“De volver a nacer, yo elegira ser travesti (If I could be born again, I would choose to be a travesti).” - Lohana Berkins

What does it mean to be travesti? This uniquely Latin American term defies simple translation into English, but its origins lie in the Spanish verb travestir, meaning "to cross-dress." While it shares some similarities with the term "transgender"—in this case referring to individuals assigned male at birth who embrace a feminine gender identity—travesti also holds many other distinct cultural and political connotations. Historically, the word was wielded as a slur, used to marginalize or dehumanize trans individuals and reinforce their social vulnerability and exclusion from fundamental rights. Over the past few decades, however, activists across countries like Peru, Brazil, and Argentina reclaimed travesti, transformed it into a term of pride and resistance, and adopted it as a rejection of colonial notions of the gender binary. Among these activists, Lohana Berkins emerged as a leader and trailblazer, championing the rights of travestis and transgender individuals in Argentina. Through her relentless activism, Berkins not only inspired significant legislative reforms within her home country, but also founded various institutions that continue to support the trans community today, cementing her legacy as a pioneering figure in the fight for social justice.

A member of the indigenous Kolla people, Lohana Berkins was born on June 15th, 1965, in Pocitos, a town in the Salta province of northern Argentina. Though her exact birth year is documented, she often playfully deflected questions about her age later in life, remarking with a touch of humor, "I would never tell you that. It’s coquetry." Growing up as one of thirteen children in her family, Berkins recounted in several interviews that from an early age, she inherently understood herself as a woman. As a child, she mainly gravitated toward playing with her sisters, and typically slept alongside them and her mother. At the age of thirteen, though, she began to experience a profound shift in her understanding of herself, recognizing that she was not a woman in the conventional sense but rather someone who was trans. Tragically, this realization coincided with a harrowing moment in her life. In 1978, her father, a former army soldier, forced her out of the family home—a devastating experience for anyone at such a young age.

After a brief period of wandering and uncertainty, Berkins arrived in Buenos Aires at the age of fourteen, seeking opportunities in Argentina’s capital and most populous city. There she found that her own experiences mirrored those of many travestis in Argentina, who, having been expelled from their homes at a young age, were often unable to complete a formal education. Facing this systemic discrimination that left only a small fraction of travestis with the ability to secure employment, Berkins, like many others, was forced into sex work as a means of survival. As a result, Berkins would become a vocal critic of framing sex work as legitimate work later on in her life. Drawing from her own personal experiences, she would argue that such a classification disregarded the harsh realities faced by those most marginalized and assert that “it is a job carried out by colleagues who cannot read or write and are beyond these debates, this denomination simply means opening the door to the most perverse forms of exploitation.”

For the next two decades, Berkins endured life on the streets, relying on sex work to survive before she was finally able to leave it fully behind in the year 2000. During this period, she frequently clashed with the police and endured persistent persecution. Over the years, she spent an estimated seven to nine years in prison—serving sentences ranging from weeks to months—simply for being a travesti. Despite these hardships, this tumultuous time also heralded a turning point in her activism. Through encounters with other activists from the Argentine Transvestite Association (ATA), Berkins joined the Argentine Association of Prostitutes and in 1994 started participating in the Pride March in Buenos Aires. These experiences, alongside the influence of prominent gay rights leader Carlos Jáuregui, helped solidify her understanding of the power of collective action and enabled her to recognize the importance of organizing around gender identity and advocating for the visibility and rights of the travesti community.

 Also in 1994, Berkins’ activist journey reached an early milestone when she founded the Asociación de Lucha por la Identidad Travesti y Transexual (ALITT, or  Association for the Fight for Travesti and Transsexual Identity), an organization she led for the remainder of her life. As she transitioned out of sex work, Berkins made history in 2000 as the first known travesti in Argentina to secure a civil service position, serving as a legislative advisor for the Communist Party in Buenos Aires. She later also worked as a legislative advisor under Buenos Aires deputy Diana Maffía, where she focused on human rights, women’s issues, and youth affairs. Berkins often used her platform to articulate the unique challenges faced by travestis. In one of Maffía’s printed publications, she wrote: “Unlike gays and lesbians, travestis do not have a choice regarding our visibility. We cannot choose not to tell our families what we are or want to be, we cannot choose when to come out of the closet.” She also emphasized the importance of collective action, stating elsewhere: “We must not accept our status as victims. I understand that we are victims of a system, that is why we must change the system–through a collective struggle because we share inequality and oppression.”

In 2001, Berkins also broke new ground by becoming the first travesti candidate for national deputy, boldly challenging Argentina’s traditional political norms. Representing the Communist Party, she advocated for greater inclusivity in politics, declaring that “the system has always excluded us, and we do not want to be included through the sensationalism of talk shows. We want to enter the system. Allowing people to vote for a travesti would be the healthiest thing that could happen to this stifled political landscape.” A year later, Berkins achieved another milestone when she enrolled in a teacher training and licensing program in Buenos Aires. Initially denied the right to register under her chosen name and gender identity, she filed a formal complaint with the Buenos Aires government—and won. The resulting directive required the institution to recognize her gender identity, setting a significant precedent for future trans individuals in Argentina. This victory not only allowed trans people to access education and employment opportunities while having their identities respected, but also marked an important step toward broader social and institutional recognition of trans rights.

 Several years later, Berkins further solidified her legacy as a trans rights trailblazer when she spearheaded the creation of the Nadia Echazú Textile Cooperative, the first cooperative school in Argentina managed by and for travestis and trans folk. Named in honor of fellow activist Nadia Echazú, the cooperative’s main focus was to provide vocational training and employment opportunities for travestis and to foster economic independence within the trans community. 

