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By Juliana Quintana 

Photos: Jess Insfrán Pérez

Trans activists Yren Rotela and Mariana Sepúlveda, after a two-year wait, won the first judicial instance in the process of changing the name on the Paraguayan identity card.

“The victory in the first instance is an important step in our demands, but our documents still list our male names,” Yren Rotela told Presentes. The request was limited to a name change, as Paraguay does not yet have a gender identity law.

[READ ALSO: Paraguay: They tried to murder a trans woman with metal rods]

In December 2016, both Yren and Mariana initiated legal proceedings to change their names. In 2017, Yren became the first transgender woman to obtain Supreme Court approval to change her name on her identity card. Last year, Civil and Commercial Judge Karen González ruled in favor of Mariana's petition, obtaining a court order to change her name.

However, the prosecution took steps to block the petitioner's request. “My petition took a little longer because they asked me for a forensic psychological report from the Palace. After the ordeal I went through, the report came back in my favor. The Court decided to grant my request, but the prosecution immediately appealed, just as they did with Yren's petition, and it went to the Court of Appeals,” Mariana explained.

“Ridiculous names”

The Prosecutor's Office ruled that the lawsuit should be dismissed because they believe just cause has not been established. Arguing that "it is prohibited to assign people ridiculous names or names that could create confusion about their sex," as stated in Article 56 of Law 1.266/1987, Judges Giuseppe Fossati, Eusebio Melgarejo, and Raúl Gómez Frutos submitted a brief to the Supreme Court, arguing that the law violated two articles and questioning its applicability to the case brought by the trans activists. As of now, the Court has not issued a ruling on this matter.

“I think there are more fundamentalist people in the prosecutor’s office because for any heterosexual or cisgender person, a name change is just an administrative procedure. We, on the other hand, can’t do that. That’s where you see the discrimination that trans people suffer. I always say that there isn’t a list of female and male names, only a society that labels them as such,” Mariana said.

From Panambi, activists plan to launch another call for trans people to participate in a workshop about the procedure and implications of changing their name on their identity card. Last year, they began receiving phone calls from trans women requesting assistance with the name change process. The goal is to reach 50 cases so that, one by one, they can begin the necessary procedures.

[READ ALSO: Four stories of everyday LGBTphobia and resistance in Paraguay]

“Their argument is that they can’t give me a female name since I’m male, but that’s absurd. Nobody here is asking for a sex change. We have the right to request a change of name, and they’re just passing the buck. They told us the process could take up to five years,” Mariana said, adding that all the paperwork was done in accordance with the laws and the national Constitution.

In addition, Yren left a note at the Presidential Palace regarding the launch of the 2018 report on violence against transgender people, which Panambi will present at the Gran Hotel del Paraguay on June 18. “We are urging all authorities, including the President of the Republic, to help us bring this issue to light,” Yren stated.