All photos and art by: Trans Asylum Seekers Support Network

This is a follow-up article to La Hermandad es Primero. The goal of the first article was to open a conversation about the persecution of trans people in El Salvador and also to launch the campaign La Hermandad es Primero. This campaign is one of transnational solidarity to raise funds to help trans people in El Salvador. 

I am Naty, and together with my compañera Aislinn Odalys, we started this campaign. We are both trans women from El Salvador, and we have survived and resisted systemic violence against our community. We want to support trans people because we know what it is like to not have anything. Together and united the community can be strengthened and can move forward.

This campaign sends reparations from the global north to the global south, rooted in transborder, international LGBTQ, poor, and working class solidarity.  You can support our campaign here.

“La Hermandad es Primero” campaign

How do trans communities in El Salvador understand their own oppression?

In El Salvador,  trans people realize from a young age that their lives are to be full of persecution and survival. When a trans girl is young, she realizes who is like her. We know if someone is part of our trans community through their way of speaking, walking, etc. Not every trans person has the courage to say they are trans because they know that the whole world, including their own family, will turn their backs. Among ourselves, we support one another because we understand that in order to survive, we need our communities. When our families kick us out, our trans sisters are there, supporting and helping us. They give us food, a place of refuge, and community. That’s how we support each other, giving each other everything we can.

Furthermore, as trans people, we understand that sooner or later we will be killed. You are not going to die of illness, you are going to die because you will be killed. That is the reality of our country. We are killed in violent, cruel, and inhumane ways, and that is something that only we as trans women can understand and see. 

What social, governmental, and economic forces do trans communities see as contributing to their oppression?

Governmental and economic structures that contribute to the oppression of trans people in El Salvador include the lack of protection from labor laws, negation of our right to vote, our exclusion by churches, poor education, and police brutality. For example, I remember one time when a trans woman wanted to vote for a mayor. She was denied her right to vote because she had makeup on and the card itself had a different name on it (her birth name). In situations like these, no matter what the law is, society is fixated on denying human rights to trans people like me. If a politician supports our community, the rest of the population denounces them, because it is seen as a disgrace. There is no freedom in the government sector. Trans people can also be denied entrance to a church.

I believe that hate is not an innate human trait; it is learned. That is why an education that promotes love and friendship towards others is essential. The education system in El Salvador excludes LGBTQ+ communities. Because of that, from a young age, children learn that those of us in the LGBTQ+ community are not “normal.” People in our country judge us because they think that we want to convert children to make them trans or gay. But what people don’t know is that we don’t want to “convert” anyone.

Our  working reality is all about defending the rights of trans youth, those who are forced to give up their education because of the hate they experience from  other students and from teachers and administrators. When a trans youth goes to school, they are met with a lot of discrimination; there is no protection for them. Those who are against our existence claim we want to corrupt and damage children. They don’t even realize the hate that they project affects LGBTQ+children. Being trans is not an option; no one can “convert” anyone, we are born this way. If the education was more inclusive, with education about the LGBTQ+ community, I promise you that the world would be better.

Speaking in economic terms, many trans people are denied employment in most workplaces. For this reason, many people in our community support themselves through sex work. I have been a sex worker and it is very difficult. You have to stay up all night, spending a lot of time in the streets, basically nude. Then you must get in a strange car with a person you don’t know. Because sex work is against the law, cops use it as a reason to mistreat us, even if it's the only way to survive that Salvadorian society leaves us with. The cops are very corrupt and so are the military. They only see us as a sex object to touch and use for sex. We are intelligent and able to do any job but we are being turned away because of our gender.

La campaña “La Hermandad es Primero”

With this analysis of their oppression, how do trans communities fight for both their safety and liberation in El Salvador?

Despite encountering resistance, we never stop fighting. Trans activists like Odalys help us with condoms, sex education, food and shelter. From the age of thirteen I went to marches to honor the LGBTQ+ community and demand our human rights. When I went to marches, people would throw stones at us and insult us. At the marches, the majority of trans women wore high heels because we wanted to display that the pain people caused us for being trans was stronger than the pain of the heels. People know that walking long distances in high heels is very painful, but we suffer much more when people humiliate and reject us. People have to accept us; we are people, the same as them. Our gender does not make us more or less than anyone.

