{"id":54983,"date":"2019-08-12T10:18:27","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T13:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=54983"},"modified":"2019-08-12T10:21:56","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T13:21:56","slug":"the-experience-of-a-trans-man-living-in-the-outskirts-of-rio-de-janeiro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=54983","title":{"rendered":"The Experience of a Trans Man Living on the Outskirts of Rio de Janeiro"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Por<\/strong>tugu\u00eas<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

This article is part of the ongoing series Challenges of Living in Mag\u00e9<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Fifty years after the Stonewall Uprising<\/a>, the LGBTQI+ community<\/a> continues to face countless challenges. The lives of gay and trans people in Brazil are made more difficult by a lack of legal protection and discussion around societal diversity in general. Nicolas Carmo, or Nico, a 24-year-old trans man from Cear\u00e1<\/a> state, in Brazil’s Northeast, now lives in the city Mag\u00e9<\/a>, in Greater Rio de Janeiro’s<\/a> Baixada Fluminense<\/a> region. Here, he describes some of the challenges he faces every day.<\/p>\n

Nico had always known he was different. At the age of 16, he began to identify as a lesbian woman, as he hadn’t heard the term “transgender.” He decided it was time to start transitioning only last year (2018), after learning of Tarso Brant<\/a>, the trans actor who inspired the character of Ivana\/Ivan<\/a> in TV Globo\u2019s soap opera A For\u00e7a do Querer <\/em>(The Edge of Desire<\/a>). The transition process is a very important step: it’s often during this phase that trans people begin hormone treatment to change their bodies.<\/p>\n

Nico\u2019s transition has not been easy and continues to be a major problem for him. Since he doesn\u2019t have a formal job, Nico had to begin transition procedures through Brazil\u2019s Unified Health System (SUS<\/a>). Atop a lack of technical capacity and equipment necessary for trans people at Mag\u00e9’s SUS units, Nico relates facing other difficulties that have now become part of his day-to-day reality. For example, while sitting in the waiting room for a consultation, he is used to hearing people say that his condition is \u201cthe devil\u2019s work,\u201d or that the healthcare system shouldn\u2019t be serving \u201cpeople like him.\u201d Nico, with his gentle voice and sensitivity, doesn’t argue. \u201cAfter all, I\u2019m not going to change people\u2019s minds, am I?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nThe hormone treatment is a very delicate process, requiring visits to an endocrinologist every two months. These are especially important in the first year of treatment, which can only begin after a series of tests. Without proper medical supervision, taking medication to alter the body can cause serious health problems. For trans men, hormone treatment can increase the chances of hypertension, thrombosis, elevated cholesterol levels, and heart attack.<\/p>\n

But not all transgender people have access to medical care. Sadly, people who don\u2019t have the means to pay for private healthcare must rely solely on public healthcare centers and hospitals and, in many cases, give up trying to access public healthcare due to long waiting lists. This was the case for Nico, who had been directed to restart his treatment four separate times and grew tired of having to retake required exams. He gave up and decided to buy the medication he needed without a doctor\u2019s prescription. When he has a question about his reactions to the medication, he asks for help from a friend who works in healthcare. Since the treatment process is constantly being interrupted, either because of a lack of prescriptions to buy the medication or because he runs out of money, Nico\u2019s voice still hasn\u2019t reached the tone he hopes for.<\/p>\n

Nico, who has lived in the Baixada Fluminense for the last five years, moved to Rio de Janeiro in search of freedom of expression, since being transgender<\/a> is not something that is accepted in his hometown of Corea\u00fa, a town of just over 20,000 inhabitants in the Northeast state of Cear\u00e1. He has found, however, that the problems he faced in Corea\u00fa are the same in the Baixada. \u201cBack there [being trans] was like being from another planet. I came to Rio hoping to show my true self. But Mag\u00e9 is very similar to my hometown. When I went to the health center to talk about getting a mastectomy, they said that only people who have had breast cancer can have the surgery. The service was terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn order to fulfill his desire for freedom and autonomy, Nico went to court to change his name. Brazil\u2019s Supreme Court ruled in 2018<\/a> that trans people can change their gender identity without having undergone gender reassignment surgery. This decision has created a precedent for trans people to have this right, even though no law has been passed on the subject. A proposed bill to support transgender rights (Bill 5002\/2013<\/a>) named the Jo\u00e3o Nery Bill, was held up in Congress for six years and eventually archived in January 2019. The bill, named after Nery, a writer and the first transgender man to undergo sex change surgery<\/a> in Brazil, would have addressed the rights of transgender people to change their gender identity without going through the courts. Since Jean Wyllys, the federal deputy who authored the bill<\/a>, has resigned from Congress and is currently living in exile in response to death threats<\/a>, it is unlikely the bill will be revived any time soon.<\/p>\n

Another important factor in trans people\u2019s search for autonomy is access to the labor market. When he started to transition, Nico was fired from his job as a shop assistant at a stationery store, the only formal job he\u2019d ever had. He had worked there for two years and is still trying to understand the reason for his dismissal. \u201cI\u2019m sure it was because of prejudice against me. They want their shop assistants to wear makeup to work.\u201d Nico currently has a few temporary jobs as a DJ, body piercer, and photographer. He wants to go back to high school (he\u2019s currently studying in a fast-track program) in order to get a job and continue the search to fulfill his dream of getting a mastectomy. Currently, he uses a breast binder<\/a> meant for trans men who are transitioning; it\u2019s tight and leaves him without breath. Using the binder also keeps him from accepting invitations to go to the beach or other places where he would have to take off his shirt.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nNico shares his life with his partner Gabriela, 21, and says that being trans is not a challenge. \u201cFor me, being trans is having the freedom to express myself. The real challenge is getting what I need to be who I am. All the medical appointments, tests, everything that needs to be done.\u201d When asked about the future, he says he would like to help other people and participate in groups and activities to support trans people who still don\u2019t know how to take on their new lives with their real gender identities.<\/p>\n

This article is part of the ongoing series Challenges of Living in Mag\u00e9<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Th\u00e1bara Garcia is a resident of Mag\u00e9, a teacher, and a member of the\u00a0Roda de Mulheres da Baixada<\/a>\u00a0collective.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas This article is part of the ongoing series Challenges of Living in Mag\u00e9. Fifty years after the Stonewall Uprising, the LGBTQI+ community continues to face countless challenges. The lives of gay […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":162,"featured_media":54984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1328,1284],"tags":[460,554,2030,1197,107,25,1507,1360,558,2634,3002,924],"writer":[2968],"translator":[1401],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-54983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-by-community-contributors","8":"category-interviews-profiles","9":"tag-baixada-fluminense","10":"tag-diversity","11":"tag-freedom-of-expression","12":"tag-greater-rio","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-human-rights","15":"tag-lgbt","16":"tag-mage","17":"tag-prejudice","18":"tag-series","19":"tag-series-challenges-of-living-in-mage","20":"tag-sus","21":"writer-thabara-garcia","22":"translator-sarah-jacobs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/162"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/54984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54983"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=54983"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=54983"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=54983"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=54983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}