January 28, 2025 • 29 mins
In this week's episode, Diosa and Mala are joined by Bamby Salcedo, President of the Trans Latina Coalition. She shares what it means to be a "yelder," why aging equals living, and how her organization serves the Trans community.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Amiga, Ami nader Una and I'm thinking Geki celeb Manera
spectacular Amiga, give us a said, I'm thinking like a
king Signora Bile.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Oh wait wait wait, how about a queen? Senora?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Yes, Senora, Yora, Senora, Senora, Senora, Senora, Senora, Senora, Senora.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Oh, Senora, Welcome to Senora sex Ed Senora sex Said
is not your mommy sex Talk. This show is la
platica like you've never heard it before. With each episode,
we're breaking the stigma and silence around sex and sexuality
in LATINX communities.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Latinas have been hyper sexualized in popular culture, but notoriously
denied sex education. This podcast is an intergenerational conversation between
Latinas from gen X to gen Z, covering everything from
puberty and body image to representation in film, television, and music.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Just a reminder that in this show, a Senora is
a woman with a lot of life experiences and stories
to share. Maybe she's in her thirties, Maybe she's in
her forties or fifties or older. Maybe she's trans, maybe
she sits.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
We are your hosts and producers, Viosa and Mala.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
You might recognize us from our flagship podcast Lokatoa Radio
since twenty sixteen. We've covered all kinds of topics, ranging
from politics to mental health, current events, and of course sex.
We still have so much to learn, though, and we
hope you listen to each episode with the Senoras and
Senoritas in Your Life, Chapter twenty four, trans Latina Power.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Before I start, I want to acknowledge and appreciate our ancestors,
and I want to call ancestors into the space, so
you know, migrante, I'm an immigrant Translatina who has the
privilege to be the president and the CEO of the
Translatina Coalition, which is now the biggest translate organization in
(02:23):
the United States.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
That's Bambi Salceto. She's the president and CEO of the
Translatina Coalition. Bambi has been doing movement work for nearly
thirty years. Now, at fifty five years old, she's embracing
a new title, y elder, a young elder.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Some people in the movement, like particularly young people, recognize
that I've been doing community work for a long time,
and they see me as an elder in the movement right,
But of course, I personally don't think of myself as
an elder, but it was it was refreshing to be
(03:01):
that sort of like intersectional term. Right. That is, yes,
I come from a young, a young part of me,
which because in my heart, I'm still a young person. Right,
but I understand that I am fifty five years old
now and as a trans woman, like I have sur
(03:21):
passed the life expectancy of many trans women, and so
it's really beautiful that I get to be called yelder.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
For Bambi, turning fifty years old was a meaningful experience
because she also shares that the average life expectancy of
trans women is thirty five years old.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
What I've learned since I turned fifty, right, Because fifty
fifty years of age right for me was a very
like a bivotal moment, right, And so when I turned fifty,
I celebrated my queen Senea, and since then I have
been able to embrace my aging process. Right for me,
(04:05):
what I am understanding us as an aging Senyora, right,
it really is aging equals living. Right, I'm living my
best life. I'm living the dream that many of us
have dreamt before, right, that we're not able to accomplish,
And I'm just living in my truth, living in my
(04:27):
living in my comfort, living in what the universe has
for me, and so I'm comfortable being as Senyora. Now.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
When Bambi turned fifty, she threw herself a queen Senira,
a play on the traditional king senira, also known as
a fifteenth birthday celebration.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
I've never celebrated my birthday, right, and turning fifty is
a significant time, right for I would say all of us,
but for me understanding that the life spectancy of trans
woman thirty five years old, right, and so thirty five
to fifty is fifteen right. And so getting this concept
(05:07):
of a kinsenneira, which is traditionally celebrated in on our
country is Latin America, am mession it with this coming
of age, right, I'm turning fifty, and so the way
I thought of it was I am entering the second
phase of my life, right. And one of the concepts
(05:28):
for a typical king Senera is you know, having a
court right chamberlains, las damas, right, like typically there's fourteen
chamberlains and fourteen damas, and then there's la king Sennea
is to chamberlain, right, and so that makes the fifth
court the court of fifteen people. But for me, like
(05:48):
I twisted that concept a little bit, and I had
forty nine women who have been significant in my life,
from my mother, from my niece, from people in the movement,
and people who have been there lifting me, guiding me,
supporting me right through my life. And so yeah, so
I had a forty nine amazing, incredible woman including trans
(06:11):
women who have been part of my life. And so
there were all my courts. And instead of having a misa,
for instance, I had an indigenous celebration. So yeah, I
had someone doing drums and each of the damas, I
would say, that's forty nine damas. They blessed me with
(06:33):
flowers and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
So we hope you're enjoying this conversation. Stay tuned. There's
more to come.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And we're back. We hope you enjoyed the break and
are ready to listen to the rest.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Bambi has come a long way from her youth, where
she struggled to survive the streets of Guadalajara.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
I was a sex worker in Guadalajara when I dressed
stuff for the first time. Right because back then, right
like in the late seventies, early eighties, right there was
really nothing for us, and even right now, there's still
not enough right to support us and suppert livelihood. And
(07:16):
what I knew then was to resort to the streets,
