South America
Transgender Brazil congresswoman-elect: Election is ‘important step for democracy’
Erika Hilton is a former sex worker, member of São Paulo Municipal Council
Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers will be on assignment in Brazil through Oct. 11.
SÃO PAULO — One of the two transgender women who won a seat in the Brazilian Congress in the country’s Oct. 2 elections described her election as an “important step for democracy.”
Belo Horizonte Municipal Councilwoman Duda Salabert, who is a member of the leftist Democratic Labor Party, also won her congressional race in Minas Gerais state. Salabert in a video she posted to her Twitter account noted she received the highest number of votes of any congressional candidate in her state’s history.
Salabert and Hilton are two of the 18 openly LGBTQ candidates who won their respective races.
President Jair Bolsonaro, a former Brazilian Army captain who is a member of the right-wing Liberal Party, will face off against Da Silva, a member of the leftist Workers’ Party who was Brazil’s president from 2003-2010, in an Oct. 30 runoff.
Bolsonaro has faced sharp criticism because of his rhetoric against LGBTQ and intersex Brazilians, women, people of African and indigenous descent and other groups.
The incumbent president, among other things, has expressed his opposition to “gender ideology” and condemned a 2019 Brazilian Supreme Court ruling that criminalized homophobia and transphobia.
Discrimination and violence based on gender identity remains commonplace in Brazil, and a Brazilian advocacy group noted 175 trans people were killed in the country in 2020. Keila Simpson, president of Associaçao Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais (National Association of Travestis and Transsexuals), a Brazilian trans rights group known by the acronym ANTRA, earlier this year told the Blade that efforts to combat violence against LGBTQ and intersex Brazilians have become more difficult because Bolsonaro is “propagating violence against LGBTQ people every day.”
Hilton acknowledged she worries about her safety. A security guard stood a few feet away from her while she spoke with the Blade.
“I am afraid, but I think that this fear is not going to be able to stop me,” said Hilton. “It is the fuel that motivates me.”
She also said she considers herself a role model for trans and trasvesti Brazilians.
“It is a big responsibility … but I feel very honored,” said Hilton. “I very much like to be able to be a representative for my people, and the more than 250,000 people who voted for me have confidence in me. This demonstrates that our work has the potential to have a gigantic reach; where we can advance efforts to end death, poverty, misery, genocide that we have.”
Bolsonaro ahead of the Oct. 2 elections sought to discredit Brazil’s electoral system.
The Associated Press notes Bolsonaro’s party gained seats in the Congress’ lower house, and Vice President Hamilton Mourão is among the Liberal Party members who won their Senate races. Concerns that violence could erupt in the country if Bolsonaro loses to Da Silva on Oct. 30 and refuses to accept the results remain.
Hilton told the Blade that Da Silva represents “democracy” and Bolsonaro is “the advance of fascism, the negation of rights.”
“We have endured horrors over the last four years because the current Brazilian (head of state) has been a very, very dangerous thing, which has been misery, which has been the dismantling of policies,” said Hilton, referring to Bolsonaro. “It is therefore necessary that Lula wins.”
Chile
Far-right José Antonio Kast elected Chile’s next president
Advocacy group declares ‘state of alert’ over president-elect’s opposition to LGBTQ rights
José Antonio Kast on Sunday won the second round of Chile’s presidential election.
Kast is the far-right leader of the Republican Party who was a member of the country’s House of Deputies from 2002-2018. He defeated Jeannette Jara, a member of the Communist Party of Chile who was former labor and social welfare minister in outgoing President Gabriel Boric’s government, by a 58.2-41.8 percent margin.
The election’s first round took place on Nov. 16.
Kast and Jara faced each other in the runoff after no candidate received at least 50 percent of the vote in the first round. Kast will take office on March 11.
“Under his leadership, we are confident Chile will advance shared priorities to include strengthening public security, ending illegal immigration, and revitalizing our commercial relationship,” said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday in a statement. “The United States looks forward to working closely with his administration to deepen our partnership and promote shared prosperity in our hemisphere.”
The Washington Blade has previously reported Kast has expressed his opposition to gender-specific policies, comprehensive sex education, and reforms to Chile’s anti-discrimination laws. The president-elect has also publicly opposed the country’s marriage equality law that took effect in 2022.
The Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation, a Chilean LGBTQ and intersex rights group known by the acronym Movilh, in a statement acknowledged the election result. Movilh also declared a “state of alert, given this leader’s (Kast’s) public and political trajectory, characterized for decades by systematic opposition to laws and policies aimed at equality and nondiscrimination of LGBTIQ+ individuals.”
“We urge the president-elect and far-right sectors that follow him to understand and internalize (the fact) that the rights of LGBTIQ+ people are inscribed in the universality of human rights, and they are not built upon an ideology or a political trend,” said Movilh in its statement. “This is not, and never has been, a left-wing or right-wing issue, although some on both sides have gone to great lengths to suggest otherwise, without any basis other than their own partisan or electoral aspirations.”
Organizado Trans Diversidades, a group that advocates on behalf of trans and nonbinary Chileans, on social media said it will “continue the fight for our community’s human rights.”
Colombia
Colombia anunció la inclusión de las categorías ‘trans’ y ‘no binario’ en los documentos de identidad
Registraduría Nacional anunció el cambio el 28 de noviembre
Ahora los ciudadanos colombianos podrán seleccionar las categorías ‘trans’ y ‘no binario’ en los documentos de identidad del país.
Este viernes la Registraduría Nacional del Estado Civil anunció que añadió las categorías ‘no binario’ y ‘trans’ en los distintos documentos de identidad con el fin de garantizar los derechos de las personas con identidad diversa.
El registrador nacional, Hernán Penagos, informó que hizo la inclusión de estas dos categorías en los documentos de: registro civil, tarjeta de identidad y cédula de ciudadanía.
Según la registraduría: “La inclusión de estas categorías representa un importante avance en materia de garantía de derechos de las personas con identidad de género diversa”.
Estas categorías estarán en el campo de ‘sexo’ en el que están normalmente las clasificaciones de ‘femenino’ y ‘masculino’ en los documentos de identidad.
En 2024 se inició la ejecución de diferentes acciones orientadas implementar componentes “‘NB’ y ‘T’ en el campo ‘sexo’ de los registros civiles y los documentos de identidad”.
Las personas trans existen y su identidad de género es un aspecto fundamental de su humanidad, reconocido por la Corte Constitucional de Colombia en sentencias como T-236/2023 y T-188/2024, que protegen sus derechos a la identidad y no discriminación. La actualización de la Registraduría implementa estos fallos que ya habían ordenado esos cambios en documentos de identidad.
Por su parte, el registrador nacional, Penagos, comentó que: “se trata del cumplimiento de unas órdenes por parte de la Corte Constitucional y, en segundo lugar, de una iniciativa en la que la Registraduría ha estado absolutamente comprometida”. Y explicó que en cada “una de las estaciones integradas de servicio de las más de 1.200 oficinas que tiene la Registraduría Nacional se va a incluir todo este proceso”.
Brazil
Black transgender singer from Brazil wins three Latin Grammy Awards
Liniker performed at Las Vegas ceremony
A Black transgender singer and songwriter from Brazil on Nov. 13 won three Latin Grammy Awards.
Liniker, who is from Araraquara, a city in São Paulo State, won for Best Portuguese Language Song for her song “Veludo Marrom,” Best Portuguese-Language Urban Performance for her song “Caju” from her sophomore album of the same title, and Best Portuguese Language Contemporary Pop Album for “Caju.”
She accepted the awards during the Latin Grammy Awards ceremony that took place in Las Vegas. Liniker also performed.
“I’ve been writing since I was 16. And writing, and poetry, have been my greatest form of existence. It’s where I find myself; where I celebrate so many things I experience,” said Liniker as she accepted her first Latin Grammy on Nov. 13. “And being a composer … Being a trans composer in Brazil — a country that kills us — is extremely difficult.”
Liniker in 2022 became the first openly trans woman to win a Latin Grammy.
Holiday week brings setbacks for Trump-Vance trans agenda
Your guide to D.C.’s queer New Year’s Eve parties
Long-awaited ‘Pillion’ surpasses the sexy buzz
Trump’s ‘American people derangement syndrome’
Reasons to be optimistic about 2026
Reasons to be optimistic about 2026
Long-awaited ‘Pillion’ surpasses the sexy buzz
Protecting the trans community is not optional for elected allies and candidates
Trump’s ‘American people derangement syndrome’
