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Gender X in Chile - 16th December 2022

Shane Cienfuegos is making history in Chile. They’re the first person with an X on their ID card. This is because Cienfuegos is a non-binary person. They aren’t male or female.

Chile has rules for ID cards. Cards need to say F for female or M for male. Cienfuegos had to speak to lawyers. After 9 years, the court said this rule was wrong for Cienfuegos.

Shane Cienfuegos: "Non-binarism, trans-feminism is a way of understanding society so that it is much freer, so we can advance to a state of law, to a state of well-being where regardless of how we see ourselves, or how we feel, we can be part of something as beautiful as society."

At school, children weren’t kind to Cienfuegos. Now, sometimes people try to hurt them.

Cienfuegos wrote about these bad experiences in their book.

Shane Cienfuegos: "I have survived, I have made myself tough to survive a cruel, dehumanising system that only wants to leave us on the streets, and it is good that now we are in all spaces (all sectors of society)."

In the past, Chile had a dictator. The country was very religious too. But now life in Chile is changing. Gay people can get married and have families.

Chile’s laws say LGBTQ+ people are equal. But the reality is different. In 2021, LGBTQ+ people reported 1,114 crimes to the police. Trans people's lives are in danger.

Trans people often die young. Life’s very difficult, says Marcela Cortes.

Marcela Cortes: "Trans people in this country are not seen. There are few trans people that reach this age, most of them die very young. My friends, my colleagues, have died young. We go through a daily struggle, bad health, there is still discrimination, homophobia, that hasn't ended in this country. We are not seen by the government."