to sell my body as a minor, to negate navigate
the street economy or my survival. So not really, I
didn't really have anyone mentoring me and supporting me, especially
(07:36):
because back then it was they at the beginning of
the eight epidemic. And obviously I tried to be as
safe as possible, But how safe could you be when
you're on the streets, when you're a minor, when people
are really taking advantage of you in different ways? Right?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Bambia firms that trans women have always guided her throughout
her life and believes trans women have always been social
workers for the community.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
But I do have to say that it has been
trans women who have always guided me and supported me
through my process when I started my transition. Again, anything
that you need and you would yeah that you would
need to get with other trans women who would support
other trans women, other young transformen Right. I think gets
(08:28):
important to recognize that trans women have always been social workers, right,
like we have always fed our people and close our
people and house our people with very limited resources, right,
Like we're not resources from our governments or anything. Right.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Bambi's sexual education came later in life as she started
doing HIV prevention work. She also learned how to keep
herself and her friends safe.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
And so we have been social workers by nature. But
I'm gonna say that I started being more educated about
sex and all of that later in life as I
was discovering myself as I started doing this work, because
that's how I also, like my introduction to social justice
(09:21):
work was doing HIV prevention, right, And so that's when
I started learning about how to be safe and how
to be protected. And you know, in passing that information
to my friends who I once stood in a corner with.
So yeah, I would say, like all of my support
(09:41):
as it relates to sex and being safe and supporting
people has been through you know, my own community.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Although gender and sex are often conflated, Bambi reminds us
that there is a distinction between the two. Sex is
what you are assigned by a doctor at birth based
on the genitals that you are born with. Gender encompasses
societal standards, roles, and expectations.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
I think there's a couple of things that I think
it's important for us to clarify. Right. I think our
brader society always mashes right who we are as people, right,
particularly transforming right with our sexuality, right, And that's not
necessarily true, right, because our genitals doesn't have anything to
(10:33):
do with who we are as people, right, Like our
genitals are part of who we are or what we have, right,
like it's part of our bodies, right. And sexual orientation
for instance, like it's different than our gender identity or
our gender expression, right, And so our sexual practices are
different or could be different for some of us, right,
(10:54):
Like they transforment who are lesbian, for instance, right, Like
they're transforment who identified us sexual right, And they're trans
women who are bisexual. Right. But a lot of times
people again in our society, like they they think that
our sex has to do with who we are, and
(11:14):
that is not the truth, right, And for many of
us really is really understanding, particularly when for young people, right.
I think young people in general, like we're always in
this phase of discovering, right, like who we are, and
a lot of times our sex activities or our sexual
(11:36):
preferences or our sexual life that doesn't necessarily have to
do with how we are evolving in the world, right
and our society. Sex is it's something that we don't
talk a lot about, right.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Bambi believes there is a need to break the stigma
about sex and sexuality, but also acknowledges the comps flexities
of trans women openly talking about sex.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
It continues to be a taboo, but it's something that
almost everybody practices in one way or another, right, and
I think we need to find ways to eliminate the
stigma that is attached to that, to having sex, but
also how religion has twisted that sex is a practice
(12:26):
right that most people do, whether it's personal sexual pleasure
or having sexual pleasure with somebody else. Right, it's something
that we most of us do, right. And so because
of the stigma and because of the oppression that happens
around that many of us trans women don't necessarily talk
(12:50):
openly about our sexuality or about our sexual practices, that
could perhaps educate younger people, right, because then we could
be criminalized. Right then we could be especially right now
on the political times that we're experiencing right again, meshing
(13:12):
those two things and accusing us and blaming us that
we are sexual predators that we are recruiting people, right,
like all of those jargon that people use, particularly conservative individuals,
and actually they're the ones who are mostly sexual deviants
than we are their cases. And so I think we
(13:33):
need to find ways for us to eradicate the ignorance
and the stigma that is attached to sex and sexual
practices and sexual pleasure.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
On top of the existing stigma that's around sex education,
transphobia makes access to sexual education even more challenging for
trans women.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
And that is one of the reasons why you know,
the HIV rates and of infection among trans women is
the highest than any other population, right, And so there's
a reason for that. And not only that, but also
couple with the fact that our society doesn't necessarily provides
(14:17):
opportunities for us to function in our society like anybody else, right,
We're very limited into the things that we can do,
and most trans women are pushed by our society and
to engage in the straight economy, which most of that
(14:38):
is sex work as means to survive, as means to
get by.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
We'll be taking a quick break, do miss us.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Thanks for sticking around.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
We are back the Translatina coalition began in two thousand
and nine as a direct response to trans women detained
in immigration detention centers. As a survivor of immigrant detention herself,
bamb Be advocated, mobilized, and fundraised.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
I myself, I am a survivor also the immigration detention.
