Zuliana Alejandra Araya Gutiérrez (born August 13, 1964) is a Chilean

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and

transgender rights activist The transgender rights movement is a movement to promote the legal status of transgender people and to eliminate transgender inequality, discrimination and List of unlawfully killed transgender people, violence against transgender people regardi ...

. She has served as a

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

city council, and president of the Afrodita union. She is Chile's first trans city council member.

History

Araya's political career began in 2001 when she assumed the regional presidency and a founder of the Afrodita union, the first transgender union group in Chile. She ran for Valparaíso city council for the first time in 2004. She is a member of the Party for Democracy (PPD). Araya was elected in 2012, for the term period of 2012 to 2016; and then she was elected for a second time in 2016, for the term period 2016 to 2020. In July 2012, she legally changed her name to "Zuliana Araya". In December 2019, she was able to have sex reassignment surgery, due to a new .

References

External links

* 1964 births Living people Chilean political people Transgender politicians People from Valparaíso Chilean LGBT rights activists Party for Democracy (Chile) politicians {{Chile-politician-stub