Trans people don’t have it easy in Mexico. Despite having the legal having the right to transition and receive legal documents reflecting their gender identity, they are not covered by laws protecting gay and lesbian people from discrimination and are often subject to prejudice and hatred in their daily lives. Trans women are at particular risk, because Mexico has one of the highest rates of transfemicide in the world, with 52 trans women killed between Oct. 2022 and Sept. 2023.
That’s equivalent to 15 homicides per 100,000 population, a rate more than double the homicide rate for cis women. Despite these risks, some trans women have found ways to survive and thrive in a culture that offers the possibility of joy alongside the continuing presence of hatred. Claudia Ymi Sanchez’s Transmexico is a celebration of three trans women who have made successful lives for themselves despite a culture that would sometimes, quite literally, rather see them dead.
Felicia Garza was born Felipe Gil, Jr. to the noted singers Felipe Gil and Eva Garza. She enjoyed a long and successful career as a singer and songwriter, and won the Festival OTI, an international competition for songs in Spanish or Portuguese, three times. At age 74 she chose to publicly come out as transgender, which caused some of her family to reject her. Despite that reaction, she fully embraces her female identity and is thriving today but offers this advice to others: “You have to be prepared to lose everything, and if you’re not ready for that, don’t do it because you are going to get rejection from all kinds of people, and many times the people you least expect.”
Kenya Cuevas, a trans rights activist, first became aware of Mexico’s trans woman community through sex workers who helped her dress and make herself up. Immediately feeling that she had found her true identity, she never looked back. But life was not always easy—she fell into drug and alcohol abuse and was sometimes living on the street—and of course sex work can be dangerous, particularly for trans women.
Sometimes that danger comes from the very people who are supposed to be protecting people from crime, the police, as Cuevas relates in a harrowing tale (it’s a wonder that she survived, and even more so that she did not become mean or hopeless as a result but channeled her pain into helping others). Cuevas founded the civil association Casa de las Mueñcas Tiresias, which advocates for the rights of LGBT+ people and provides housing and support for trans people in the Casa Hogar Paolo Buenrostro, the first shelter of its kind in Mexico. The shelter is named for Paola Buenrostro, a trans woman sex worker who was killed by a customer (the accused, Arturo Felipe Delgadillo Olvera, was released without trial).
Lady Tacos de Canasta took her name from her occupation: she’s a street vendor of homemade tacos that she carries in a canasta (basket) on her bicycle. She self-identifies as a “Muxe,” a third gender category in Zapotec culture, and became famous after being featured in the Netflix documentary Taco Chronicles. Today, she’s easily recognized from her colorful costumes and vendor’s cry (the latter developed so construction workers on the upper floors of building would hear her), and many customers want not only to buy tacos, but also to have their picture taken with her.
TransMexico is a beautiful film, full of life and color, which celebrates the lives of the women featured. If life hasn’t always been kind to them, they’ve found ways to flourish and embrace their identities while making the world a better place for others. | Sarah Boslaugh
Transmexico will screen at QFest on Saturday, April 27 at 1 pm. The film will be followed by a discussion of being young and queer in St. Louis today and from noon to 6 pm an LGBTQ+ teen youth art sale will be held in the Hi-Pointe lobby. Qfest St. Louis 2024 runs April 26-28 and May 3-5 at the Hi-Pointe Theatre (1005 McCausland Ave, St Louis). Information about programming, ticket prices and passes is available from the festival web site.