I was in immigration attention once and I was really
assaulted to the point that I had to be transported
to a NATI hospital to be treated. And I was
there and I was seeing again the experiences of my
sisters there. And so that's how we started in two
(15:33):
thousand and nine. We would fundraised to send commissary money
to our sisters there. We would do visitations, particularly because
there were several detention centers in proximity to us, we
would go visit them. We would put money on their books,
we would connect them with lawyers on the outside, and
(15:56):
then when they would get out, they would we would
pick them up and take them to services that they
could access. We would do campaigns to get them out,
and we did that voluntarily for about six years. And
since we were national organization and we have representation and
(16:18):
then different states and cities. And what we're seeing is
that as we were trying to organize people on the ground, right, Like,
we were seeing that people were not having access to
the basic things right.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
During this time, Bambi was on the ground organizing people
and quickly saw that the trans community was lacking access
to basic resources like food and housing. In twenty sixteen,
Bambi took a leap of faith. She jumped full time
into leading the Trans Latina coalition.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
That people needed and so you can't really organize people
if people struggling with basic things like food and housing
and all of those things, right, And we decided that
in order for us to change the landscape of our community,
that we all that we needed to move into doing
service provision ourselves, right. I took a lip of faith
(17:10):
to build a Tansulatine coalition and so officially in January
twenty sixteen, we got our first grant and it was
to I remember, we got seventy five thousand dollars to
support transformen who were getting out of immigration attention. So
we have built a multiplicity of services here in Los Angeles.
(17:34):
We have housing services, We have HIBUT prevention services including
HIBU testing and prep. We have a house and installayed
that we rent that is like a refuge house and
we can house up to twenty five people there. We
have legal services specifically focusing on immigration. We have re
entry services supporting people who were getting out from jail, prison,
(17:57):
and our immigration attention, so we have three services programs.
We have a program for aging trans people, so that's
one of our prior populations.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Right now, the current political landscape is hostile towards trans people,
but transphobic policies are not limited to Republican administrations.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
Right now, as we speak, we are having conversations with
legislators to make sure that they are supporting trans people
across the state. Right we know what's happening politically, and
we're also seeing that there's a migration, an influx migration
of members of our community fleeing from other streets, from
other states, from what is happening across the United States,
(18:42):
and so we want to make sure that our community
are protected and supported here in the state. And so
that's one of the things that we're doing is that
we are going to this year do budget advocacy to
make sure that we have the governor allocate thirty million
dollars for the next four years to support other translate organizations.
(19:05):
Across the state.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
The Trans Latina Coalition might be a national organization, but locally,
they're focused on building political power here.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Locally, we in collaboration with the Bot of Supervisors, passed
what we call the TGIE, which is a TGI stands
for Transgender Expensive and intersects and we as wellness in equity.
And so they passed a motion to mandate the county,
the government of the local government to invest seven million
(19:37):
dollars to support other translate organizations. We need to understand
how the systems work so that we can create the
changes that need to happen that will make them right,
to hold them accountable, to understand that our elected officials
are responsible for the livelihood of people, right, and they
(19:58):
are the ones who make the sessions about how we
are supposed to live right if we don't have the
infrastructure as a community, right like we need to build
our wealth, We need to build our political power, right,
like we need to build all of those things that
influence the change in those institutions that have marginalized us
(20:20):
for many years. And so that is the work that
we are doing and will continue to do. And I
do want to say also part of who we are
as an organization, I feel that we are the reflection
of the possibilities of our people.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
The future of the Trans Latina Coalition is bright. They're
projected to have a bigger headquarters by the year twenty
twenty seven.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
Because we are able to build, we are able to create,
and part of that, I do want to also say
that we are building a new center not far from here.
We purchase a twenty four thousand square foot space and
so we're building a three story building. So it's projected
that we have our own building in twenty twenty seven,
(21:07):
so two more years. So we're right now. We're going
through the process of getting permits and all of that.
