Registrar’s office recognizes Colombia’s first Wayuú trans woman

For the first time, the Colombian National Registry has officially recognized the first Wayuú trans woman in Colombia. It is Georgina epiayu, an indigenous woman born in the municipality of Uribia, located in the arid lands of La Guajira.

“Officially the first Wayuu trans woman in the territory, recognized by the State as the head of the National Civil Status Register. Now comes the affiliation to the health system in the remote term. We want the best EPSI for her, ”her lawyer, Estercilia Simanca, announced via her Twitter account.

According to her lawyer, Georgina never agreed with the male name she was first registered under: “Jorge Epiayu”. This is why, on June 17, 1975, at the age of 23, dressed in a Wayuú blanket, necklaces, earrings and with her long black hair, on another day of the transplant, she declared that From that date, she would be called ‘Georgina Epiayu’.

It should be noted that, initially, Georgina indicated that her name was written with “J”, but after the team of journalists of the newspaper El Heraldo checked her official files, they found that her name appeared with the letter ” G ”in his documents.

However, Georgina never claimed this ID. “It’s that as much as Jorge and Jeorgina didn’t know they had to claim it … that’s why there are hundreds of unclaimed pieces of ID since these identification processes started ”, remarked the lawyer.

For this reason, this indigenous Wayuú, born on December 31, 1952, despite the fact that she was registered by the official as a woman, since according to her lawyer at the time the sex box did not exist, remained undocumented because she never claimed her identity card, not like Jorge, not like Georgina. The most curious fact in her story is that at that time Georgina was 46 years old.

It was only when she needed to join the Colombian health system this year that Georgina approached the National Registry facilities for “reaffirm your female name and enter your female gender in your document “, Simanca pointed out via her Twitter account.

“Georgina today celebrates seeing and reading the word FEMALE on her ID. The State wins for this big step towards the construction of respect, marginalized and ignored of the most conservative social actors. We win over as a society those of us who are moved by her childish laughter with a voucher that formally gives her the identity that she has always had and she wins, because her rights are recognized and restored ”, a said Georgina’s lawyer through the same social network.

For his part, the national registrar, Alexander Vega, confirmed to the registrant of Uribia that indeed Georgina’s identity card, processed in 1975, was registered as a woman, so that for the issuance of its document with the new format they will not have to adjust any type of information, this is how the newspaper El Heraldo learned.

In dialogue with the same media, the National Registrar announced that he had asked the Uribia Registrar’s Office to send all documents from Georgina to Bogotá, so that at maximum on September 7, she can have her citizenship card and be officially recognized as the first Wayuú trans woman in Colombia.

“It says a lot to keep telling stories since decolonization. This action recognizes and highlights the life management that Jeorgina has done over the years. She is an inspiration and an example of what it’s like to live, until the last minute, as you wish. This story teaches us a lesson that there are different ways of being members of a people “, said in an interview with El Heraldo, journalist and filmmaker Wayuú, and friend of Georgina, David Hernández Palmar.

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