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Lidice Lopez Tocon. Source: Corresponsales Clave.

The new project funded by the Global Fund in Peru has a strong emphasis on Trans women. Corresponsales Clave talked to the Trans liaison specialist that is now part of the Main Recipient. .

No one knows better which is the dynamic of community based organizations than the communities themselves. That was, in simple terms, the principle behind for hiring a Trans people with strong ties with the community. Miluska Luzquinos is from Chiclayo – north of Peru – who in the past years worked intensively together with RedTrans, on sensitizing and training justice service providers, regarding gender identity, Trans population dynamics and hate crimes.

Pathfinder International Peru, current actual Main Recipient (MR) of the HIV proposal funded by the Global Fund, hired her to bring the implementation to community based organizations. We contacted her to talk about herself and her new role.

Corresponsales Clave: How did you become involved in activism as a Trans woman?

Miluska Luzquinos: I started activism three years ago, when I was invited to belong to Redtrans here in Lima, and I went back to my city with that “chip” of resistance” wondering why the events were always of fellow MSM and we trans women did not have opportunities to socialize or make agendas. With this vision, I decided to start things, to build coordination, I saw it was possible, there were many women going through the same things than myself. At the beginning it was very hard, because this activity sucks you in; it takes everything away from you – even the boyfriend (laughter). But you have the satisfaction of doing things, that things are being achieved.

CC: Which has been your most representative work in the past years, before joining MR?

ML: Until today I encourage community mobilization. I always said that we needed to get together around the presentation of the bill for the Gender Identity Law, an ambitious project that considers many visions from the human point of view. This project seeks to articulate the population, strengthening a human and social network that gets involved in political advocacy.

Something that I have always wished and have posted it on my Facebook wall, is that we want queens, but not beauty queens, we want queens that rule in government positions, women that participate in our agenda; women that tell the government that there are social issues, political issues that affect us and thus we are here, resisting. Even now that I am with the Main Recipient I keep my activism, I cannot leave that, my convictions, my ideals to have the Law of Gender Identity.

CC: How is it going with the work at the MR?

ML: I am in the MR since August first. You know, I had a work plan on political advocacy in my region and wondered what I had to do for the bill to reach Congress as our organization is self-managed; then I heard about this work and applied for it. They interviewed me and I was selected among three people. It was the chance to be close to the state powers and to advocate for what I did in my region. My appointment has caused a lot of noise because not everyone agrees with what I do, my work is community centered, and I am not academic.

MR has hired me for that: I am a Trans liaison advisor. I take all the needs of the Trans community regarding the project to be channeled and to oversee the work done by the sub-recipients towards the beneficiary population. I feel happy, it is a great team. They believe in my community work and they have not limited the activism work that I carry out, which is to articulate our fellows, encouraging them to make decisions, to speak and perform in their own environments.

CC: Which are the main challenges that you find in the Project in terms of the activities that should benefit Trans women? ¿Cuáles son los principales desafíos que encuentras tú en el proyecto en cuanto a las actividades que deben beneficiar a las mujeres trans?

The project is very ambitious, I believe on it and I am confident about it. The goal is to make Trans women present in decision making levels, for them to be those who will encourage political advocacy. The biggest challenge, supported also by the MR, is the bill for the Law of Gender Identity, I think this is the biggest indicator of public policy that we will have within the project, because it considers many policies, such as the Trans rule, the labor quota, school inclusion and family involvement.

I am happy with the project because it is well addressed to the community issue. It is very hard work because we in the populations have stopped believing in projects, now they are regarded with suspicion, as a “closed arrangement”, where there was never a trans person that would “focus” on the community and work from the MR. Now we believe on that and I need the support from all of them, I have always said that we have to do things together. 

CC: What difficulties have you found in this new role at the MR?

Pathfinder International trusted me, it is an excellent team. But not all my population feels represented by me in that space (…), but I was hired to work for the population. There are barriers to overcome. There is questioning on why they chose somebody from a province when there are capacities in the capital city. But I always say that I have been able to mobilize many people in my region, and to do things that I am also achieving in Lima.

I think that we can build strong Trans women, leaders. The project will leave and we always have to keep something, not a desk or a computer, but knowledge, alliances to continue articulating and building more Trans leaders that can speak and lead the agenda. I believe that we are also in internal resistance, healing wounds, articulating, helping each other (…). It is necessary to see the reality of our fellows; we have to be very clear about that.

Miluska Luzquiños, from her new location in Lima, keeps promoting the presentation of the Law of Gender Identity that will take place on November 4 at the Congress of the Republic. She also motivates the feminist self-managed schools for young and adult women interested in articulating from the community vision of feminism for Trans women and lesbians.

We thank Miluska for her openness to share her experience.