Jason-Antigone Dane (Dhousis) () is a Greek LGBT rights activist.

Early years

Dane was born in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

in the 13th of August 1985 and raised in the neighborhood of

Kolonaki Kolonaki (, ), literally "Little Column", is an upscale neighborhood in central Athens, Greece. It is located on the southern slopes of Mount Lycabettus. Its name derives from the two metre column (located in Kolonaki Square) that defined the area ...

. Dane graduated from

Athens College Athens College ( el, Κολλέγιο(ν) Αθηνών; formally Hellenic-American Educational Foundation (HAEF)) is a co-educational private preparatory school in Psychiko, Greece, a suburb of Athens, part of the Hellenic-American Educational ...

, then joined the 2nd experimental Lyceum of Athens, and went on to graduate from the Department of Theatre Studies at the

University of Patras The University of Patras (UPatras; el, Πανεπιστήμιο Πατρών, ''Panepistímio Patrón'') is a public university in Patras, Greece. It is the third-largest university in Greece with respect to the size of the student body, the s ...

with honours. Dane continued studies in theatre, joining the drama school of Roula Pateraki, graduating with honours, and later moved to London, working in famous

gay clubs A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clientele; the term ''gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT communities. Gay bars once served as ...

and becoming more interested and active in human and animal rights and veganism. Later, Dane returned to

to study

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

at the University of Athens.

Activism

Nude activism

After returning to

, Dane created tension in the gay community with naked protests that included slogans written on their naked body. Dane changed names by adding the name ''Antigone'' (from the mythic heroine) next to the baptismal first name ''Jason''.

ID trail

In November 2017, Dane took legal steps to ask to legally be referred as gender neutral, with gender erased from Dane's ID. That came one month after a bill was passed from the Parliament to allow people to change the gender on their identity cards. However, Dane wanted gender to be erased entirely. Dane, who is

genderqueer Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

, was the first person to ask for official recognition as a non-binary person. During the hearing, Dane was accompanied by Grigoris Valianatos. In February 2018, the court ruled in favour of allowing Dane to identify as a non-binary person on identity cards, but not to totally erase gender from the cards.

Bill on LGBT adoption

Dane was under the spotlight of mass media when attending the House of the Hellenic Parliament for LGBT adoption on May 9, 2018. During the hearing, MP Kostas Katsikis stated that homosexuality was a crime equal to pedophilia. Dane left the house as a sign of disapproval.

Politics

Dane was a candidate councillor in Athens in the

2019 Greek local elections Local elections were held in Greece on 26 May 2019 (first round) and 2 June 2019 (second round). Voters elected representatives to the country's local authorities, comprising 13 regions and 325 municipalities. New Democracy dominated the elections ...

. They ran with

Rena Dourou Irene "Rena" Dourou ( el, Ειρήνη "Ρένα" Δούρου; born 7 October 1974) is a Greek political scientist and politician of the Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza). From 2014 to 2019, she served as the Regional Governor of Attica. ...

, who was affiliated with the Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza). Dane has stated that they are an admirer of

Alexis Tsipras Alexis Tsipras ( el, Αλέξης Τσίπρας, ; born 28 July 1974) is a Greek politician serving as Leader of the Official Opposition since 2019. He served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019. Tsipras has led the Coalition of th ...

References

External links

Interview
at the Night Show,

ANT1 TV Antenna, better known as ANT1, is a television network airing in Greece. The alternate spelling is wordplay in Greek; ''ena'' (ένα) is the Greek number ''1'' (one), thus ''ANT1'' is pronounced the same as ''Antenna'' (Αντέννα). It lau ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dane, Jason-Antigone Living people Greek LGBT rights activists Greek non-binary people Non-binary activists Politicians from Athens University of Patras alumni 1985 births