In 2009, Berkins played a pivotal role in the enactment of Law 3062, which mandated respect for the identities adopted by travestis and transgender people in Buenos Aires. This groundbreaking legislation became a cornerstone for the subsequent Gender Identity Law (Law 26.743) which was passed on May 9th, 2012. This national law was the first in the world to guarantee trans people the right to have their gender identity legally recognized and reflected in official documents without requiring medical or judicial approval. Furthermore, it required that all medical treatments related to gender transitioning be covered under Argentina’s Compulsory Medical Program. At the time, the passage of this Gender Identity Law positioned Argentina as a global leader in trans rights, marking a transformative moment in the fight for equality and setting a powerful precedent for the recognition and protection of gender diversity worldwide.

 As a result of her groundbreaking contributions to trans rights and social justice, Berkins began to garner more widespread recognition in the early 2010s. In 2011, she was honored with the Distinguished Human Rights Award by the Buenos Aires City Legislature. Two years later, she was appointed head of the Office of Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation, part of the Gender Observatory within the Justice System of the City of Buenos Aires. Berkins’ impact also extended beyond her legislative achievements and organizational leadership. She was both a prolific public speaker and writer, authoring numerous influential works including La gesta del nombre propio (co-authored with Josefina Fernandez), Cumbia, copeteo y lágrimas, and Escrituras, polimorfías e identidades. Additionally, she co-founded El Teje, the first Latin American newspaper dedicated to the travesti community.

 By the mid-2010s, Berkins remained active in her advocacy work despite facing significant health challenges, including a prolonged hospitalization in Buenos Aires’ Hospital Italiano in 2015. This led to her tragic and untimely death at the age of 51 on February 5th, 2016. Before her passing, Berkins penned a poignant final letter to her colleagues and fellow activists, issuing a heartfelt call to action: “The time for revolution is now, because we are never going to return to those prison cells. I am convinced that the engine of change is love. The love they denied us is now the drive that pushes us to change the world. All challenges and contempt that I suffered do not compare with the infinite love that surrounds me right now.” At Berkins’ funeral, a purple banner bearing the name of the Nadia Echazú Cooperative was draped behind her coffin. Meanwhile, amongst the many flowers at the event, a sign stood out that read “Thank you for your struggle.” 

Despite her premature departure from life, Berkins’ legacy continued to resonate. Five years later, Argentina passed the Diana Sacayán–Lohana Berkins Law, named in honor of Berkins and a fellow trans activist. The law mandates that at least 1% of positions and vacancies in the national public sector be reserved for trans individuals, and encourages the private sector to adopt similar measures. This milestone not only reflected Argentina’s ongoing commitment to expanding protections for its trans community but also underscored Berkins’ enduring influence as a trailblazer for equality and justice.

 After overcoming the hardships and systemic barriers faced by so many travestis in Argentina, Lohana Berkins dedicated much of her adult life to advocating tirelessly for the legal recognition and social acceptance of trans people. She shed light on the many war-like traumas endured by trans individuals—dispossession, eviction, displacement, violence, unemployment, and economic marginalization—which often force them into survival sex work. Berkins also publicly and courageously denounced police oppression, while criticizing Argentina’s reliance on incarceration and exclusion as means to control trans women rather than embrace their diversity and inclusion. Eventually, Berkins emerged as a foundational figure in Argentina’s travesti rights movement, and played a key role in securing some of the most progressive gender identity laws in the world. She also uplifted the community through grassroots initiatives like the Nadia Echazú Textile Cooperative, which continues to provide education and employment opportunities for travesti and transgender individuals to date. Ultimately, Berkins’ legacy lives on not only through the transformative legislation she helped inspire but also in the ongoing struggle for justice and equality that persists in Argentina. Following her death, the country’s Communist Party honored her as “a model of militant revolutionary politics.” Meanwhile, among her many empowering speeches and writings, one of her most memorable and enduring quotes remains: “In a world of capitalist worms, you have to have the courage to be a butterfly.”

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Disclaimer: some of the sources may contain triggering material

Berkins, L. (2022, June 24). Las Travestis Tejimos Rebeldía. Revista Anfibia. https://www.revistaanfibia.com/las-travestis-tejimos-rebeldia2/ 

Berkins, L., & Berrout, J. (2019). Lohana Berkins: Selected writings. River Furnace. 

Corl, A. (2016, February 9). Remembering Lohana Berkins: Activist, Leader and Proud Transvesti. The Bubble. https://web.archive.org/web/20190806025919/https://www.thebubble.com/renown-trans-activist-logana-dies 

Fernández, J., & Berkins, L. (2020). La Berkins: Una Combatiente de Frontera. Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, S.A.

Insausti, S. J., & Ben, P. (2023). Homonationalism, LGBT desaparecidos, and the politics of Queer Memory in Argentina. Memory Studies, 16(1), 66–84. https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980221140547 

Mascolo, T. (2019, February 5). Actualidad. Lohana Berkins: A Tres Años de la Muerte de Una Mariposa Travesti. La Izquierda Diario - Red Internacional. https://www.laizquierdadiario.com/Lohana-Berkins-a-tres-anos-de-la-muerte-de-una-mariposa-travesti 

Peker, L. (n.d.). Sociedad :: La Comandante de las Mariposas. Página/12 Web. https://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/sociedad/3-291969-2016-02-07.html  

Ruiz Trejo, M. G. (2016, February 23). Lohana Berkins: After Her Death, She Left Us a Legacy of Trans and Feminist Struggle. Sexuality Policy Watch. https://sxpolitics.org/lohana-berkins-after-her-death-she-left-us-a-legacy-of-trans-and-feminist-struggle/14232