Tamara Adrián (born 20 February 1954, in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

) is a

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n politician, who was elected to the

National Assembly of Venezuela The National Assembly ( es, Asamblea Nacional) is the legislature for Venezuela that was first elected in 2000. It is a unicameral body made up of a variable number of members, who were elected by a "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vo ...

in the

2015 Venezuelan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Venezuela on 6 December 2015 to elect the 164 deputies and three indigenous representatives of the National Assembly. They were the fourth parliamentary elections to take place after the 1999 constitution, ...

."Tamara Adrián se convierte en la primera diputada transgénero en la historia de Venezuela"
. ''Noticia Al Día'', December 7, 2015. She is noted as the first

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

person elected to office in Venezuela, and only the second transgender member of a national legislature in the Western Hemisphere."Venezuela Elects First Transgender Congresswoman in the Americas"
. '' Out'', December 7, 2015. Some early media coverage credited her as the first transgender member of a legislature in the Americas, but this was later corrected due to the election of

Michelle Suárez Bértora Michelle Suárez Bértora (21 February 1983 – 22 April 2022) was a Uruguayan activist, lawyer, lecturer, politician, and writer. She was Uruguay's first transgender university graduate, first trans lawyer, and first transgender person electe ...

to the

Senate of Uruguay The Chamber of Senators of Uruguay (''Cámara de Senadores de Uruguay''), or Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly of Uruguay (''Asamblea General del Uruguay''). It has 30 members, elected for a five-year term by proportional repr ...

in 2014. She is a member of the

Popular Will Popular Will ( es, Voluntad Popular, abbr. VP) is a political party in Venezuela founded by former Mayor of Chacao, Leopoldo López, who is its national co-ordinator. The party describes itself as progressive and social-democratic and was ad ...

party, one of the forces in opposition to the

PSUV The United Socialist Party of Venezuela ( es, Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, PSUV) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left Socialism, socialist political party which has been the ruling party of Venezuela since ...

-led government of

Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and president of Venezuela since 2013, with his presidency under dispute since 2019. Beginning his working life as a bus driver, Maduro rose to become a trade unio ...

. Within this party, she organized a social movement called Pro-Inclusion, aiming at promoting equal rights. She took her

oath of office An oath of office is an oath or affirmation a person takes before assuming the duties of an office, usually a position in government or within a religious body, although such oaths are sometimes required of officers of other organizations. Such ...

at the

on January 14, 2015. During her term in office, Adrián intends to promote proper access to

public records Public records are documents or pieces of information that are not considered confidential and generally pertain to the conduct of government. For example, in California, when a couple fills out a marriage license application, they have the optio ...

on identity,

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

and

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

Biography

Tamara graduated from

Andrés Bello Catholic University Andrés Bello Catholic University also known in Spanish as Universidad Católica Andrés Bello is a private university in Venezuela. One of the largest universities in Venezuela, UCAB has campuses in several cities, such as Caracas (where the mai ...

in 1976. She then went on to obtain her doctorate in law with high honors from

University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in 1982. She also earned a diploma in comparative law from the

Paris Institute of Comparative Law The Paris Institute of Comparative Law ( French: ''Institut de droit comparé de Paris'', commonly referred to as "IDC") is a public institution of research and higher education which was founded in 1931 by Henri Capitant and Henri Lévy-Ullmann. ...

in 1982. In 2016, Adrián completed Harvard University's

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government as a

David Bohnett David C. Bohnett (born April 2, 1956) is an American philanthropist and technology entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of the David Bohnett Foundation, a non-profit, grant-making organization devoted to improving society through social ...

LGBTQ Victory Institute Leadership Fellow. Prior to her election to the Venezuelan legislature, Adrián worked as a lawyer and

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

activist,"Venezuela's first transgender candidate Tamara Adrián to run for Congress"
. ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'', August 8, 2015. including serving on the board of the

International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) is an organization who is committed to advancing human rights to all people, disregarding gender identity, sex characteristics and expression. ILGA participates in a ...

and the organizing committee of the

International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Lesbophobia and Transphobia is observed on May 17 and aims to coordinate international events that raise awareness of LGBT rights violations and stimulate interest in LGBT rights work worldwide. By ...

. She was forced to register her candidacy under her deadname, as Venezuelan law does not currently permit a person that was

assigned male at birth Sex assignment (sometimes known as gender assignment) is the discernment of an infant's sex at or before birth. A relative, midwife, nurse or physician inspects the external genitalia when the baby is delivered and, in more than 99.95% of birt ...

to legally change their name to a female name. In 2002, she underwent

gender reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and alle ...

in Thailand. In 2004, she submitted an appeal to the

Supreme Court of Justice A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

to have her identity legally recognized; as of 2016, it still had not been granted. Tamara Adrián believes that the stigma and discrimination surrounding the transgender community stimulates poverty,

marginalization Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. It is used across discipline ...

, and violence against them. To her, these problems are unacceptable under international laws of human rights. She was motivated to take a role in her government in response to political activists being arrested in Venezuela. In 2014, there were nationwide protests regarding the democratic and economic conditions of the time. In response to these protests, President

ordered for the arrest of political protesters. According to

Foro Penal Foro Penal () is a Venezuelan human rights organization that provides legal assistance ''pro bono'' to people subject of arbitrary detentions and their relatives. The organization is composed of regional coordinators for each state in Venezuela, ...

, over 13,000 people have been arrested since 2014 because of protests relating to the Venezuelan government.

In popular culture

Before being elected as National Assembly deputy, Tamara was featured in the 2011 documentary film '' Yo, indocumentada'' along with two other Venezuelan transgender women that strive to change their legal name in the country. The 2016 film ''Tamara'' was partly inspired in her life. Tamara made a cameo in the film with the role of a university rector.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adrian, Tamara Members of the National Assembly (Venezuela) Transgender politicians Popular Will politicians Venezuelan LGBT rights activists Venezuelan LGBT politicians Living people Transgender women 1954 births Politicians from Caracas Venezuelan women lawyers Andrés Bello Catholic University alumni Venezuelan women activists LGBT legislators 21st-century Venezuelan women politicians 21st-century Venezuelan politicians

Biography

In popular culture

See also

References