“To me it wasn’t important if I had a shirt or shoes or anything else; I only wanted to exercise my rights and be with my community at the march.”

As trans people, we need our community. We are always being persecuted for our identity. Therefore, we establish systems of resistance in order to keep our community safe. For example, you will almost never see a trans person alone in the street. It is very dangerous, so if we are always together, it minimizes the risk. Walking down the street, we always run the risk of getting hurt at the hands of men and the police. In sex work, when one trans person goes to work, there is a group of women who go with her. 

When our family rejects us, we seek each other. I remember that after getting kicked out of the house, I slept on the beach. I stayed there for about a month until a trans friend came. She offered me a home, though a home without doors or windows, but still a home. We always help each other, and we offer what little we have. When I was going to buy food, I didn't just buy for myself, but for all the trans people I lived with. We also lend each other clothes. The kindness and loyalty of our community doesn't end there. When my life was in danger, the girls who lived with me gave me the money they had so that I could leave the country. What hurts me is that I couldn't help them when they were killed.

What goals and ideas do trans people have when it comes to fighting back and caring for one another right now in El Salvador?

Right now the goals of the trans community in El Salvador includes legal and social acceptance, the ability to legally change our names and sex, and equal rights and protection against discrimination, specifically in the workplace. Many people think that the LGBTQ+ fight focuses solely on obtaining the right to marry. Although this is important, for us, the right to work without discrimination is our priority. Moreover, between ourselves there are so many that don’t have any interest in marrying. Finally, with the most urgency and importance, we want justice for all trans people that have been killed.

Some of us resign ourselves to this being our life. A life where every day is a fight against discrimination, police brutality,and sexual and physical assaults. Other times our minds change and we decide we don't deserve to put up with that. So we flee. 

What would the future world and global society look like in which Central American trans women can prosper?

When we imagine a world where trans Central American women can prosper, it isa future where we have the right to live a dignified life without persecution and judgement. What trans women want over everything is to have a family, education, and a good job; basically, a normal life. We just want a normal life, not a “better life” than others.

“When I die, honor me as I lived.”

It is important to honor trans communities, especially those who were killed. Honoring means to speak of their lives and how they were. It is our hope that people see how these women died so that they can understand how unjust it is, that finally they can open their eyes. The most dishonorable thing I have seen after a trans person died was when their family didn’t recognize their loved one’s real name. In its place they used her birth name.

La campaña “La Hermandad es Primero”

Update on La Hermandad Es Primero Campaign from the ground:

La Hermandad Es Primero is a campaign that was started in order to help trans people in El Salvador. We gather resources in order to distribute hygienic products, food, and other basic necessities. During the first campaign launch we were able to gather sufficient funds to provide  50 trans people with bags filled with these items. Aislinn Odalys is a trans activist in El Salvador who has served as a critical person for this initiative. She has been a great help for many trans people. After we transferred to her the money we collected, Aislinn went to the supermarket to buy food and hygienic products such as sugar, coffee, rice, beans, shampoo, soap, and much more. Afterwards, her family helped pack the bags and went to distribute them. Aislinn said that what excited her was seeing how the people reacted. The people that received the bags greeted Odalys with drinks and sometimes food. This demonstrates the support that we have for each other within our community.

The funds gathered in this next part of the campaign will be used to purchase more bags of items, and for an emergency fund for trans people in El Salvador. Sometimes my trans siblings contact me after a traumatic event. They tell me they need medical help, shelter, food, etc. For this reason, we will establish an emergency fund to provide help to our siblings who need it.

Something that I admire about the trans community in El Salvador is the love we have for each other. I cannot see people suffering and in poverty; if there is someone that needs help, I am going to help them. I believe that trans women identify a lot with love. Even in the worst moments, although we do not necessarily like each other, we are there to help each other. I want to show that we are powerful, that we have dreams that are being crushed, but we are still able to overcome any obstacle that arises.

Questions inspired by the “Autonomous Organizer Training Toolkit.” Available online at Unity and Struggle.