Sandra Cecilia Álvarez Monsalve (born May 30, 1967) is an

Ecuadorian Ecuadorians () are people identified with the South American country of Ecuador. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Ecuadorians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source o ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and

LGBT rights activist A list of notable LGBTQ social movements, LGBTQ rights activists who have worked to advance LGBTQ rights by political change, legal action or publication. Ordered by country, alphabetically. Albania * Xheni Karaj, founder of Aleanca LGBT org ...

. She founded the Ecuadorian Organization of Lesbian Women, one of the country's first

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

organizations. In the 2009 legislative elections, Álvarez became the alternate assembly member for Paco Velasco, making her the first openly LGBT person to hold an elected position in Ecuador’s National Assembly. In 2016, she received the Patricio Brabomalo Award from the

Municipality of Quito Quito, officially the Metropolitan District of Quito (), is a canton in the province of Pichincha, Ecuador. Governance The Municipality of Quito (officially the Municipality of the Metropolitan District of Quito) is the governing body of the ...

for her contributions to LGBT rights.

Early life and education

Álvarez Monsalve was born on May 30, 1967, in

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

. She did her secondary studies in a

religious school A religious school is a school that either has a religious component in its operations or its curriculum, or exists primarily for the purpose of teaching aspects of a particular religion. For children A 2002 study in the United States found highe ...

, from which she was expelled in her fifth year when she was accused of being a lesbian. She later earned a degree in social communication from the

Central University of Ecuador The Central University of Ecuador () is a national university located in Quito, Ecuador. It is the oldest and largest university in the country, and one of the oldest universities in the Americas. The enrollment at the university is over 10,000 ...

Career and activism

In 2000, Álvarez Monsalve joined the feminist organization Coordinadora Política de Mujeres Ecuatorianas to work as a social communicator, which marked her beginning as a feminist activist. When the Coordinator initiated an election for a leadership position in the organization, Álvarez ran and was elected. However, she suffered homophobic

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

by other members of the organization due to her

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...

, including accusations of

harassment Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and ...

, and the fact that her partner joined the same organization to work as an

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...

. After this experience, Álvarez Monsalve decided to create an organization that focused on defending the rights of lesbian women and helped make them visible, so, together with her partner,

Janneth Peña Janneth Peña López (born c. 1961) is an Ecuadorian LGBTQ rights activist. She is considered one of the pioneers of lesbian activism in Cuenca, and in 2011 was the first LGBTQ person in Ecuador to obtain a widow's pension for the death of her sam ...

, and other women, she founded in June 2002 the Ecuadorian Organization of Lesbian Women (OEML), which became one of the first lesbian organizations in the country. The OEML obtained its legal personality in April 2003 and since then, Álvarez has remained as executive director of the organization. During the operation of the Constituent Assembly of Ecuador of 2007 and 2008, Álvarez was present in the process of preparing the constitutional text, as coordinator of the group of

women's organizations This is a list of women's organization by civics International * All India Democratic Women's Association – founded in 1981 to achieve women's emancipation in India Yes Helping Hand– Founded in 2009 for empowerment and employment of Women, D ...

that had brought recommendations for the article. Years later, Álvarez Monsalve said that the Assembly did not meet the expectations of women's and LGBT groups for trying not to make religious groups uncomfortable. For the 2009 legislative elections, she was elected alternate assemblyman of legislator Paco Velasco representing

Pichincha Province Pichincha () is a province of Ecuador located in the northern Sierra region; its capital and largest city is Quito. It is bordered by Imbabura and Esmeraldas to the north, Cotopaxi and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas to the south, Napo and ...

, which made her the first openly LGBT person to be elected to a position in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

in the history of Ecuador.

Personal life

Despite early suspicions of her own sexuality, when she was younger, Álvarez believed herself to be heterosexual. It was at age 20 that she first accepted her sexuality and came out as a lesbian to others. In 1993, she began a relationship with

. After maintaining a

long-distance relationship Partners in LDRs typically use frequent telecommunications to maintain their relationship A long-distance relationship (LDR) or long-distance romantic relationship is an intimate relationship between partners who are geographically separated fro ...

for several years, she moved to

Cuenca Cuenca may refer to: People * Cuenca (surname) Places Ecuador * Cuenca Canton, in the Azuay Province ** Cuenca, Ecuador, capital of Cuenca Canton and Azuay Province ** Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cuenca Peru * Cuenca District, Huarochirí ...

with her. In 1997, Peña's family discovered their relationship and violently assaulted them in a

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

attack. When they attempted to report the incident, police nearly arrested them, as

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

was still a crime in Ecuador at the time. Eventually, she moved with Peña to Quito.

Recognition

On June 20, 2016, the Municipality of Quito named her the winner of that year's edition of the Patricio Brabomalo Award for her work in favor of the rights of LGBT populations.

References

Sources