Black and white photo of Amelio Robles Ávila, a Mexican man wearing a top hat that covers his hair, a button up and tie, and an open jacket. His left hand sits on the holstered gun at his hip and his right holds a lit cigarette while resting on a chair. He has a stern expression.
Amelio Robles Ávila was an interesting man, but not one that would usually find himself written so largely into the history books. He joined the Mexican Revolution in either 1911 or 1912 and had a successful career as a colonel in the army throughout the revolution. He would be decorated for his service after it was complete, and then settled with his wife in a small town and lived in relative quiet. What draws so many eyes to his story, in particular, is one facet: he was assigned female at birth.
Born on November 3, 1889, in Xochipala, Guerrero, his family was wealthy, and he had a decent amount of privilege because of this. With this privilege in part, he gravitated towards more traditionally masculine tasks, including taming and riding horses, and the upkeep and use of weapons. His family owned a factory as well as a significant amount of land, and he could have easily lived in relative ease for much of his life if he so chose. As he was assigned female at birth, he was not expected to join the revolutionary army when they came to town, but he made the active choice to.
Amelio initially presented as feminine, as it was not unheard of for women to play a role in the revolutionary army. Some assigned female at birth Zapatistas disguised themselves as men and some women followed the army as support for the Zapatistas. Amelio decided to socially transition and began identifying as a man soon into his time with the Zapatistas. It is well documented that when in the supporting role, women would often experience abuse from the soldiers and dismissal for their work in pushing forward the revolution. There were good reasons for him to donne on masculinity as a way to protect himself from harm in the army, but in looking at the whole of his life, it is fairly clear that he identified as a man.
During his time in the army, he was in many ways the ideal of masculinity at the time. Drinking alcohol, sleeping with women, riding horses, and shooting very well. He was said to have used that last talent a number of times when people questioned his gender, threatening to shoot anyone who suggested he was anything but a man. Rising to the rank of a colonel and having men under his charge, he was mostly well-regarded and respected from all indications. Eventually, in 1924, Amelio had to leave the army because he was shot.
He settled down in a small town and in 1930 married Ángela Torres. As same-sex marriage was not allowed in Mexico at the time this is a clear and legal indicator that people still overwhelmingly saw and accepted Amelio as a man. This was not an accident. There was a forged birth certificate to prove his gender, as well as a pistol to threaten anyone who questioned his gender. After one incident where men attacked him trying to find his assigned sex at birth, leading to him settling in another town, there was little fuss over this reality. While some people knew about the fact he was transgender, most didn’t. He and his wife would adopt a daughter and he would live until eighty-four, dying as a man.
It was not just his local community that accepted his gender. Because of Amelio’s army friends who had become high-ranking officials in the government, everything there went fairly smoothly as well. He was federally and legally recognized as a man long before that was seen as an achievable possibility for transgender people. Being given awards for his military service, as well as having the Mexican Secretary of National Defense recognize Robles as a veteran in the 1970s, he had security in his identity that transgender people today could envy. Some of this was due to privilege, and a lot of it was due to connections, but none of it was accidental. There were people who identified as women, who after their service in the revolution, removed their male disguises and went on to live long fulfilling lives as women. It was an acceptable possibility for him, and he did not choose it.
It was only after Amelio’s death that his identity began to be retroactively questioned. Assigning modern understandings of gender to him, feminists looked at Amelio’s story as one of a woman who fought in the Mexican Revolution, and proof that women were a part of the revolutionary movement. In an attempt to gain suffrage, they ignored the reality of his life and redrew (often literally, as he was drawn often riding sidesaddle with long hair wearing a dress) him as a woman who fought the patriarchy. In reality, he was a man. Up until his dying day, he identified as a man. While there is a myth that on his deathbed he asked to be buried in women’s clothes, this is unlikely as he lost the ability to speak in the year leading up to his death in 1984.
This is not a new concept. In an attempt to support their (legitimate and important) belief system, feminists have overstepped their boundaries and rewritten transgender men into women. People who fought their entire life to be recognized under one name and one gender, are said to be something entirely different as soon as they are buried. In Amelio’s case, a museum was founded for him under his birth name, using feminine grammar to describe him. If he was still alive for this, he would likely have stopped the whole charade rather quickly, but in death, he has no ability to do so. It is only in recent years that the transgender community of Mexico has been able to reclaim and uplift the reality of his story.
Feminism as a movement, as a group of flawed individuals pushing forward an important reality, has done harm to the queer community. Both in this story and in others. Whether intentional or not, feminists have not always been the allies the queer community needs. Especially in regard to the transgender community. It is difficult when two groups have similar aims, to unpick and untangle the times when goals get twisted. Still, it is possible, and a worthwhile effort to take that time, to be careful, and to keep the intersectionality in mind when moving forward. Both communities are made richer for it, and it is through this, through looking at the truth with an open mind to all possibilities, that growth happens.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
Disclaimer: Some of the sources may contain triggering material
Amelio Robles Ávila. (n.d.). Legacy Project Chicago. Retrieved August 27, 2023, from https://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/amelio-robles-avila
Cano, G. (2020). Gender and Transgender in the Mexican Revolution: The Shifting Memory of Amelio Robles. Women Warriors and National Heroes. https://www.academia.edu/50133287/Gender_and_Transgender_in_the_Mexican_Revolution_The_Shifting_Memory_of_Amelio_Robles
Losser, S. (2023, April 26). Long after the Revolution’s end, a trans soldier fought for recognition. Mexico News Daily. https://mexiconewsdaily.com/culture/long-after-revolutions-end-trans-soldier-foght-for-recognition/
Rose, S. (2022, October 14). Amelio Robles Ávila: Transgender Fighter In Mexican Revolution. Blurred Bylines | Freelance SEO & Long-Form Stories. https://blurredbylines.com/articles/amelio-robles-avila-transgender-mexican-revolution/
The Little-Known History of Amelio Robles, a Trans Zapatista Who Fought in Mexico’s Revolution. (n.d.). Remezcla. Retrieved August 27, 2023, from https://remezcla.com/features/culture/little-known-history-amelio-robles-trans-zapatista-fought-mexicos-revolution/
Velazquez, A. (2018, September 20). Amelio Robles Ávila, Trans Legend of the Mexican Revolution. INTO. https://www.intomore.com/culture/amelio-robles-avila-trans-legend-of-the-mexican-revolution/