Diana Sanchez Barrios is hoping to be the first transsexual woman to win a seat in Mexico City’s municipal assembly.
“This isn’t a matter of transsexuality but of capability, and I’m capable of legislating for all citizens – I’m ready to win and I know I’m going to win,” she said, according to the Latin American Herald Tribune.
Barrios explains that she never felt comfortable as a boy and that at the age of 12 she decided to start dressing as woman, despite the discrimination she faced. As an adult, she now has a birth certificate, voter registration and all other important documentation registered with her true identity as a woman.
In 2009, Mexico City’s assembly approved a bill which allows transsexual people to go through the procedure of complete identity change, though it is still not possible in the rest of the country.
As an activist, Barrios hopes to represent the human rights of minority groups while in office, with focus on the LGBT community. Barrios is a leftist in the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) in Mexico City.
