{"id":4077,"date":"2017-01-02T16:58:11","date_gmt":"2017-01-02T20:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/?p=4077"},"modified":"2017-01-02T16:58:11","modified_gmt":"2017-01-02T20:58:11","slug":"6-successful-transgender-women-that-break-the-moulds-in-latin-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/2017\/01\/6-successful-transgender-women-that-break-the-moulds-in-latin-america\/","title":{"rendered":"6 successful transgender women that break the moulds in Latin America"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Leire Ventas<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/mundo\/noticias-37961614\">BBC World <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Latin America is the region in the world where hatred of Transgender people is shown in the most brutal way.<\/p>\n<p>Globally, <strong>78% of murders <\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong> of members of this community take place there.<\/p>\n<p>According to recent data from the Observatorio de Personas Trans Asesinadas, (Observatory of Murdered Trans People) dated March 30, this year, \u00a0<strong>out of the 2.016 reported homicides between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2015, 1573 happened there. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In Brazil, 802 were killed, in Mexico 229, in Colombia 105, in Venezuela 89 and in Honduras 79\u2026No country is saved from the list of horrors.<\/p>\n<p>And 65% of the victims, whose profession is known, were sex workers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image__img js-image-replace aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/D6F7\/production\/_92413055_hi035869136.jpg\" alt=\"Una mujer enciende una vela en un altar improvisado en Ciudad de M\u00e9xico honor a Alessa Flores, una activista transg\u00e9nero a la que hallaron muerta en un hotel de la capital mexicana el 14 de octubre de 2016.\" width=\"976\" height=\"650\" \/>AP Alessa Flores, a transgender activist, was found dead on October 24 in a hotel of Mexico City.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cSociety stigmatizes us as sex figures and unfortunately, for many the only alternative is sex work and violence<\/strong><strong>\u201d<\/strong><strong>, <\/strong>says Jimena Franco.<\/p>\n<p>She fights everyday against stigma and her example breaks paradigms.<\/p>\n<p>And she is not the only one.<\/p>\n<h4>Gislenne Zamayoa: \u201cIf we are present in TV shows and in the movies, I do not see why we could not be present in daily life\u201d<\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image__img js-image-replace aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/91C9\/production\/_92412373_gislennesamayoa5.jpg\" alt=\"Gislenne Zamayoa\" width=\"976\" height=\"650\" \/>GISLENNE ZAMAYOA Mexican Gislenne Zamayoa founded her own architecture company, Arquia, as a transgender woman.<\/p>\n<p>Gislenne Zamayoa is a 45<strong> year old Mexican architect <\/strong>who always knew she was transgender.<\/p>\n<p>She was four years old when she got all wet while playing and the maid did not have any clothes to change him, so she dressed him with his sister\u2019s nightgown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt something totally different, I felt comfortable\u201d, she remembers. \u201cAnd then I realized I was not a boy. I was a girl\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>However, her<strong> transition did not begin until he was 36. <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/mundo\/noticias-america-latina-37735460\">\u201cI tortured my girl for years\u201d: the story of a mother on how she accepted her transgender son that became viral <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>By then, she had already graduated as an architect with mention in urban management, and he would continue his education with Master Degrees on corporate design at the University of Los Andes, on industrial architecture at the University Bolivariana in Medellin, and on sustainable design at the Catholic University of Chile.<\/p>\n<p>Then, during the time working at Coca Cola \u2013 first for the Andina Group and then for FEMSA Mexico -,\u00a0<strong>s<\/strong><strong>he would take on his business trips a suitcase full of women<\/strong><strong>\u2019<\/strong><strong>s clothes, makeup and high heels. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I finished my work, I would call a taxi from the hotel to take me to another hotel. There, I changed clothes, combed my hair and put on makeup and went out to the bars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image__img js-image-replace aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/106F9\/production\/_92412376_gislennesamayoa6.jpg\" alt=\"Gislenne Zamayoa\" width=\"976\" height=\"650\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">GISLENNE ZAMAYOA Gislenne Zamayoa now leads and army of men in Arquia, her architecture office specialized in green design.<\/p>\n<p>She was still working at Coca Cola when she decided to begin the \u201ctransition\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>When she announced that to the company, they offered her an administrative job, which she accepted at the beginning.<\/p>\n<p>After some time, exhausted and after ending up in the hospital \u2013 \u201cI had so much repression and I worked so hard that my body did not stand it anymore\u201d- she decided to continue with architecture.