‘Why not?’: Brazilian transsexual volleyball star runs for Congress

Following a prolific career in international men’s volleyball and just six years after completing her gender-reassignment surgery, Tifanny Abreu is hoping to become Brazil’s first transsexual MP.

Under a campaign slogan of “Why not?” the 33-year old has faced criticism from the LGBT community in her home country for choosing to run for the center-right conservative MBD party of incumbent President Michel Temer. “I don’t give any importance to parties, but to people,” Abreu told the AFP.

View this post on Instagram

Você já parou pra pensar de onde vem o preconceito? ⠀ Como mulher trans jogando na superliga feminina de vôlei, ouvi muitas críticas, muitas delas embasadas, questionando a liberação médica que aprovou minha entrada. Mas boa parte delas foi e é por me ver num lugar onde eles não queriam me ver. ⠀ Afinal, o que resta a mulher trans? Se entregar nas garras da prostituição, e nem à luz do dia deveríamos sair, como se esse destino fosse o único para nós, como uma forma de punição por sermos quem somos? ⠀ CHEGA. Nós temos voz. Nós temos direitos. "Mas você não pode ocupar esse lugar!". Verdade? POR QUE NÃO? ⠀ Dia 07 de outubro, vote pela representatividade. Vote pelo respeito. Vote Tifanny 1570, por que não? ⠀ #TifannyAbreu #TifannyAbreu10 #Tifanny #TA10 #TifannyFederal #PqNão? #votelgbt #voteconsciente #Eleições2018 #Eleicoes2018 #DeputadaFederal #voleibolgay #fimdopreconceito #preconceitonao #lgbt #lgbtqi #superligadadiversidade #amor #somostodosiguais #juntossomosmaisfortes

A post shared by Tifanny Abreu (@tifannyabreu10) on Sep 25, 2018 at 4:37pm PDT

Abreu’s volleyball club is sponsored by industries linked to the conservative MBD party, the AFP reports.

Following extensive hormone treatment and several surgeries in Europe in 2012, Abreu became the first transsexual to play in Brazil’s Superliga, the top-flight competition for women’s volleyball in the country, after a decade in men’s professional volleyball.

“When they offered to bring me back to Brazil, many people advised me to stay in Europe because of discrimination, but thank God things are starting to change,” Abreu said.

“I wanted to make my transition when I was 12 or 13-years old, because even from childhood, I knew I was a woman. But I lacked information, guidance and above all, hospitals where I could get the operation done.”

Abreu’s return to competition was greeted by uproar from Superliga players who said it was unfair, including Brazil’s Olympic bronze medalist from the Atlanta 1996 games, Ana Paula Henkel.

“It’s not a question of prejudice, but physiology,” Henkel, also a conservative, posted on Twitter, as cited by AFP. “Her body was built with testosterone all her life.”

However, ahead of the Summer Olympic Games in Brazil in 2016, the International Olympic Committee rules were changed to allow trans athletes to compete in women’s competitions provided they controlled their testosterone levels. Abreu hopes to compete in the Tokyo Olympics.

A total of 53 of the candidates running in the October 7 elections are transgender, the vast majority of whom represent left-leaning parties. Brazil struggles with gender discrimination and violence, with the highest rate of trans murders in the world last year, at 179.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!

Let’s block ads! (Why?)