#trans latinas

A richly evocative collection of photographs by internationally renowned photographer Kike Arnal, Bordered Lives (Call #: 306.768 Ar611b) seeks to push back against the cissexist caricature that has perpetuated discrimination against the transgender community in Mexico. Despite advances in recognizing and protecting the rights of Mexico's transgender population, including legislation against hate crimes targeting transgender people, discrimination still persists, and the majority of the frequent violent attacks against the LGBT community are against Male-to-Female transgender women.

As National Women’s Month draws to a close and Spring begins we would like to highlight “To My Trans Sisters,” in celebration of all the trans women past, present, and future who continue to act as the underrepresented heroes of LGBTQIA liberation.

Trans Health

The National Transgender Discrimination Survey released in 2015 found that,

Black and Black Multiracial NTDS respondents had the highest rate of sex trade participation overall (39.9%), followed by those who identified as Hispanic or Latino/a (33.2%). Those who identified as “White only” had the lowest rate of participation at 6.3%. The information released by NTDS is concurrent with the testimonies of the performers at La Cueva. In an article published by Gapers Block, Vanessa, one of the performers at La Cueva shares with writer Rachel Rabbit White that there is in fact a high level of ‘prostitution’ in the trans community. However, sex work is not the only illegal activity associated with La Cueva. According to White, a religious group in Little Village, neighbors of the venue, campaigned in 2011 to permanently close the night club. The religious group claimed that the night club elicited ‘trans sex work’ and illegal drug consumption, particularly to young kids. These accusations are similar to the stereotypical homophobic comments made by other conservative, religious and right wing groups. 

“The truth is, there is a lot of prostitution in our community, but here we have jobs. We are all waitresses as well as performers, so we don't need to do that. [...] This is not the first time there have been protests. The people who are protesting in reality don't know us. I encourage them to come in and look," says Vanessa.

As I have included in a previous blog post, Miss Ketty dedicated her life to supporting trans latinas by connecting them to performance venues where they could be employed and stay off the streets.

According to the NTDS, an overwhelming majority (69.3%) of sex workers reported experiencing an adverse job outcome in the traditional workforce, such as being denied a job or promotion or being fired because of their gender identity or expression (vs. 44.7% of non-sex workers). Those who lost a job due to antitransgender bias were almost three times as likely to engage in the sex trade (19.9% vs. 7.7%). 

About three weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, the Colombian government issued a directive that received little international notice. On June 4th, the government announced that it would allow Colombian citizens to change their gender on identity documents without first undergoing gender-reassignment surgery or obtaining permission from a medical professional. These requirements, which remain in place, either in whole or in part, in the U.S. and most of the rest of the world, were “profoundly invasive of the right to privacy and based upon an impermissible bias,” said Yesid Reyes, the minister of justice. “The construction of sexual identity and gender is a matter that does not depend on biology.”

Jennicet Gutiérrez is the first transgender person to publicly call out the president around immigration and the torture and rape transgender immigrants often experience inside detention centers. Gutiérrez was in a room full of national LGBT leaders who gathered to celebrate the many accomplishments of the movement. You would imagine this would be a place to feel seen, safe, and validated. That was not the case.

As soon as Gutiérrez proceeded to speak truth and ask the President as to why he is not releasing our trans detainees who face violence, the crowd began to jeer, boo, and hiss. As she continued, the crowd then began to drown her and chant, "OBAMA! OBAMA!"

A transgender woman of color and undocumented leader in the immigrant rights and LGBT movement was booed and silenced by not only the state, but by the very same movement that purports to uplift and celebrate the transgender community.

As her voice, filled with passion and conviction, broke through the White House room, she was met by negativity, intolerance, and stares of disapproval from her peers. Her voice was carried by the thousands of transgender women considered disposable by the nation, facing deportation, detention, and brutal transphobic violence.

Her voice and visibility in that moment was shunned and shamed as inappropriate by a roomful of leaders who then applauded as the President lamented violence against transgender women of color, violence that his actions have contributed to by not taking action against the detention centers. Her voice is one of few transgender women of color immigrants who are bringing national visibility to this issue of the detention centers. Her voice carried the weight of the communities who are screaming inside detention centers demanding to be freed. Her voice was heard and ridiculed by many who claim to fight for transgender communities and also are involved in LGBT immigrant rights issues.