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/mundo\/noticias-america-latina-36923676\">Lea T, the transgender that will make history in the opening of the Rio Olimpic Games 2016. <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Already as a transgender woman, she was hired by Apple to build eight Mac Stores in Mexico. That allowed her to create her own company.<\/p>\n<p>Now she is the leader of an army of men in Arquia, her architecture office specialized in green design.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If there were a Trans quota in the companies, I would fill that quota. We are trained, but there is no job, no offers<\/strong><strong>\u201d<\/strong><strong>, <\/strong>she complains.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, to encourage labor inclusion of the community, she started cooperating with the Mexican Federation of LGBT Entrepreneurs (FME-LGBT) and signed an agreement with Nacional Financiera to get credits.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, she has been able to boost the projects of 13 transgender entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we are present in TV shows and in the movies, I do not see why we cannot be present in daily life\u201d.<\/p>\n<h4>Lara Ram\u00edrez: \u201cI do not feel trapped in the wrong body. Nature is diverse\u201d.<\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image__img js-image-replace aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/15519\/production\/_92412378_lararamirez.jpg\" alt=\"Lara Ram\u00edrez\" width=\"976\" height=\"670\" \/>LARA RAM\u00cdREZ In her Facebook profile, next to her name you can read in parenthesis: \u201cThe return of the warrior\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>And it is so that Lara Ram\u00edrez, a <strong>32 years old Uruguayan,<\/strong> had to struggle.<\/p>\n<p>It was November 11, 2015. She tells us that she<strong> was getting off the bus coming back from work and some men coming out of a white car offered her to have sex with them. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs I am a transgender person, many people think that I work in the sex market\u201d, she tells BBC World.<\/p>\n<p>When she refused they asked her name.<\/p>\n<p>She replied with what her documents say since 2009<strong>,<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>when in <strong>Uruguay they approved the law of the right to gender identity and the change of name and sex<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>in identity documents.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/mundo\/noticias-37454205\">Diane and Fernando, the transgender couple in Ecuador where the father gave birth <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But men yelled at her \u201cCarlos, Pedro, Juan Sa\u00fal\u2026\u201d and they kept insulting her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey attacked me verbally all the time and when I asked them to escort me home because I had my ID there, they put handcuffs on me, they touched me and tried to put me in the car\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<strong>It was then when they told me they were police officers, because until then I had thought it was a kidnapping. I am going to be one more raped and killed, <\/strong>she says she thought.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was going to be one more of the women killed in Uruguay in the last decade and whose cases were filed; <strong>for some judges Trans women are still men without rights<\/strong><strong>\u201d<\/strong>, she complains.<\/p>\n<p>After going through court, her case was also filed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image__img js-image-replace aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/4791\/production\/_92412381_14449740_10155052530816729_3727461636619284108_n.jpg\" alt=\"Lara Ram\u00edrez en una protesta en Montevideo, Uruguay.\" width=\"976\" height=\"665\" \/>LARA RAM\u00cdREZ Lara Ram\u00edrez at a protest in Montevideo, Uruguay.<\/p>\n<p>She also felt the stigma when she decided to start her physical change process and at the private health center they did not want to give her hormones.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cI ended up with self-medication with contraceptive pills that because they do not have that purpose, had terrible consequences<\/strong><strong>\u201d<\/strong><strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>She says that at home everyone accepted her physical change. \u201cBut they were not going to accept that I would work in a corner\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Given that prostitution was not an option for her either \u2013 \u201calthough the reality for almost all Trans<em>\u00a0women <\/em>in Latin America is the street\u201d- she clung to her job.\u00a0\u00a0 And when some of her colleagues made a scandal because they did not want her to be like them, she joined the Union and stood in front of the management.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Today she states with satisfaction that thanks to her struggle, the company she works for, a supermarket chain is more inclusive. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When they ask her when she realized that she was a woman, she gets mad and claims it is a silly question.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do not feel I am a mistake from nature, I do not feel trapped in the wrong body. Nature is diverse\u201d.