Growing up in Ecuador, the pop culture I consumed was mainly imported from the U.S. and other Latin American countries. The films and TV shows were often sexist, racist and homophobic. The limited portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters in my culture made it challenging for me to find relatable representation. For survival, I became skilled at finding and interpreting subtext. Eventually, the closest I came to seeing someone like myself was Hilary Swank’s portrayal of Brandon Teena in Boys Don’t Cry, but I had to detach from his fate to truly relate.

My ability to be openly trans cannot be separated from the ways in which I occupy locations of privileges — I’m a middle-class, mixed-race, light-skinned immigrant who traveled to the U.S. to pursue a college education. Higher education showed me the different ways I could be an “artist,” and art school is where I came out as queer,
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