So yeah, so we're building a thirty five million dollar building.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
We sat down with Bambi a few days before Trump's
inauguration for his second term in office. We ask Bambi
if Trump's administration changes anything for the Trans Latina Coalition.
Here's what she had to say.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
I think one of the things that it's important for
us to recognize Trump is latim better. When Sala del
systema trans gender, expansive and intersex people have historically have
been attacked and they have been multiple attempts to erase
our existence, right since the invasion of the colonizers, right,
(21:52):
And so they started doing that through this inductrination process,
right and really trying to erase in our cultures that
we trans people like that we're sacred people, right. And
so they have tried that for many years and many
(22:15):
different ways.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Right.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Yet we as trans people have always you know, overcome
that simply by being who we are, right like, simply
by believing our truth. And so they have not been
able to do that. What is different right now is
that it is more visible and more sembtaguensa, right because
(22:40):
of social media, because of how they have been able
to being you know, be well funded and well organized
to do the damage that they are going to do.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Right.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
I think it's important to recognize that for the past
ten years, more or less, right, there has been like
more visibilit about who we are as people. There has
been more visibility about how we are organizing, about how
we're building organizations, how we are empowering our people.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Right. Trans people have existed for centuries, and the trans
community might be at the center of right wing attacks,
but the existence of trans people is not new.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
We're going to ride the way right. I feel like
status fiando right, I don't know how to surfing right.
We're going to surf the way right. And so they
can try to do whatever they can do, but they're
not going to be able to erase our existence. If
they haven't been able to do that in five hundred years,
they're not going to be They're not going to do
(23:42):
that in four years. And so what we need to
do as an organization and as a community is to
really understand that we are not going to let them
intimidate us because we can also be a strategic We
can also play the way the system works, and we
can also change things that need to be changed within
the system. And so there's no coincidence right right now
(24:07):
they have the Senate, the House, and the Supreme Court. Right,
it's part of their strategy. But nonetheless, right like they're
gonna they're gonna be there for a minute. But whatever,
bitches like you, you can't. You cannot erase the divinity
(24:32):
of our people.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
During Trump's inauguration speech, he declared that only two genders
are recognized federally. In spite of this, Bambi says, our
commitment to each other and the movement should keep us going.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
We're gonna continue to thrive. They're not gonna win. They
cannot win. They have not won in five hundred years, right,
and so they're not gonna win. What I do want
to also say is that, yes, it could be scary,
everything that we hear and everything that is happening, right,
(25:07):
but we should not let our fears paralyze us.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Right.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
We should understand that we as people, individually and collectively,
we do have power, and we should exercise our power
in whatever way we can. And if we have to
shut it down, let's shut it down. But we just
have to do it right, because I think part of
the issue that is happening is that a lot of
(25:34):
people in different movements they think that that is not
my issue, right, There's there's a lot of complacency, right
that happens in different movements, right, which I also I
can definitely say that there's a lot of hypocrisy, right,
like in different movements. Right, that simples, But we're not
(26:01):
even united. You don't even want to be united. When
you don't bring trans people into the whole, then you're
part of the problem, right, Like you are an oppressor
and you're pushing us to be part of the margins right,
and I think we need to be truthful.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Bamb Be leaves us with some final words to her
younger self.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
I would say my younger self that you're okay, that
you're going to be okay. You're amazing and beautiful and
powerful and incredible, and you are going to grow to
be who you're destined to be, and that regardless of
(26:44):
what happens in your life, you have a path to walk,
and you should walk your path with grace and dignity,
and don't be distracted. Just keep on going, regardless of
the pain, regardless of the oppression, Just face whatever comes
(27:08):
your way by walk your path with thin and grace.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
What I learned from this conversation with Bambi is really
important for liberal listeners that transphobia doesn't end when we
elect a liberal or democratic politician into office. According to Bambi,
transphobia transcends politics and political parties. It's a constant threat,
and we all have to keep our heads on a
(27:33):
swivel and work within our communities to eradicate transphobia wherever
it exists.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Next time on Senora Sex said, we're joined by Madi.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
It was until I found like an in person kids communities.
