The injustices faced by transgender women in Peru

Asumi, left, and Oriana, right, stand in the light of a police car during a nightly raid.

Tamara quit school in the 5th grade because her classmates constantly teased and insulted her. At 16 she began sniffing glue for a couple years to deal with depression and loneliness. At 18 she began working as a sex worker. Tamara says it’s not easy being trans because of all the aggression and humiliation they face. “I have suffered so much, I don’t understand why we have to suffer so much.”

Briss’ room is left in shambles after a fight with her boyfriend, who punched the mirrors and threw furniture. Nearly 80 percent of homicides of trans people worldwide occur in Latin America.

Kiara is arrested by “serenazgos,” or municipal police officers as she works on the streets. Many trans women are oftentimes arrested by police on the basis of not being able to show their identification cards and are often subjected to both verbal and physical abuse by officers.

Nearly every week, Yasuri visits the Baquijano Cemetery to leave flowers and pray at a Peruvian saint’s tomb. She said she can no longer stand sex work. “It makes me sick,” said Yasuri, who dreams of having a family and getting married one day.

A nurse discusses Tamara’s HIV medication with her.

Tamara takes her daily dosage of Tuberculosis medication at a clinic in downtown Lima, Peru. Though Tuberculosis medication is free in Peru, patients are not allowed to take their medication at home. Thus, people have to go to the clinic every day, which can be taxing for physically weak patients like Tamara.

A doctor examines an X-ray of Tamara’s lungs. Shortly after getting on HIV medication, Tamara was diagnosed with Tuberculosis.

Feature story

The injustices faced by transgender women in Peru

26 April 2018

Tamara, a transgender woman from Lima, Peru, had struggled with her identity since elementary school, where she was bullied so intensely by her peers that she dropped out. When she was 18 years old, with few options for her, she began working on the streets as a sex worker. Tamara often said that she wasn’t going to live past 30. How could she, she asked defiantly, when society treats her as less than human?

Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, Tamara died less than a month after her 30th birthday from an AIDS-related illness and tuberculosis. Her death at such a young age is sadly common, as most transgender women in Latin America die before they reach 35. Latin America leads the world in homicides of transgender people — nearly 80% of global transgender homicides occur in the region. And HIV prevalence among transgender women is as high as 38% — transgender women are 50% times more likely to acquire HIV than the general population, according to a recent study in the Journal of the International AIDS Society.

The human rights violations perpetrated against transgender women throughout Latin America are the result of forces in society. The region’s highly machismo, conservative and transphobic culture ostracizes and stigmatizes transgender people, posing a serious threat to their health, security, life expectancy and employment prospects. With few options or support, many engage in sex work. As sex workers with no legal protections, they are at a greater risk of violence and sexual and substance abuse. And most have little access to health services. Without recognition, many cases of violence and murder go undocumented.

Photojournalist Danielle Villasana has been documenting a community of transgender women in Lima for the past several years, photographing the often dire realities they face, such as complications from HIV, abuse from police, partners and clients, and death. “Because most governments throughout Latin America and the world continuously fail to protect transgender women, I’m determined to show how these largely ignored injustices often lead to deadly consequences,” she said.

As a result, Ms Villasana has launched a Kickstarter campaign to publish these important stories as a bilingual photobook. The aim is to raise awareness among the police, medical institutions and lawmakers — sectors she says that are often ignorant of the abuse against transgender women because of institutional prejudice and lack of understanding. You can support and learn more about her book project at http://bit.ly/a-light-inside.

From a young age, transgender people face stigma, discrimination and social rejection in their homes and communities. Such discrimination, violence and criminalization prevent transgender people from getting the HIV services they need to stay healthy. UNAIDS is working with governments, partners and transgender communities to increase access to health services for transgender people.

All photos by Danielle Villasana