“They are not opening the door for us because we are who we are”: Láurel Miranda and his fight for the rights of the trans community

Their struggle is for the trans community, to have a dignified and happy life, to ensure an equal world for all people. For this reason, Láurel Miranda, a journalist and teacher, has also become an activist who does not hesitate to share messages and content through her social networks that make it possible to report on the situations of vulnerability they face: censorship, discrimination, violence and transfemicide.

And it is that as a journalism professional he faced censorship. In an interview with Infobae Mexico, he narrated that a moment when he experienced transphobia was when in his former job - within a media outlet - they decided to withdraw some texts he published about the trans community because they told him that they did not understand them due to ignorance of the subject. The activist stressed that the situation seemed violent and problematic to her, since it is an identity and reality that the historically violated community is experiencing that should not go unnoticed.

According to Amnesty International, transphobia is the rejection of transsexual people who change the socially established sex and gender system, in addition to suffering a high degree of marginalization and violence.

Laurel began her gender transition in 2020, since then she has sought to make trans people visible in public spaces. In her professional environment, she has experienced situations of ignorance about trans identities on the part of journalists, editors and editors, which is why it is important for her that those who share information are trained about it.

One of the problems highlighted by the journalist is that trans women face employment discrimination because “we are in a context in which society accepts us to a certain extent only if trans women see ourselves as they think a woman should be”. He also explained that when the trans community “knocks on the door to ask for work” they are often rejected because of their tone of voice and masculine appearance or because they are simply transsexual.

The teacher also stressed that it is necessary “for us to touch on the issue of labor quota for trans people in Mexico, something that already happens in Argentina and that would also have to happen in our country, not because we don't have skills or that we want them to hire us, but because if we have those capabilities, the issue is that they are not opening the door for us simply because of who we are.”

As an example of a case of transphobia by a deputy, he stated that on March 30 hundreds of people gathered at the Monument to the Revolution to put slogans and sign the trans flag, so that one day later, March 31, when the Transgender Visibility is commemorated, they would take her to the Chamber of Deputies, where she was present Gabriel Quadri, who in the words of Laurel "violated the trans deputies Maria Clemente and Sandra Luévano by calling them gentlemen”.

Miranda said that carrying the trans flag was a symbolic and very political act to confront these hate speeches that also occur within the high political sphere with deputies and that expands at the institutional level: “we cannot allow discrimination based on gender identity in a place like the Chamber of Deputies” , he specified.

Derived from the inequality and violence experienced by the trans community, Láurel also stressed that Mexico is the second country with the most transfemicides, the concept is not typified in the Federal Penal Code and is something that is pending according to Miranda who said: “it is the murder of a woman because she is a woman trans” and that since January 5 cases were recorded in addition to the transfemicide attempt against activist Natalia Lane.

According to the Congress of Mexico City, transfemicide is an act of violence “against trans women and persons with feminine expression motivated by the situation of widespread transmisogyny in society, and internalized by the agents who commit it.”

With data from the organization Letra Ese, in its analysis of violence against the trans community, Mexico is the most insecure country for this group. In its approach to transfemicide, it highlights that during the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto in 2012-2018, 473 hate crimes were reported; 261 against trans women.

That is why Láurel pointed out that: “Clearly we are experiencing a high degree of violence against trans women” and of course that “it is important for me to make visible the violence we are facing and that it becomes a topic of conversation on the public agenda because we just need society to take into its hands as well that responsibility it has to ensure an equal world for all: access to justice and a dignified and happy life”.

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