I started connecting those thoughts. Funny enough, I was just like, oh,
just stuff you do when you grow up, and then
you meet other people and it's like, no, nobody does that.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Nomos Chow Senora Sex Said is a co production between
Locata Productions and Michael Dura Podcast Network.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
This show is executive produced by Mala Munos Andosa Femme.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Also executive produced by Jasell.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Fances, produced by Stephanie Franco.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Creative direction by Mala Munios.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Story editing by biosafem.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Music direction by Grissol Lomeli
Speaker 2 (28:23):
And music produced by Brian Gaza s
Amiga, Ami nader Una and I'm thinking Geki celeb Manera
spectacular Amiga, give us a said, I'm thinking like a
king Signora Bile.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Oh wait wait wait, how about a queen? Senora?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Yes, Senora, Yora, Senora, Senora, Senora, Senora, Senora, Senora, Senora.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Oh, Senora, Welcome to Senora sex Ed Senora sex Said
is not your mommy sex Talk. This show is la
platica like you've never heard it before. With each episode,
we're breaking the stigma and silence around sex and sexuality
in LATINX communities.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Latinas have been hyper sexualized in popular culture, but notoriously
denied sex education. This podcast is an intergenerational conversation between
Latinas from gen X to gen Z, covering everything from
puberty and body image to representation in film, television, and music.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Just a reminder that in this show, a Senora is
a woman with a lot of life experiences and stories
to share. Maybe she's in her thirties, Maybe she's in
her forties or fifties or older. Maybe she's trans, maybe
she sits.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
We are your hosts and producers, Viosa and Mala.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
You might recognize us from our flagship podcast Lokatoa Radio
since twenty sixteen. We've covered all kinds of topics, ranging
from politics to mental health, current events, and of course sex.
We still have so much to learn, though, and we
hope you listen to each episode with the Senoras and
Senoritas in Your Life, Chapter twenty four, trans Latina Power.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Before I start, I want to acknowledge and appreciate our ancestors,
and I want to call ancestors into the space, so
you know, migrante, I'm an immigrant Translatina who has the
privilege to be the president and the CEO of the
Translatina Coalition, which is now the biggest translate organization in
(02:23):
the United States.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
That's Bambi Salceto. She's the president and CEO of the
Translatina Coalition. Bambi has been doing movement work for nearly
thirty years. Now, at fifty five years old, she's embracing
a new title, y elder, a young elder.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Some people in the movement, like particularly young people, recognize
that I've been doing community work for a long time,
and they see me as an elder in the movement right,
But of course, I personally don't think of myself as
an elder, but it was it was refreshing to be
(03:01):
that sort of like intersectional term. Right. That is, yes,
I come from a young, a young part of me,
which because in my heart, I'm still a young person. Right,
but I understand that I am fifty five years old
now and as a trans woman, like I have sur
(03:21):
passed the life expectancy of many trans women, and so
it's really beautiful that I get to be called yelder.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
For Bambi, turning fifty years old was a meaningful experience
because she also shares that the average life expectancy of
trans women is thirty five years old.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
What I've learned since I turned fifty, right, Because fifty
fifty years of age right for me was a very
like a bivotal moment, right, And so when I turned fifty,
I celebrated my queen Senea, and since then I have
been able to embrace my aging process. Right for me,
(04:05):
what I am understanding us as an aging Senyora, right,
it really is aging equals living. Right, I'm living my
best life. I'm living the dream that many of us
have dreamt before, right, that we're not able to accomplish,
And I'm just living in my truth, living in my
(04:27):
living in my comfort, living in what the universe has
for me, and so I'm comfortable being as Senyora. Now.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
When Bambi turned fifty, she threw herself a queen Senira,
a play on the traditional king senira, also known as
a fifteenth birthday celebration.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
I've never celebrated my birthday, right, and turning fifty is
a significant time, right for I would say all of us,
but for me understanding that the life spectancy of trans
woman thirty five years old, right, and so thirty five
to fifty is fifteen right. And so getting this concept
(05:07):
of a kinsenneira, which is traditionally celebrated in on our
country is Latin America, am mession it with this coming
of age, right, I'm turning fifty, and so the way
I thought of it was I am entering the second
phase of my life, right. And one of the concepts
(05:28):
for a typical king Senera is you know, having a
court right chamberlains, las damas, right, like typically there's fourteen
chamberlains and fourteen damas, and then there's la king Sennea
is to chamberlain, right, and so that makes the fifth
court the court of fifteen people. But for me, like
(05:48):
I twisted that concept a little bit, and I had
forty nine women who have been significant in my life,
from my mother, from my niece, from people in the movement,
and people who have been there lifting me, guiding me,
supporting me right through my life. And so yeah, so
I had a forty nine amazing, incredible woman including trans
(06:11):
women who have been part of my life. And so
there were all my courts. And instead of having a misa,
for instance, I had an indigenous celebration. So yeah, I
had someone doing drums and each of the damas, I
would say, that's forty nine damas. They blessed me with
(06:33):
flowers and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
So we hope you're enjoying this conversation. Stay tuned. There's
more to come.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And we're back. We hope you enjoyed the break and
are ready to listen to the rest.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Bambi has come a long way from her youth, where
she struggled to survive the streets of Guadalajara.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
I was a sex worker in Guadalajara when I dressed