<\/p>\n<h4>Tamara Adrian: \u201cMachismo remains as a means of domination and the Trans community is not an exception\u201d<\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image__img js-image-replace aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/10CD5\/production\/_92412886_capture.jpg\" alt=\"Tamara Adri\u00e1n\" width=\"976\" height=\"970\" \/>TAMARA ADRI\u00c1N Tamara Adri\u00e1n is a member of the National Assembly of Venezuela for the Democratic Union Movement since 2015.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe story of all Trans women is similar and mine is rather alike\u201d, says Tamara Adrian,\u00a0<strong>a 62 year old Venezuelan, <\/strong>not very willing to delve into the details.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike all of us, I had to face intolerance and exclusion due to that \u201ccisnormative\u201dconcept with which the gender structure is intended to be made biological\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n<p>From her way of speaking you can tell that she is used to the political jargon.<\/p>\n<p>It is that, precisely, what makes her story very different, although it has common elements with those of any transgender woman.<\/p>\n<p>And it is that Adrian achieved a milestone: \u00a0<strong>Since 2015 she has been a member of the National Assembly of Venezuela on the Democratic Unit Group (MUD), the coalition of the opposition parties. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With a degree from the Catholic University Andres Bello (UCAB) and a Doctorate in Commercial Law, from the University Panth\u00e9on-Assas of Paris, she also teaches Law at her Alma Mater the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) and at the Metropolitan University (Unimet).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/mundo\/noticias\/2016\/01\/160118_salud_nina_transexual_transfobia_lb\">Danni: the struggle and anger of a 6 year old transgender girl <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>She is aware of her privileged position, but remembers, just because we insist, that she also had parents that took her to the psychologist to \u201creorient\u201dher.<\/p>\n<p>She also remembers that in her adolescence she<strong> started taking hormones and left them as soon as the physical changes started, <\/strong><strong>\u201c<\/strong><strong>due to the fear to miss options and that the only option would be prostitution<\/strong><strong>\u201d<\/strong><strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image__img js-image-replace aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/15AF5\/production\/_92412888_capture2.jpg\" alt=\"Tamara Adri\u00e1n\" width=\"976\" height=\"640\" \/>TAMARA ADRI\u00c1N the Venezuelan claims herself feminist.<\/p>\n<p>She admits that she felt her life was in danger. \u201cYes, It could have happened\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n<p>In 2002 she underwent a sex reassignment operation in Thailand, and back to Venezuela on <strong>May 14, 2004, she requested to the Constitutional Court of the Supreme Court the recognition of her identity, <\/strong>as legally she is still Tomas Adrian.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthough the topic of the sex change operation is irrelevant for identity recognition\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So far she has not received a response. <\/strong> The highest court has not even made a statement on the admission of the dossier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDiscrimination is terrible in Venezuela\u201d, says Adrian, who also has some criticism for the community to which she belongs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMachismo remains as a means of domination and the Trans community is no exception. Many transgender women reproduce that system and they believe that the only mechanism for reinsertion is beauty\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Hence, she <strong>claims feminist. <\/strong><\/p>\n<h4>Ophelia Pastrana: \u201cWhich is the difference between us and somebody that had a gastric bypass and now nobody recognizes that person\u201c?<\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image__img js-image-replace aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/3E9F\/production\/_92413061_ophelia1_ivonnevenegas.jpg\" alt=\"Ophelia Pastrana\" width=\"976\" height=\"650\" \/>IVONNE VENEGAS Colombian Ophelia Pastrana moved to Mexico and founded Kraken Communication, a digital strategy company.<\/p>\n<p>Which is the difference between our histories and those from a person that had a gastric bypass and went from 250 to 90 kilograms, and has a life where everything is accepted and happy, although nobody will recognize that person? Asks the<strong> 34 years old Colombian Ophelia Pastrana. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat our<strong> case went through gender and that is taboo in society<\/strong><strong>\u201d<\/strong><strong>, <\/strong>answers to herself.<\/p>\n<p>She was born in a prominent family of Colombia \u2013 her father is cousin of former president Andres Pastrana and her maternal grandfather was Hisnardo Ardila, former mayor of Bogota \u2013 she says that until she turned 28 she did not know that she could change gender.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was never curious, but I did work out a lot because I was disgusted with my body\u201d, she remembers.<\/p>\n<p>This is how her life went: she studied physics at the University of los Andes and at the Florida Atlantic University, she has a master\u2019s degree on econometrics at the University of Sidney, she created a computer and communication company, she got married.<\/p>\n<p>In 2011 she moved to Mexico where she <strong>founded Kraken Communication, company aimed at creating digital strategies <\/strong>and smart phone applications.