Clémence Zamora Cruz o París para seguir viva: entre esperanzas y desilusiones

Abstract

Born in 1975 in Puebla, Mexico, Clémence Zamora Cruz's life was cut short when, at the age of six, she announced to her parents that she wanted to marry her English teacher. A confession that turned her life upside down, as she had to leave the family home, a home tinged with transphobia. The outside environment, even more cruel than the family home, made her realise the vulnerability of people of her condition. The verbal and physical harassment she suffered became effective both at school and in the street with police repression. At the age of 15, she decided to leave home; she spent a year on the street and was rescued by her grandmother who, without really understanding her, taught her some survival mechanisms to cope with the prevailing homo-transphobia in the street. Finally, she took the transatlantic step to go into exile in Paris with the help of a French boyfriend she had at the time. A personal experience that reflects the lives of thousands of transgender people in Latin America, which we would like to describe in this article, thanks also to the living testimony of Clémence Zamora Cruz, who kindly lent herself to a virtual interview. Her words testify that the situation of transgender people is still far from their desirable integration into 21st century Mexican society.

Key words: Clémence Zamora Cruz; transphobia; transgender; law