Trans Person Elected To Office In Peru!

History was made on October 5 as the first out trans person was elected to public office in Peru.

Lucia Revilla Urcila (left in photo) was elected by the voters to a seat on the local council in La Esperanza in the province of Trujillo in northwestern Peru.


This electoral breakthrough in that nation came mere weeks after a groundbreaking September 5 LGBT conference of 300 Latin American and Caribbean LGBT advocates was held in Lima with the goal of increasing LGBT political participation in their various nations.

One of the co-organizers of that conference was the Gay and Lesbian Victory Institute along with the US Agency For International Development.

“I will execute my office with great humility and tenacity,” Revilla told the Washington Blade on Thursday. - See more at: http://www.washingtonblade.com/2014/10/10/peruvian-voters-elect-countrys-first-trans-council-member/#sthash.DNPI1XWc.dpuf

This is also wonderful news after several trans people in various nations across the South American continent in 2012 and 2013 fell short in their attempts to get elected to their respective national legislatures in Colombia,  Ecuador, and Chile.

The 43 year old Revilla told the Washington Blade in a recent interview, "I will execute her office with great humility and tenacity."

"I am going to promote equality and say no to discrimination" she said to the Blade.  "We want everyone to have equal access, to succeed and achieve their goals. When there is no discrimination, there is pacification. Infrastructure and modernity is important, but promoting values and having concern for the people matters even more."

Revilla's win was hailed by Peruvian LGBT activists as a watershed moment for their country and their movement.

"We as a community feel proud for the significant achievement of our colleague," said Lima-based trans advocate Maricielo Pena Hernandez. "The labor we had undertaken years earlier for the fight for respect of our rights have seen their fruits come to bare, showing the bad perception that society has toward us is going to change."

It remains to be seen if this is the small step that results in giant leaps of progress for not only Peruvian trans people, but their national TBLG human rights movement.

But it definitely is an accomplishment to be celebrated.

“I am going to promote equality and I will say no to discrimination,” she said. “We want everyone to have equal access, to succeed and to achieve their goals. When there is no discrimination, there is pacification. Infrastructure and modernity is important, but promoting values and showing concern for the people matters even more.” - See more at: http://www.washingtonblade.com/2014/10/10/peruvian-voters-elect-countrys-first-trans-council-member/#sthash.DNPI1XWc.dpu