva Koumarianou and Betty Vakalidou.

At the same time, she pursued significant artistic activities. In 2013, she held her first solo exhibition, presenting a rich photographic archive of historical, social, and folkloric interest, and she became the first Greek trans artist to be interviewed by the international magazines CANDY and Dazed, leaving her own unique mark on both the worlds of activism and art.