stuff for the first time. Right because back then, right
like in the late seventies, early eighties, right there was
really nothing for us, and even right now, there's still
not enough right to support us and suppert livelihood. And
(07:16):
what I knew then was to resort to the streets,
to sell my body as a minor, to negate navigate
the street economy or my survival. So not really, I
didn't really have anyone mentoring me and supporting me, especially
(07:36):
because back then it was they at the beginning of
the eight epidemic. And obviously I tried to be as
safe as possible, But how safe could you be when
you're on the streets, when you're a minor, when people
are really taking advantage of you in different ways? Right?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Bambia firms that trans women have always guided her throughout
her life and believes trans women have always been social
workers for the community.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
But I do have to say that it has been
trans women who have always guided me and supported me
through my process when I started my transition. Again, anything
that you need and you would yeah that you would
need to get with other trans women who would support
other trans women, other young transformen Right. I think gets
(08:28):
important to recognize that trans women have always been social workers, right,
like we have always fed our people and close our
people and house our people with very limited resources, right,
Like we're not resources from our governments or anything. Right.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Bambi's sexual education came later in life as she started
doing HIV prevention work. She also learned how to keep
herself and her friends safe.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
And so we have been social workers by nature. But
I'm gonna say that I started being more educated about
sex and all of that later in life as I
was discovering myself as I started doing this work, because
that's how I also, like my introduction to social justice
(09:21):
work was doing HIV prevention, right, And so that's when
I started learning about how to be safe and how
to be protected. And you know, in passing that information
to my friends who I once stood in a corner with.
So yeah, I would say, like all of my support
(09:41):
as it relates to sex and being safe and supporting
people has been through you know, my own community.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Although gender and sex are often conflated, Bambi reminds us
that there is a distinction between the two. Sex is
what you are assigned by a doctor at birth based
on the genitals that you are born with. Gender encompasses
societal standards, roles, and expectations.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
I think there's a couple of things that I think
it's important for us to clarify. Right. I think our
brader society always mashes right who we are as people, right,
particularly transforming right with our sexuality, right, And that's not
necessarily true, right, because our genitals doesn't have anything to
(10:33):
do with who we are as people, right, Like our
genitals are part of who we are or what we have, right,
like it's part of our bodies, right. And sexual orientation
for instance, like it's different than our gender identity or
our gender expression, right, And so our sexual practices are
different or could be different for some of us, right,
(10:54):
Like they transforment who are lesbian, for instance, right, Like
they're transforment who identified us sexual right, And they're trans
women who are bisexual. Right. But a lot of times
people again in our society, like they they think that
our sex has to do with who we are, and
(11:14):
that is not the truth, right, And for many of
us really is really understanding, particularly when for young people, right.
I think young people in general, like we're always in
this phase of discovering, right, like who we are, and
a lot of times our sex activities or our sexual
(11:36):
preferences or our sexual life that doesn't necessarily have to
do with how we are evolving in the world, right
and our society. Sex is it's something that we don't
talk a lot about, right.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Bambi believes there is a need to break the stigma
about sex and sexuality, but also acknowledges the comps flexities
of trans women openly talking about sex.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
It continues to be a taboo, but it's something that
almost everybody practices in one way or another, right, and
I think we need to find ways to eliminate the
stigma that is attached to that, to having sex, but
also how religion has twisted that sex is a practice
(12:26):
right that most people do, whether it's personal sexual pleasure
or having sexual pleasure with somebody else. Right, it's something
that we most of us do, right. And so because
of the stigma and because of the oppression that happens
around that many of us trans women don't necessarily talk
(12:50):
openly about our sexuality or about our sexual practices, that
could perhaps educate younger people, right, because then we could
be criminalized. Right then we could be especially right now
on the political times that we're experiencing right again, meshing
(13:12):
those two things and accusing us and blaming us that
we are sexual predators that we are recruiting people, right,
like all of those jargon that people use, particularly conservative individuals,
and actually they're the ones who are mostly sexual deviants
than we are their cases. And so I think we
(13:33):
need to find ways for us to eradicate the ignorance
and the stigma that is attached to sex and sexual
practices and sexual pleasure.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
On top of the existing stigma that's around sex education,
transphobia makes access to sexual education even more challenging for
trans women.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
And that is one of the reasons why you know,
the HIV rates and of infection among trans women is
the highest than any other population, right, And so there's
a reason for that. And not only that, but also
couple with the fact that our society doesn't necessarily provides
(14:17):
opportunities for us to function in our society like anybody else, right,
We're very limited into the things that we can do,
and most trans women are pushed by our society and
to engage in the straight economy, which most of that
(14:38):
is sex work as means to survive, as means to
get by.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
We'll be taking a quick break, do miss us.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Thanks for sticking around.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
We are back the Translatina coalition began in two thousand
and nine as a direct response to trans women detained
in immigration detention centers. As a survivor of immigrant detention herself,
bamb Be advocated, mobilized, and fundraised.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
I myself, I am a survivor also the immigration detention.
