{"id":21660,"date":"2025-04-25T11:45:01","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T11:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/heartefact.org\/fellowship\/matija-stefanovic\/"},"modified":"2025-05-21T10:32:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T10:32:08","slug":"matija-stefanovic","status":"publish","type":"fellowship","link":"https:\/\/heartefact.org\/en\/fellowship\/matija-stefanovic\/","title":{"rendered":"Matija Stefanovi\u0107"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I am Matija Stefanovi\u0107 (27), originally from Valjevo. I live in Belgrade, where I am finishing studies in Serbian Literature and Language. A few years ago, I paused my studies because, after coming out as a transgender man, I hesitated to return to my department, fearing judgment from those around me. It was only last year that I found the courage to resume my education. The experience of dropping out of school is something I share with many <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LGBTIQ+<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> people in Serbia. In the meantime, I worked at the Pride Info Center and began my medical transition, which I documented on YouTube and TikTok. This led to media invitations to speak publicly about transgender issues, which further directed me toward activism. I later joined the organization Da se zna!, where I currently work as a communications coordinator and lead several projects. I consider myself successful in activism when a queer person reaches out to me and says \u201cit meant a lot to see someone like them on television,\u201d that they showed my story to their mother, or when they ask me how to start their transition or seek help due to the homo- or transphobia they experience. At Da se zna!, we have recognized that there is a gap within the queer community in Serbia and that we need to work on bridging it. My project is focused on stepping out of our narrow and comfortable activist and progressive circles and reaching smaller towns, where queer people also live\u2014people with whom we often struggle to connect with and who do not always see <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LGBTIQ+<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> activists as working in their interest. Our mission is to be there for every queer person in this country.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":20572,"template":"","tema":[237],"tip":[235],"class_list":["post-21660","fellowship","type-fellowship","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tema-lgbti-rights","tip-human-rights-leadership-program-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Matija Stefanovi\u0107 - Heartefact<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/heartefact.org\/en\/fellowship\/matija-stefanovic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matija Stefanovi\u0107 - Heartefact\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am Matija Stefanovi\u0107 (27), originally from Valjevo. 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