Connect with us

South America

Indigenous transgender woman in Chile champions her communities

Claudia Ancapán Quilape fought six years for legal recognition

Published

on

Claudia Ancapán Quilape (Photo courtesy of AJ+ en Español)

Being a transgender woman in South America is not easy when her average life expectancy in the continent is 35 years. It is even more difficult for those who are of indigenous descent.

Claudia Ancapán Quilape, an indigenous trans woman with a Huilliche father and a Mapuche mother, has turned her fate around.

Ancapán is 46-years-old and lives in Recoleta in the Chilean capital of Santiago. She is a midwife who works in a private clinic and recently earned a master’s degree in health. Ancapán is working on another master’s degree in gender and will soon begin a doctorate in public policy. 

She is also a spokesperson for Salud Trans para Chile, a trans rights group, and participates in Santiago’s “LGBTQA+ Roundtable.” 

Ancapán for six years fought to have her identity legally recognized, long before Chile passed its Gender Identity Law. She won that battle on May 20, 2014, and Ancapán later lobbied lawmakers to approve the statute.

Claudia Ancapán Quilape in 2014 won her 6-year legal fight for Chile to legally recognize her gender identity. (Photo courtesy of Claudia Ancapán Quilape)

The road on which Ancapán traveled in order to become a woman has been difficult.

“I am a person who has had to struggle with being a woman, trans and indigenous,” she told the Washington Blade. 

In addition to the discrimination she suffered, a group of neo-Nazis in 2005 attacked her in Valdivia, a city in southern Chile where she was studying. The attack, which could have cost her her life, motivated her to become a queer rights activist.

Ancapán told the Blade her family’s indigenous culture allowed her to be herself in private since she was a child. Outside of her home, however, she had to pretend to be a man.

“My family allowed me to develop myself and that changed my life,” she told the Blade. “I was always a woman to my father, mother and siblings because my parents were not prejudiced against it. However, they protected me from society and I acted like a man once I walked out the door of my house because people outside our culture would not understand.”

Most indigenous groups in South America did not view LGBTQ people negatively before European colonization. They included them in their respective communities and respected them.

European colonizers exterminated many of them and buried their culture.

“Christopher Columbus arrived on his ship with religious cultural impositions that were imposed and everything was turned into sin,” Ancapán told the Blade. “If you review the history of our native peoples in Chile, they stand out because they had no conflict with homosexuality or gender identity.”

Since ancestral times there were “machis” called “weyes,” who had an important social and spiritual role within a Mapuche community. They were known for their ambiguous gender roles that could vary from feminine to masculine. “Weyes” could also incorporate feminine elements that had a sacred connotation and were allowed to have same-sex relations with younger men.

The “machi weyes” until the 18th century had a lot of authority and influence because they were recognized as a person with “two souls.”

“Pre-Columbian cultures saw the integrality of the human being linked to nature, so sexuality was an integral part of a whole (person),” explained Ancapán. “So it was not so sinful to fall in love or love a person of the same sex or for a person to present themselves with an identity different from the one they should have biologically.”

“That makes me respect my indigenous background,” she emphasized. “That’s why I am so proud of who I am and of my native belonging.”

According to Elisa Loncón, the former president of Chile’s Constitutional Constitution and a leading expert in Mapudungun, the Mapuche people’s native language, the Mapuche always recognized LGBTQ and intersex people through their language. Gay men were categorized as “weyes” and lesbian women were known as “alka zomos.” “Zomo wenxu” meant “woman man,” while “wenxu zomo” translated to “man woman.”

There is currently no indigenous LGBTQ or intersex organization in Chile, but Ancapán noted there are queer people who are indigenous.

“I know Diaguita people. I am also aware that there are trans Easter Islanders. I have Mapuche friends who are trans. And lately I made a friendship with an indigenous person who lives with two spirits,” she said. 

Claudia Ancapán Quilape participates in a protest for the rights of queer indigenous people. (Photo courtesy of Claudia Ancapán Quilape)

Ancapán said two-spirit is “a category of gender identity that is not well known in Chile, but it is linked to native people.” 

“In fact, they have always been there, but very little is known about it. This is related to the native peoples of pre-Columbian America, where they saw identity and gender as a way of life where they saw identity and the expression of sexuality as distinct,” she explained to the Blade.

Many people who claim to be two-spirit say they feel neither male nor female, escaping from the traditional gender binary.  

“These manifestations are also in the indigenous peoples of Canada and Mexico,” said Ancapán. “They are known more in the north of North America. Two-spirit is basically spiritually associated, where two identities, two spirits, coexist in you. And that speaks of breaking down the binary system.”

“So these manifestations come from the integral vision of different sexuality and from the acceptance that existed in some cultures about sexual and gender dissidence,” she further stressed. 

“I believe in nature and the power of the elements,” added Ancapán. “I am very close to my culture that talks about the connection with the spiritual of nature and the respect for nature. And from that point of view it linked me to my original people, to my native peoples.”