I was in immigration attention once and I was really
assaulted to the point that I had to be transported
to a NATI hospital to be treated. And I was
there and I was seeing again the experiences of my
sisters there. And so that's how we started in two
(15:33):
thousand and nine. We would fundraised to send commissary money
to our sisters there. We would do visitations, particularly because
there were several detention centers in proximity to us, we
would go visit them. We would put money on their books,
we would connect them with lawyers on the outside, and
(15:56):
then when they would get out, they would we would
pick them up and take them to services that they
could access. We would do campaigns to get them out,
and we did that voluntarily for about six years. And
since we were national organization and we have representation and
(16:18):
then different states and cities. And what we're seeing is
that as we were trying to organize people on the ground, right, Like,
we were seeing that people were not having access to
the basic things right.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
During this time, Bambi was on the ground organizing people
and quickly saw that the trans community was lacking access
to basic resources like food and housing. In twenty sixteen,
Bambi took a leap of faith. She jumped full time
into leading the Trans Latina coalition.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
That people needed and so you can't really organize people
if people struggling with basic things like food and housing
and all of those things, right, And we decided that
in order for us to change the landscape of our community,
that we all that we needed to move into doing
service provision ourselves, right. I took a lip of faith
(17:10):
to build a Tansulatine coalition and so officially in January
twenty sixteen, we got our first grant and it was
to I remember, we got seventy five thousand dollars to
support transformen who were getting out of immigration attention. So
we have built a multiplicity of services here in Los Angeles.
(17:34):
We have housing services, We have HIBUT prevention services including
HIBU testing and prep. We have a house and installayed
that we rent that is like a refuge house and
we can house up to twenty five people there. We
have legal services specifically focusing on immigration. We have re
entry services supporting people who were getting out from jail, prison,
(17:57):
and our immigration attention, so we have three services programs.
We have a program for aging trans people, so that's
one of our prior populations.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Right now, the current political landscape is hostile towards trans people,
but transphobic policies are not limited to Republican administrations.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
Right now, as we speak, we are having conversations with
legislators to make sure that they are supporting trans people
across the state. Right we know what's happening politically, and
we're also seeing that there's a migration, an influx migration
of members of our community fleeing from other streets, from
other states, from what is happening across the United States,
(18:42):
and so we want to make sure that our community
are protected and supported here in the state. And so
that's one of the things that we're doing is that
we are going to this year do budget advocacy to
make sure that we have the governor allocate thirty million
dollars for the next four years to support other translate organizations.
(19:05):
Across the state.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
The Trans Latina Coalition might be a national organization, but locally,
they're focused on building political power here.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Locally, we in collaboration with the Bot of Supervisors, passed
what we call the TGIE, which is a TGI stands
for Transgender Expensive and intersects and we as wellness in equity.
And so they passed a motion to mandate the county,
the government of the local government to invest seven million
(19:37):
dollars to support other translate organizations. We need to understand
how the systems work so that we can create the
changes that need to happen that will make them right,
to hold them accountable, to understand that our elected officials
are responsible for the livelihood of people, right, and they
(19:58):
are the ones who make the sessions about how we
are supposed to live right if we don't have the
infrastructure as a community, right like we need to build
our wealth, We need to build our political power, right,
like we need to build all of those things that
influence the change in those institutions that have marginalized us
(20:20):
for many years. And so that is the work that
we are doing and will continue to do. And I
do want to say also part of who we are
as an organization, I feel that we are the reflection
of the possibilities of our people.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
The future of the Trans Latina Coalition is bright. They're
projected to have a bigger headquarters by the year twenty
twenty seven.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
Because we are able to build, we are able to create,
and part of that, I do want to also say
that we are building a new center not far from here.
We purchase a twenty four thousand square foot space and
so we're building a three story building. So it's projected
that we have our own building in twenty twenty seven,
(21:07):
so two more years. So we're right now. We're going
through the process of getting permits and all of that.
