Escuela Amaranta Gómez Regalado or Amaranta School is a private school in

Santiago, Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

for

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

students from 6 to 17 years old. It is named for Amaranta Gómez Regalado, a transgender Mexican politician, and is the first primarily transgender school in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

, possibly the world. First proposed in December 2017, the school was opened in April 2018 by Ximena Matura, the school coordinator, and Evelyn Silva, its head, who is the president of the Selenna Foundation, a trans rights organization. Housed in space in a community center donated by the community of

Ñuñoa Ñuñoa (; from Mapudungun ''Ñuñohue'', "place of yellow flowers") is a communes of Chile, commune located in the Northeastern zone of Santiago, northeastern sector of Santiago de Chile, Santiago, the capital of Chile. Bordered by Providencia, C ...

, enrollment is 38, 22 or 23 trans-identifying and the remainder mostly friends and relatives. The students report having been bullied, and most had previously dropped out of school. Chile bans the teaching or discussion of "

gender ideology The anti-gender movement is a global phenomenon that opposes concepts often referred to as "gender ideology" or "gender theory". These loosely-defined terms are commonly used by the movement to critique a range of issues related to gender equ ...

" in state-funded schools, but the country passed a gender identity law allowing those 14 or older to change the gender on their identity documents, with parental permission required for those under 18. The school has two classrooms, for students under 12 and for those aged 12 to 17. , teachers were working without pay, and Maturano and Silva paid all other costs for the first year, but monthly fees were proposed to begin in March. A summer program started in 2019 had 20 participants, 8 not previously enrolled, and the school hopes to win a competition grant of $20,000 from an international trans fund in order to expand. Students must take tests provided by the Ministry of Education to certify that they have passed a grade level. The school is named for Amaranta Gómez Regalado, a Zapotec Mexican trans activist and politician who identifies as a ''

muxe In Juchitán de Zaragoza, a Zapotec culture of Oaxaca (southeastern Mexico), a muxe (also spelled muxhe; ) is a person assigned male at birth who adopts aspects of feminine gender roles, including dress, behavior, and social standing. The ex ...

''. It is nicknamed ''les niñes'', the Spanish gender-neutral form of "the children".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Escuela Amaranta Gomez Regalado Transgender topics in South America LGBTQ and education Educational institutions established in 2018 Schools in Santiago, Chile 2018 establishments in Chile Private schools in Chile