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was called from large companies and began to be successful, but also had lots of stress\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was then where my fondness for women\u2019s clothing started, I wore it at home, privately, as a way to escape, I thought.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne day, standing in front of a mirror I told myself: \u201cyou look like a man wearing a dress\u201d. \u201cNo, better, you look like a woman complaining that you look like a man on a dress\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a moment of epiphany\u201d.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image__img js-image-replace aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/8CBF\/production\/_92413063_ophelia2_jorgemungia.jpg\" alt=\"Ophelia Pastrana\" width=\"976\" height=\"650\" \/>JORGE MUNG\u00cdA \u201cI speak from the privilege, because I come from a wealthy family and was able to study, but many other children are kicked out of their homes\u201drecognizes Ophelia Pastrana.<\/p>\n<p>Then came the euphoria, the feeling that she had already solved the problem, opening the door to \u201cfeminine likings\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cI went from being a migrant millionaire boy to a transvestite woman and entered an area of discrimination<\/strong><strong>\u201d<\/strong><strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Facing that, she says she developed a \u201cfilter for idiots\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Although she says that <strong>when she goes back to Colombia, she stops being a woman, <\/strong>and she tells us an anecdote of when she went to renew her tax ID.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe official looked at me weirdly, because my passport says Mauricio Pastrana. So I told him that at the beginning my parents thought I was a boy, but then the veterinarian confirmed I was not\u201d, she laughs.<\/p>\n<p>And she faces criticism with that kind of humor. \u201cIn addition, <strong>I speak from the privilege, <\/strong> because I come from a wealthy family and was able to study, but many other children are kicked out of their homes\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>She boasts of being the second transgender woman with more followers in social networks worldwide.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cI became my own product<\/strong><strong>\u201d<\/strong><strong>, <\/strong> she says.<\/p>\n<p>This year she has given more than 100 conferences.<\/p>\n<p>It helps me to become visible and to make others visible as well\u201d.<\/p>\n<h4>Jimena Franco: \u201cWe are a time bomb due to poor surgeries\u201d<\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image__img js-image-replace aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/265D\/production\/_92412890_13567183_1153618464703132_2972260657837878036_n.jpg\" alt=\"Jimena Franco\" width=\"976\" height=\"700\" \/>JIMENA FRANCO \u201cProstitution is the only thing left for a transgender woman to survive in Costa Rica\u201d, says Jimena Franco, who with hard work was able to study and now is launching her first movie as a protagonist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey say transgender women are whores, that we steal, that we are alcoholics, but what we really want is to study and succeed\u201dsays Jimena Franco from Costa Rica.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we lack are opportunities\u201d, she insists, as did the other women interviewed for this report. \u00a0<strong>\u201cToday, prostitution is the only thing left for a transgender woman to survive in Costa Rica<\/strong><strong>\u201d<\/strong><strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In addition, \u201cwe are a time bomb due to poor surgeries, to doctors that injected us vegetal oil telling us that later it would turn into body fat\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Costa Rica old trans women become men again, without access to hormones they dress like men, sick with HIV, worn out by drugs and abuse\u201d, she regrets. \u201cAll their lives lost in a street.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image__img js-image-replace aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/747D\/production\/_92412892_11223998_942754749122839_730436744626188754_n.jpg\" alt=\"Comparsa Nacional Latin Stars\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\" \/>JIMENA FRANCO Jimena Franco says that although she founded the National \u201cComparsa\u201d Latin Stars, many times she is limited to drive the bus.<\/p>\n<p>She was herself trapped without options for one year and a half in that profession that today she remembers as \u201cdark and horrendous\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Her very poor family kicked her out of home when they learnt that she was really a woman and not a gay adolescent.<\/p>\n<p>Although afterwards her mother chose her before a \u201cvery conservative\u201dhusband and today she is her only family.<\/p>\n<p>She comforts and supports her day to day, with the <strong>company that she founded when she was 16, <\/strong><strong>\u201c<\/strong><strong>the National <\/strong><strong>\u201c<\/strong><strong>Comparsa<\/strong><strong>\u201d<\/strong><strong>Latin Stars<\/strong>, where she cannot dance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we go to birthday parties, graduations and private events, the contracts usually state that transvestites, fat people or women with little clothing are not accepted\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, I refrain from dancing and become the bus driver\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>She is also trying to make her way as an actress, after having studied radio and television voice-over.