So yeah, so we're building a thirty five million dollar building.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
We sat down with Bambi a few days before Trump's
inauguration for his second term in office. We ask Bambi
if Trump's administration changes anything for the Trans Latina Coalition.
Here's what she had to say.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
I think one of the things that it's important for
us to recognize Trump is latim better. When Sala del
systema trans gender, expansive and intersex people have historically have
been attacked and they have been multiple attempts to erase
our existence, right since the invasion of the colonizers, right,
(21:52):
And so they started doing that through this inductrination process,
right and really trying to erase in our cultures that
we trans people like that we're sacred people, right. And
so they have tried that for many years and many
(22:15):
different ways.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Right.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Yet we as trans people have always you know, overcome
that simply by being who we are, right like, simply
by believing our truth. And so they have not been
able to do that. What is different right now is
that it is more visible and more sembtaguensa, right because
(22:40):
of social media, because of how they have been able
to being you know, be well funded and well organized
to do the damage that they are going to do.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Right.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
I think it's important to recognize that for the past
ten years, more or less, right, there has been like
more visibilit about who we are as people. There has
been more visibility about how we are organizing, about how
we're building organizations, how we are empowering our people.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Right. Trans people have existed for centuries, and the trans
community might be at the center of right wing attacks,
but the existence of trans people is not new.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
We're going to ride the way right. I feel like
status fiando right, I don't know how to surfing right.
We're going to surf the way right. And so they
can try to do whatever they can do, but they're
not going to be able to erase our existence. If
they haven't been able to do that in five hundred years,
they're not going to be They're not going to do
(23:42):
that in four years. And so what we need to
do as an organization and as a community is to
really understand that we are not going to let them
intimidate us because we can also be a strategic We
can also play the way the system works, and we
can also change things that need to be changed within
the system. And so there's no coincidence right right now
(24:07):
they have the Senate, the House, and the Supreme Court. Right,
it's part of their strategy. But nonetheless, right like they're
gonna they're gonna be there for a minute. But whatever,
bitches like you, you can't. You cannot erase the divinity
(24:32):
of our people.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
During Trump's inauguration speech, he declared that only two genders
are recognized federally. In spite of this, Bambi says, our
commitment to each other and the movement should keep us going.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
We're gonna continue to thrive. They're not gonna win. They
cannot win. They have not won in five hundred years, right,
and so they're not gonna win. What I do want
to also say is that, yes, it could be scary,
everything that we hear and everything that is happening, right,
(25:07):
but we should not let our fears paralyze us.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Right.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
We should understand that we as people, individually and collectively,
we do have power, and we should exercise our power
in whatever way we can. And if we have to
shut it down, let's shut it down. But we just
have to do it right, because I think part of
the issue that is happening is that a lot of
(25:34):
people in different movements they think that that is not
my issue, right, There's there's a lot of complacency, right
that happens in different movements, right, which I also I
can definitely say that there's a lot of hypocrisy, right,
like in different movements. Right, that simples, But we're not
(26:01):
even united. You don't even want to be united. When
you don't bring trans people into the whole, then you're
part of the problem, right, Like you are an oppressor
and you're pushing us to be part of the margins right,
and I think we need to be truthful.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Bamb Be leaves us with some final words to her
younger self.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
I would say my younger self that you're okay, that
you're going to be okay. You're amazing and beautiful and
powerful and incredible, and you are going to grow to
be who you're destined to be, and that regardless of
(26:44):
what happens in your life, you have a path to walk,
and you should walk your path with grace and dignity,
and don't be distracted. Just keep on going, regardless of
the pain, regardless of the oppression, Just face whatever comes
(27:08):
your way by walk your path with thin and grace.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
What I learned from this conversation with Bambi is really
important for liberal listeners that transphobia doesn't end when we
elect a liberal or democratic politician into office. According to Bambi,
transphobia transcends politics and political parties. It's a constant threat,
and we all have to keep our heads on a
(27:33):
swivel and work within our communities to eradicate transphobia wherever
it exists.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Next time on Senora Sex said, we're joined by Madi.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
It was until I found like an in person kids communities.
I started connecting those thoughts. Funny enough, I was just like, oh,
just stuff you do when you grow up, and then
you meet other people and it's like, no, nobody does that.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Nomos Chow Senora Sex Said is a co production between
Locata Productions and Michael Dura Podcast Network.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
This show is executive produced by Mala Munos Andosa Femme.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Also executive produced by Jasell.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Fances, produced by Stephanie Franco.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Creative direction by Mala Munios.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Story editing by biosafem.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Music direction by Grissol Lomeli
Speaker 2 (28:23):
And music produced by Brian Gaza s
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