Advertisement
FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM
SIGN UP FOR E-BLAST

South America

Argentina’s president seeks to dismantle anti-discrimination agency

Activists have sharply criticized Javier Milei’s move

Published

on

Argentine President Javier Milei (Screen capture via YouTube)

Argentinian President Javier Milei’s proposed closure of his country’s National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism has sparked widespread criticism among LGBTQ activists and human rights defenders.

Alba Rueda, the former Undersecretary of Diversity Policies in the Women, Gender and Diversity Ministry who was also the country’s Special Representative on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity under Alberto Fernández’s government, and gay Congressman Esteban Paulón in exclusive interviews with the Washington Blade talked about the Feb. 22 announcement’s implications and the impact it will have on Argentine society at a time marked by an acute economic, political and social crisis.

Rueda said INADI’s closure is a serious setback in the fight against discrimination and the advancement of human rights in Argentina. 

“INADI is a human rights agency that has been in force in Argentina for almost 30 years, which emerged as a response to the international attacks we suffered,” she pointed out. “This body has been fundamental in the attention of discrimination cases, including strategic litigation such as the (murder) of Diana Sacayán (a prominent transgender rights activist) in 2015.” 

Paulón said INADI’s closure is part of a broader policy of harassment towards diversity and state institutions that Milei’s government has carried out.

“INADI, along with the already eliminated Women Ministry, has been fundamental in the defense of the rights of LGBTQ+ and queer people,” said Paulón.

“In practical facts, the government cannot close INADI because INADI has been created by a law and it would require another law to close it,” he added. “Therefore, it has been raised that there is going to be a restructuring of personnel, a readjustment of resources that are going to continue processing complaints, but that they are going to pass to the orbit of the Justice Ministry, where INADI already is, but let’s say, they would pass without the institutionalism and that it would remain as an empty shell until the government achieves the consensus of a law to eliminate.”

Both agreed that INADI’s closure represents a serious setback in the protection of human rights in Argentina and a threat to the most vulnerable groups in society, including LGBTQ people. They also stressed Milei’s government has used this announcement as part of a broader strategy to dismantle democratic institutions and the country’s human rights agenda.

INADI cannot be closed unilaterally, despite the announcement, because a law created it and another statute would be required to dismantle it. There are, however, concerns the government may attempt to dismantle the institution or reduce its operational capacity.

“The decision to close INADI responds to an ideological position,” said Rueda. “They believe that INADI is the policeman of this, the ideological policeman. It is a body that functions autonomously whose president is appointed by the Congress and which also has a board of directors of social organizations.”

Critics of Milei’s government argue INADI’s closure is part of a strategy to consolidate power and repress dissent. They say the government is using the economic crisis as a pretext to implement authoritarian measures that limit civil liberties and weaken democratic institutions.

Milei’s supporters, on the other hand, defend the move as part of a broader effort to reduce public spending and promote liberal economic policies. They argue INADI’s closure is necessary to eliminate waste and corruption in government, and that its impact on human rights and LGBTQ protection is overstated.

“For LGTB people in particular, the closure of INADI would leave us without a place where we could basically receive attention in the face of discrimination,” Rueda pointed out. “And another issue that INADI also did is that it generated public policy recommendations or developed public policies for the prevention and awareness of these changes that have to take place in society.”

“So, not only do we run out of spaces for denunciation, but also of where to change this culture of discrimination, culture of discrimination that are present in the labor market that Milei presents or points out to you, as a success and that this is self-regulated,” she added. 

Continue Reading

South America

Alleged masterminds of Rio councilwoman’s murder arrested

Marielle Franco and her driver were killed on March 14, 2018

Published

on

Marielle Franco (Photo courtesy of Facebook)

Brazilian authorities on Sunday arrested two people who they say masterminded the 2018 murder of Rio de Janeiro Municipal Councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver.

The Associated Press reported the country’s federal police arrested Congressman Chiquinho Brazão and his brother, former Rio de Janeiro Legislative Assemblyman Domingos Brazão, who advises the state’s Audits Court. Authorities on Sunday also took into custody former Rio police chief Rivaldo Barbosa and charged him with obstruction of justice.

Authorities say two former fire fighters — Elcio de Queiroz and Ronnie Lessa — shot Franco and Anderson Gomes in Rio’s Lapa neighborhood on March 14, 2018.

Franco, a bisexual woman and single mother of African descent, grew up in Maré, a favela in the northern part of Rio that is close to the city’s international airport. Franco, among other things, was an outspoken critic of police raids in Rio’s favelas that have left hundreds of people dead.

Authorities last July arrested Maxwell Simões Correia, a former firefighter who allegedly hid the guns that De Queiroz and Lessa used to shoot Franco and Gomes. The Brazilian Supreme Court last week approved a plea agreement into which Lessa entered. 

The AP reported Federal Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski at a press conference told reporters the Brazão brothers have “multiple interests” and Chiquinho Brazão, who was a member of the Rio Municipal Council in 2018, was angry about Franco’s bill that would have zoned land for public housing in the city. The Brazão brothers also have reported ties to militias in the city.

