On the National Day of Trans Visibility, celebrated this Sunday (29), a walk on Avenida Paulista, concentrated in front of the São Paulo Museum of Art, calls for specific public policies for this population and recalls the deaths of transgender and transvestite people in Brazil. The country leads the ranking world for the 14th time, according to a study by the National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals. There were 131 murders in 2022. The walk will continue along Rua Augusta towards the City Hall, in the center.
Pastor Jacqueline Chanel is the organizer of the event in São Paulo. “This is a protest for life, because our lives matter, also for this society. We want more rights and public policies to serve our community, of transgender women and trans men”, she says. She points out that the actions of the Public Power must be transversal, in education, health, employment, public safety, considering that this population is impacted in different ways since childhood.
Concentration of the VI Caminhada Trans de São Paulo, which celebrates the National Day of Transvestite and Transgender Visibility, at the São Paulo Museum of Art (Masp), on Avenida Paulista. – Rovena Rosa/Agência Brasil
Researcher and feminist Hailey Kaas, 30, says that adolescence, before she realized herself as a trans woman, was a very difficult period. “I suffered bullying, like many trans people, but luckily I was able to go to college, which a lot of trans people don’t have. I am the exception to the rule,” she reported. Among so many agendas to advance, she considers that there is currently greater visibility for trans issues, including in relation to the necessary demands for this community.
“It goes through various spheres of society, it’s not just ‘I feel differently’, but, for that, I have to have health, hormone therapy, the SUS [Sistema Único de Saúde] you have to cover surgery, and that was a fight of the last few years”, he lists. Hailey adds the conquest of the use of the social name in public bodies and documents. “This made it easier for us to get a job, we are not embarrassed in spaces where we have to give our name and ID, even though we still have to go to each body to make the change.”
Pedro Silvério, 28, is a volunteer at the Instituto Brasileiro de Transmasculinidades and helps other trans people. “I ran into a friend on the street, who told me he was trans men and, at the same moment, I realized that was it. I went back, researched. Being in an act like today is magical, arriving here and feeling at home. Our bodies are made invisible”, he says. For him, mental health is a fundamental aspect in the health approach for this population. “We suffer a lot of violence. This reinforcement is very important, both in the SUS and in private institutions.”