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cI want to be an actress, not a Trans actress. Just Jimena Franco, actress.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In December the movie \u201cHug me as before\u201dwill be released, where she is the protagonist, directed by the Costa Rican director Jurgen Urena.<\/p>\n<h4>Dania Gutierrez: \u201cThe onslaught of the traditionalist current in Mexico is so strong that it borders on hatred\u201d<\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image__img js-image-replace aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/CB3F\/production\/_92413025_daniagutierrez.jpg\" alt=\"Dania Guti\u00e9rrez\" width=\"976\" height=\"650\" \/>DANIA GUTI\u00c9RREZ Mexican Dania Guti\u00e9rrez is a doctor on bioengineering and works as a researcher at the Research and Advanced Studies Center of the National Polytechnic Institute, at the Monterrey campus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<strong>It is not common at all to have a transgender woman on research, and<\/strong> I am aware that mine is an extraordinary case\u201d, says Mexican Dania Gutierrez.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut the institution where I work and my colleagues knew how to value my capacity\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>She is a <strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>doctor on bioengineering <\/strong>\u00a0and works as principal researcher and academic secretary at the Research and Advanced Studies Center of the National Polytechnic Institute at the Monterrey, Nuevo Leon campus.<\/p>\n<p>It was there where she completed the transformation process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have childhood memories that show that I knew something was not alright with me, but it was very difficult to understand what was it\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThe turning point was meeting the US culture<\/strong><strong>\u201d<\/strong><strong>, <\/strong>she states.<\/p>\n<p>She attended the University of Illinois in Chicago, where she went in 1998 to get her master\u2019s degree and doctorate later on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt 25 I met a more open culture, with means to understand what was happening to me, with a university with strong studies on gender, with a lot of information to read and full of people who had studied in other countries and had had contact with diversity\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI also had access to free therapeutic services\u201d.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image__img js-image-replace aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/17337\/production\/_92413059_hi035972112.jpg\" alt=\"Protesta en Ciudad de M\u00e9xico por el asesinato de Alessa Flores, una activista transg\u00e9nero, el 14 de octubre.\" width=\"976\" height=\"650\" \/>GETTY IMAGES Dana Gutierrez believes that the traditionalist culture in Mexico borders on hatred and that makes this a very difficult time for transgender people.<\/p>\n<p>She started her transition process in 2000 and went back to Mexico \u201cas an androgynous person\u201d, with very advanced hormonal replacement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I still did not live as a woman full time\u201d, she explains.<\/p>\n<p>She took that step in 2009.<\/p>\n<p>And since then her family keeps her \u201cbanished\u201d. She is only in touch with one sister.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThese are very hard times in Mexico because there is still a traditionalist current that refuses to die<\/strong><strong>\u201d<\/strong><strong>, <\/strong>she says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd the onslaught is so strong that it borders on hatred\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><em>This note is part of the publication #100Women, winner of several international awards, where BBC gives every year since 2013, a broad space to women, preparing a list of 100 outstanding women all over the world on their achievements, struggles or extraordinary experiences. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leire Ventas BBC World Latin America is the region in the world where hatred of Transgender people is shown in the most brutal way. Globally, 78% of murders \u00a0 of members of this community take place there. According to recent data from the Observatorio de Personas Trans Asesinadas, (Observatory of Murdered Trans People) dated March [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":4001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[66,74],"tags":[],"anho":[],"autor":[],"publicado_por":[],"palabras_clave":[],"class_list":["post-4077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-response-aids-tb-malaria","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4077"},{"taxonomy":"anho","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/anho?post=4077"},{"taxonomy":"autor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/autor?post=4077"},{"taxonomy":"publicado_por","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publicado_por?post=4077"},{"taxonomy":"palabras_clave","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/palabras_clave?post=4077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}