“At this moment we have it very clear who are the perpetrators of this hateful, heinous crime of political nature,” said Lewandowski.

Franco’s widow, Mônica Benício, who was elected to the Rio Municipal Council in 2020, discussed the status of the investigation with the Washington Blade during a March 2022 interview in Rio.

“The struggle for justice to find out who ordered the murder and how high up they were indicates we are still far from knowing,” said Benício.

Franco’s family in a statement said their fight for justice will continue.

“This case reflects the structural impunity in cases of crimes committed by agents or former agents of the State against the lives of human and civil rights defenders, such as Marielle and Anderson Gomes, segments of society that suffer widespread damage to rights in society and have structural difficulty in accessing justice,” it reads.

Domingos Brazão’s lawyer has denied the allegations against his client, saying he “did not know Marielle.” Chiquinho Brazão and Barbosa have also proclaimed their innocence. 

The three men, who were arrested in Rio, will be transferred to Brasília, the country’s capital.

Continue Reading

South America

Chilean government urged to promote comprehensive sex education bill

Advocacy group sent request to Education Minister Claudio Cataldo

Published

on

(Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A Chilean advocacy group has submitted an urgent request to Education Minister Claudio Cataldo that urges President Gabriel Boric’s government to promote a comprehensive sex education bill.

The Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation asserts the implementation of a comprehensive sex education curriculum is essential to ensuring all students, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, have access to an inclusive education without discrimination. The group also argues inclusive guidelines are crucial to promoting sexual and reproductive health and preventing gender-based violence and bullying.

“We met with the minister of education to ask him to promote a comprehensive sexual education bill, since it is of utmost importance that children and adolescents have this type of education,” Movilh spokesperson Javiera Zuñiga told the Washington Blade. “In addition, there is a commitment on the part of the state of Chile that was acquired in the Friendly Settlement Agreement before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for the demand of equal marriage, where the State commits itself to generate education policies.”

Zuñiga explained that “comprehensive sex education addresses several issues that are not dealt with in Chile today, which have to do not only with sexual orientation or gender identity, but also often have to do with knowing the body, being able to have tools to deal with abuse and also to know about sexually transmitted diseases. It is a wide range of topics that our children and adolescents today do not have access to know.” 

The request comes at a crucial moment amid the ongoing debate over sex education in Chile.

The lack of a comprehensive policy has generated concern among various sectors of society, especially among LGBTQ organizations and human rights activists who have pointed out the urgent need to implement concrete measures to address this issue.

Faced with this new debate, Emilia Schneider, the country’s first transgender member of Congress, told the Blade she thinks “it is very good that Movilh joins many organizations that have been demanding and working for CSE (comprehensive sex education) for years in Chile.” These groups include Apofa, the Feminist Teachers Network and Chile Necesita CSE.

“I believe that their request is correct in the sense that comprehensive sexual education is necessary and is demanded by the educational communities themselves,” said Schneider. 

Cataldo in response to Movilh’s request has expressed his willingness to dialogue and collaborate in the elaboration of a comprehensive bill. The government has yet to announce any concrete measures it plans to take to advance it. 

Schneider explained that “for me CSE is a central issue, it has always been and I have been working for it for years.” 

“Of course, my commitment remains intact,” she said. “There are already many bills on comprehensive sex education, which shows that it is a long debate that is still open in Chile. There is even a bill that (former President Sebastián Piñera)’s education minister, Marcela Cubillos, presented, and one from Republicans. I would call on the different sectors to sit down and reach an agreement once and for all before sending me an individual (bill.)” 

Organizing Trans Diversities President Ignacia Oyarzún told the Blade that “all the needs we have as a community are urgent and are a priority and unfortunately all these urgencies are for yesterday.” 

“We are talking about laws and regulations that protect the human rights of a community that has been historically violated,” said Oyarzún. “We are talking about a community that has been exterminated throughout history, both by society and by regulations. So we are talking about a community that deserves special protection”.

With regard to eventual support for this bill in Congress, Schneider pointed out that “unfortunately, the scenario for the CSE is very difficult.” 

“That is why we have to be very strategic in order to move forward,” she said. “There is an international organization of the ultra-right to prevent us from advancing in this very important right, organizations such as Con Mis Hijos No Te Metas in other countries have even been associated with serious cases of child abuse. One wonders who they are defending. Either they are with the children and youth who are safer and protected with information and accompaniment or they are on the side of the abusers.” 

“I hope there is a majority that understands that we can reach agreements to move forward, especially because the CSE is something that is constantly demanded by the educational communities,” added Schneider. “This does not exist today, and that is why we need a lot of capacity for dialogue and drive to build it, but above all to go out to do a lot of pedagogy and explain to the population its importance, especially to prevent and combat child sexual abuse.” 

Oyarzún said “we believe that if we leave aside the more ideological issues and concentrate on what is really important, which are these children and adolescents, we could have a significant advance in Congress.”

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement

Sign Up for Weekly E-Blast

Follow Us @washblade

Advertisement

Popular