Amaranta Gómez Regalado (born 1977) is a Mexican

Muxe In Zapotec cultures of Oaxaca (southern Mexico), a muxe (also spelled muxhe; ) is a person assigned male at birth who dresses and behaves in ways otherwise associated with women; they may be seen as a third gender. Etymology The Zapotec word ...

social anthropologist, political candidate,

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

prevention activist, social researcher, columnist and promoter of

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

indigenous cultural identity.

Biography

Gómez was born in 1977 in a Zapotec village close to the border of

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

and adopted the name of Amaranta during adolescence, after reading '' One Hundred Years of Solitude'', the famous work of Colombian writer

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter, and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one ...

. During high school, Gómez Regalado studied languages and theater in

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

. She then traveled to several states in southern Mexico as part of a transvestism show. In October 2002, a car accident fractured her left arm to such an extent that it had to be amputated. In 2015 she managed to change her gender identity on her birth certificate, which allowed her to change other official documents such as a passport. This was possible from the reforms approved by what was once the

Legislative Assembly of Mexico City The Mexico City Congress ( es, Congreso de la Ciudad de México, ALCDMX) is the legislative branch of government of Mexico City. Between 1988 and 1993, it was known as the Assembly of Representatives of the Federal District ( es, Asamblea de Re ...

to allow people to legally change their gender identity in their birth certificate, through only an administrative procedure. (See LGBT rights in Mexico#Gender identity and expression.) She studied social anthropology at the

University of Veracruz Universidad Veracruzana (Spanish for ''University of Veracruz'') is a public autonomous university located in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Established in 1944, the university is one of the most important in the southeast region of México. It ...

between 2011 and 2016. Her undergraduate thesis was titled ''Guendaranaxhii: the Muxe community of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the emotional erotic relations''.

Activism

At the age of 25, she gained international prominence as a candidate for the México Posible party in the 2003 elections to the Federal Congress. Her broad platform included calls for the decriminalization of marijuana and abortion. Regalado did not win a seat.

Recognition

The

Escuela Amaranta Gómez Regalado Escuela Amaranta Gómez Regalado or Amaranta School is a private school in Santiago, Chile for transgender students from 6 to 17 years old. It is named for Amaranta Gómez Regalado, a transgender Mexican politician, and is the first primarily trans ...

in Santiago, Chile is named for her.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez Regalado, Amaranta 1977 births Living people Politicians from Oaxaca LGBT rights activists from Mexico Transgender politicians Transgender women Indigenous leaders of the Americas 21st-century Mexican women politicians 21st-century Mexican politicians Indigenous people of South America LGBT politicians from Mexico Zapotec people Muxe people Mexican anthropologists Mexican women anthropologists Mexican amputees Indigenous Mexican women Women civil rights activists 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native Americans 21st-century LGBT people Scientists with disabilities