Category: Being Trans in Latin American and the Caribbean

Black travesti activists and artists in Brazil constantly play with notions of time as they build utopian horizons.

While writing a monograph about the histories of gender transgression in Argentina, I found photographs of Arturo de Aragónin the national archives (AGN). He was in a folder that defined him and many others—with words that sounded to me like pure sarcasm—under the terms figuras de damas (ladies’ portraits.)

Defying the dark, heavy clouds that threatened to pour down on Buenos Aires, a crowd from more than 90 organizations was milling around at a demonstration in support of a reparations bill for Argentina’s transgender elders.

The long line could be seen even before arriving at the movie theatre. Dozens of impatient people crowded at the box office to see if tickets were still available. The mood was festive.

I had once again made the mistake of being on time.

There was a time in Brazil, long ago, when the division between “heterosexuals” and “homosexuals” seemed sufficient to describe sexual orientation.

In mid-2021, Peru was winding up an intense presidential run-off race between right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori and leftist Pedro Castillo.