Tamara Adrián
Tamara Adrián is a Venezuelan politician, who was elected to the National Assembly of Venezuela in the 2015 Venezuelan parliamentary election. She is noted as the first transgender person elected to office in Venezuela, and only the second transgender sgmember of a national legislature in the Western Hemisphere. Some early media coverage credited her as the first transgender member of a legislature in the Americas, but this was later corrected due to the election of Michelle Suárez Bértora to the Senate of Uruguay in 2014.
She is a member of the Popular Will party, one of the forces in opposition to the PSUV-led government of Nicolás Maduro. She took her oath of office at the National Assembly of Venezuela on January 14, 2015. During her term in office, Adrián intends to promote proper access to public records on identity, same-sex marriage and human rights.
Prior to her election to the Venezuelan legislature, Adrián worked as a lawyer and LGBT activist, including serving on the board of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association and the organizing committee of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. She was forced to register her candidacy under her male birth name, as Venezuelan law does not currently permit a person that was assigned male at birth to legally change their name to a female name. In 2014, she submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court of Justice to have her identity legally recognized but it still has not granted.
Tamara Adrián believes that the stigma and discrimination surrounding the transgender community stimulates poverty, marginalization, and violence against them. To her, these problems are unacceptable under international laws of human rights. She was motivated to take a role in her government in response to political activists being arrested in Venezuela. In 2014, there were many protests regarding the democratic and economic conditions of the time. In response to these protests, President Nicolás Maduro ordered for the arrest of political protestors. According to Foro Penal, over 13,000 people have been arrested since 2014 because of protests relating to the Venezuelan government.
Tamara graduated from Andrés Bello Catholic University in 1976. She then went on to obtain her doctorate in law with high honors from University of Paris II Panthéon-Assasin in 1982. She also earned a diploma in comparative law from the Paris Institute of Comparative Law in 1982. In 2016, Adrián completed program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government as a Leadership Fellow.
