Argentina passes an affirmative-action law for trans people

PAMELA ROCCHI was born a boy, but felt from an early age she was a girl. At 16 she was kicked out of school for responding angrily when a teacher called her by her birth name. She moved to a city far from her home town of Alcorta in central Argentina and worked for two years as a prostitute. Now, aged 35, she is back in Alcorta, where she works in local government and is running to be the town’s president.

Although trans people are often poor and occasionally the victims of hate crimes, life has lately become much easier for them. In 2012 Argentina became the first country in the world to allow individuals to change their gender on legal documents without permission from a doctor or judge—a process known as gender self-identification. Argentina’s law is “still considered the gold standard among activists around the world”, says Maria Sjödin of OutRight Action International, an advocacy group. Gender-reassignment surgery and hormone therapy are paid for by medical insurance.