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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. As a child, when she played with her friends, Carla imagined herself as a school principal. She dreamed of holding that position. After 28 years in public education, starting this week, Carla is fulfilling her dream at School No. 79 “República del Paraguay” in Tiro Suizo, in the southern part of Rosario (Santa Fe province). And today, she is the first transgender principal in the country.

Carla Valeria Rivero assumed the position through a license that is renewed monthly, and she will be able to access it through a competitive process. She has already made all the Comprehensive Sex Education for teachers to use in their classes, but also for them to consult when needed. After reading the comments on social media following a news article about her a few days ago, she realized that there is still a long way to go.

“There is still an inquisitorial, accusatory gaze. Because it is still frowned upon and because there is a kind of indirect accusation despite many advances,” Carla tells Agencia Presentes from the school she directs, minutes before leaving for a demonstration.

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Teaching and transition

Carla has been a teacher for 28 years. She graduated in 1996 and began teaching the following year at a school in Villa Gobernador Gálvez as a math teacher. It was there that her transition began. She identified as Carla, but her official documents still listed the name she was given at birth. "Imagine, they couldn't call me Carlos because I already had huge breasts, so they started calling me Carli," she laughs.

“Carli remained for many years until the Gender Identity Law came along. That's when I was able to give legal recognition to the character I had created, but only in 2012. Many years had passed, it wasn't that fast,” the teacher explains.

“Without a gender identity law, everything remained within a personal framework. We didn't have our names; it was a ghost. We had no legal standing, and we had no way to call ourselves. I was always Carla Valeria, but for the system, I didn't exist; I was Carlos Alberto. It was the community where I transitioned that gave me the possibility of feeling comfortable. In that school where I worked for 20 years, I built a bit of the essence of who I am,” she adds.

Carla says it's crucial to talk about Comprehensive Sexuality Education to avoid backsliding on the rights that the trans community has gained in recent decades. "It helps trans children and teenagers a lot. Twenty-five years ago, this wasn't even conceivable," she says .

Carla recounts that when she transitioned, comprehensive sex education (CSE) didn't exist, and she was cautious when speaking with students. “Twenty years ago, we had to be careful; everything could be misinterpreted. The conversations were personal, not academic, which is why I insist on the implementation of that law. Back then, to talk about sex education, we had to ask for parental permission. And classes were limited to genitalia and the reproductive system.”

The first trans teacher in the 90s

When she started teaching in the late 1990s, Carla made headlines. 

Several newspaper articles highlighted that she was the first trans teacher. She remembers those years as "a time of many struggles." In the country, there were only three trans people working as teachers. And in Santa Fe, there were only three trans people with formal employment: a friend of Carla's in the health sector, another acquaintance in the security forces, and herself in education. 

In 2015, she was transferred to the main school, No. 53, "Ramón F. García," in the city of Esquina, Corrientes. There, she encountered mistreatment by the principal. "I felt the discrimination personally and as an accusation."

During a third-grade parents' meeting, the woman referred to Carla in a derogatory and discriminatory manner. The comment was recorded by a student's mother, who was then able to file a complaint with INADI (National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism).

“We’ve come a long way. But for trans people, it’s still difficult to inhabit all the social spaces that any other citizen can. In the 90s, even though the military dictatorship had ended, we couldn’t sit in a bar. We couldn’t go dancing wherever we wanted. There were a lot of questions from social and political circles, and from the security forces who would arrest us. Today, seeing myself in a place like this, after so many years, makes me happy.”

The focus: ensuring education

Upon her return to Rosario in 2021, Carla found some doors open, including the opportunity to coordinate the trans high school in Rosario. “It’s a space we inhabit and build based on love and tenderness.” This work, she says, helped her to establish herself within the school and never lose sight of the objective: guaranteeing education for children, adolescents, and adults.

“That’s the whole point. And that’s what I’m going to focus on: guaranteeing education. With everything that entails, with all the shortcomings of the education system, which is quite old and outdated. It needs updating. The public schools that we love so much, that we support so much, are falling apart. There’s little investment, and the infrastructure is sometimes precarious. We teachers keep the schools going. And how do we keep them going? With love. It’s the only way.”

Carla renews her position as director every month, a role she can easily attain thanks to her experience at the school. During this time, she emphasizes that the main priority is to integrate comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) into the school curriculum and actively participate in reducing violence against sexual minorities.

ESI is about working with care and affection

The teacher states that, once she became director, it was impossible for her not to look back on her career, as well as on society and especially on the field of education.

“Paradigm shifts are cultural. There are still people who think we are degenerate, that it’s anti-biological. Changing that perspective is difficult . But we are taking steps until the moment arrives when everything is transformed,” Carla reflects.

“Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) isn't about talking about the male or female reproductive system. CSE is about working on body care, prevention, and affection. It must be integrated across all areas of education. Because a trans person within a public institution is facing a lot of resistance . Education is the only way to eradicate all this hatred and violence.”

Pride and freedom

From a very young age she wanted to be a teacher, but also a priest. “I had a priest’s habit and I would say Mass. When they wanted to take me to the seminary, I think I was 11 years old, my mother objected. And to this day I am grateful to her,” she says, laughing.

“I don’t question anything related to faith; I have a different perspective on the Church. I am a believer, but there are things I question about the institution,” he states.

She grew up surrounded by paperwork because her mother worked in an office. “I have a mother who never questioned me. A very good woman who only went to the third grade but had the vision to let me be free. I'm always grateful for that,” she adds. “I'm an open, very free person. Some trans people are bothered by talking about their past or don't like to say the name they had. I don't have a problem with those things, and I bring it up because I've always experienced it from a place of happiness. I've lived through all my stages with happiness and pride. Because if I have to describe what my life was like before I was trans, I was a happy person, and the same goes for my life after I was trans.”