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Photos and text: Esteban Marchand.

Trans actress Javiera Arnillas Cartagena publicly denounced through social media that a Smart Fit gym refused to recognize her gender identity and register her with her self-perceived name: it happened on Monday at the San Miguel location, when she and her boyfriend went to register to start training together there.

“When I was about to close the contract, before giving them my ID, I asked if I could use a different name than the one on the document, and they told me I couldn't. They said it very firmly, and since everyone was in a hurry, I didn't say anything else. I got angry and left,” the star of the film “Without a Vagina, They Marginalize Me”

READ ALSO Peru: LGBTQ+ series and videos on the Internet fight against transphobia

The response was so harsh that Javiera initially stayed and even considered signing up anyway. But then she thought better of it and left. “I don’t understand what they find so hard to understand; it’s a total lack of empathy for their future clients. I felt mistreated, disrespected… It wouldn’t have cost them anything to do it, given that it’s a private entity,” lamented Arnillas, who had already suffered other transphobic attacks, such as two years ago when a nightclub in Miraflores told her to stand in the men’s line.

On social media, Javiera Arnillas' complaint was harshly criticized, with some pointing out that Smart Fit only complied with the established rules and that if Javiera wanted to use her chosen name, she should have changed her name.

In Peru, transgender people—besides being one of the most vulnerable populations—have no law recognizing their right to gender identity, so they cannot demand to be called by their self-perceived gender. They must change their national identity document (DNI), a process that takes a lot of time and money. Javiera explains that she is already in the process of changing her name on her DNI.

“It’s an opportunity for the company to be inclusive of the LGBTI community.”

“Private companies located in countries where there are no policies in favor of the LGBTIQ population must take the initiative and implement them,” says Enrique Torre Molina, an activist and consultant on LGBT issues in Latin America. He analyzes that “if this episode of discrimination was an individual's mistake, the company has to correct it and ensure that something like this doesn't happen again. And if what happened is an example of a company policy, or a lack of a non-discrimination policy, this is an opportunity to align itself with other international companies in Latin America—Smart Fit is a company with a presence in several countries in the region—that are publicly and officially inclusive of LGBTI people.”

According to Torre Molina, “if the company has the opportunity to provide better service to a trans person, why not modify the internal regulations? Instead of limiting themselves to what the law dictates, why not do something good, make that person feel more included?”

“I’m not doing this just for myself, but for other trans girls.”

“I’m not doing this just for myself. I’m doing it for other trans girls who might find themselves in a similar situation, so they don’t have to go through all of this. People just need to have a little empathy for us, since the names on our documents don’t represent us.”

After posting her video on her Facebook account, Javiera Arnillas received a phone apology from a Smart Fit representative. “I hope they can implement better inclusion policies that support gender diversity and sexual identity.”