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By Vero Ferrari

Gahela Tseneg is 26 years old, a law graduate, and a trans activist and member of the New Peru Movement. She belongs to Femucarinap, the federation that brings together peasant, artisan, Indigenous, native, and wage-earning women in Peru. But her strength doesn't prevent her from experiencing devastating situations. On March 15, she reported being a victim of discrimination at Jorge Chávez International Airport. “They told me I wasn't the young man listed on my ID and tried to prevent me from boarding the flight. According to them, I was trying to pass myself off as someone else,” Gahela told Presentes.

That airport was already temporarily closed on February 25th due to another case of discrimination against Antonio Gálvez, who has initiated legal proceedings against the terminal's operating company, Lima Airport Partners, and against the airline Latam, for not providing him with assistance.

[READ ALSO: Peruvian salsa band denounced for homophobic taunts]

The day before, she had also been prevented from boarding because her boarding pass was under her chosen name, not her legal name. She had to change it and return the next day: “They asked me to go downstairs to correct the boarding pass because it said Gahela and my ID says Guillermo. However, when I went downstairs, Latam not only continued to act racist and transphobic towards me, but they also didn't resolve anything for me that day and tried to sell me another ticket, and I didn't have any money,” she added.

A law that never arrives 

On December 15, 2016, the gender identity bill was introduced in Congress with the aim of addressing years of historical neglect and the negative impact on the lives of thousands of transgender people in Peru who are not recognized as citizens and cannot fully exercise their rights. The legislative initiative has not yet been debated, not even in committee.

“We are sending letters to Lima Airport Partners and Latam requesting explanations regarding these events, as well as to the Ombudsman's Office. Faced with situations like this, it becomes even more crucial to begin debating and approving the gender identity bill, which has been under consideration for over two years. We hope it will be debated this year, especially given the favorable opinions expressed by the Ministry of Justice, the Ombudsman's Office, the Ministry of Women, and the Judiciary,” Congresswoman Marisa Glave, the bill's sponsor, told Presentes.

[READ ALSO: 2018: The trans population, the main victims of violence in Peru]

On March 7 of this year, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and the National Commission against Discrimination presented a “Report on the situation of trans people in Peru” and among its conclusions they indicate that the National Registry of Identification and Civil Status must simplify the administrative process so that trans people can have an identity document that represents them and thus eradicate the multiple forms of discrimination.

Currently, to obtain an ID card with their chosen name, trans people have to resort to cumbersome, lengthy, and costly legal processes that further violate their rights, considering that a large part of the trans population lives in poverty and extreme poverty, in precarious conditions, with little access to education, health, and housing, and performing jobs that put their lives at risk.

Gender training

Leyla Huerta, director of the organization Féminas, told Presentes about the need for training programs in companies to include the gender variable: “It is definitely necessary to address the issue of gender in these training programs; they work with people, and gender should be included so that these types of situations do not occur, because many do not understand the complexity of trans people in the legal sphere; it is not just a social issue.”

Gahela tells us that she has also missed her flight back to Lima; she was supposed to go to the Pucallpa airport at 7 a.m. today: “I think deep down I’m afraid of going through the same thing again; everything that happened has hit me hard.”