"we all have the right to live freely"
Nora Greenberg was born in 1950 in Argentina and migrated to Israel at age 19. She was born a male and lived under that identity for years while starting a family and working in journalism, public relations and managing a hi-tech company. "Inside was a whole different story. For years I suffered from a gender crisis", she tells. "At the time, there was no word to describe people like me. For years I tried to run from it, until I couldn't anymore. At first I didn't realize I was in a gender transitioning process, you experience things slowly and from a great inner turmoil." Nora explains that the process involved rebuilding her identity and reconstructing a new life. "I don't see myself as an exceptionally brave person. People find themselves in a do-or-die situation. They don't have a choice."
Nora leveraged her process towards public activity for perception change. She was in the "LGBT association" committee, and later was the head of the association, which made her the first transgender to serve as head of an LGBT organization in the whole world. At the same time as opening support groups, one of the most significant struggles she led was for trans people who didn't finish their gender transition surgery and the ministry of the interior forbade them from changing their name. In addition, she led a petition to the supreme court that opened the door to cancelling the requirement for a transitioning surgery as a condition to changing the gender clause in the identity card.
Nora continues her work and is an inspiration to those who believe in equality for all. "Everyone has the right to live freely and equally. All the battles are interconnected, not only those for transgender people but for other people as well. We all lead one battle � we need to believe in it. It succeeds thanks to people's belief that they deserve to be equal � like everybody else".