Mar García, GPJ Mexico
Victoria García, left, Laura Glover, center, and Sofía Altagracia, right, talk during their meeting at Pushkin Garden. From Friday to Sunday, the trans women who are part of Mariposas Negras gather here to sell products and raise funds.
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO — “Sitting on the ground is something I associate with this place. I like the ground here,” says Sofía Altagracia, a young trans woman who works as a makeup artist and wears fluorescent green fishnet tights adorned with rhinestones. Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoon is the same: She arrives at Pushkin Garden, a public square in downtown Mexico City, and sells makeup, clothing and accessories in a bazaar that trans women created and organized.
The bazaar was formed to ease the economic challenges that the trans-feminine community faced after the coronavirus pandemic. Now, it’s become a safe space for diverse trans women to find solidarity with others who have experienced violence due to their identity.
“We are women against the ropes, from outside the cities, migrants and even a companion with a disability, women who have been imprisoned,” says Laura Glover, an activist and “streetwalking hooker,” as she refers to herself, with long red hair. She’s behind the group that organizes the bazaar, Mariposas Negras, which translates to “black butterflies.”
For Glover and the other 15 members of the group, the bazaar is a historic achievement: It represents the opportunity to make a public space theirs, where they can exist and acknowledge themselves without being judged. “Being with trans women [gives me] peace of mind because you know no one is going to crack any jokes about you. I feel assured,” Altagracia says. “The fact that we come here, all of us putting ourselves here, makes it a certain kind of community. As long as I’m with trans women, I feel freer because, to begin with, they’re all like you.”
Trans women are the most likely demographic to be refused employment, be attacked and receive unequal treatment in the workplace, according to government data. Mexico has the second-highest number of murders of trans and gender-diverse people in the world, according to Transgender Europe, a network of organizations working to achieve a life free of discrimination for trans people and their families.
The community offers Mariposas Negras members a break from a generally hostile environment, motivated by their identity or their labor. Like Glover, other members of the group are sex workers, an activity that, although legal in Mexico, is subject to abuse.
According to a 2021 survey conducted by the city’s Council to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination, 79% of people who do sex work have suffered some type of violence or discrimination from police, and 77% of trans women have experienced violence or discrimination while practicing sex work in the street. The Secretariat of Citizen Security, a government agency, did not respond to a request for comment for this article.
At the bazaar, trans women spend time and eat together. They feel safe, in a family. They have gotten so close that they pay the bills of a house in Mexico City together. The house belongs to one of the members and serves as a shelter for trans women in need.
“We created our own world. So at least in this small ecosystem, in what we are creating, we’re alleviating a lot of things,” Glover says. “Out there, we’re never going to be recognized [as] women. And here, we are.”
