Luana Mansilla: Changing gender aged six

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 November 2024

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 2013, a six-year-old from Argentina became one of the youngest people in the world to legally have their gender changed on official documents through self-declaration.

It followed the introduction of the Gender Identity Act in 2012, that aimed to reduce the exclusion of transgender people.

But as Luana's mother Gabriela Mansilla reveals, the fight for recognition wasn’t easy. Gabriela speaks to Madeleine Drury.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Luana hugging her mother Gabriela Mansilla in 2015. Credit: AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one.
0:06.5	I'm Sadata Sese, an assistant commissioner of podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:11.1	I pull a lot of levers to support a diverse range of podcasts on all sorts of subjects,
0:16.0	relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life.
0:22.4	So one day I'll be helping host develop their ideas, the next fact-checking, a feature,
0:28.3	and the next looking at how a podcast connects with its audience.
0:32.3	And maybe that's you.
0:33.6	So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds.
0:42.2	Music So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds. Hello, welcome to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Madeline Drury.
0:48.5	I'm taking you back to Argentina in 2013 when a mother fought for recognition for her transgender daughter,
0:55.3	following a new law that allowed people to self-identify their gender on official documents.
1:02.4	I was very afraid, and it is the same fear I have today that I have when my daughter goes out on the street.
1:09.2	But someone had to do it.
1:12.6	Gabriela Mancilla Mancilla welcomed her twin boys into the world in 2007.
1:14.6	Their early childhood was difficult.
1:17.6	One of the twins started identifying herself as a girl.
1:20.6	She later chose the name Luana.
1:23.6	My memories are sometimes not so pleasant or so joyful,
1:26.6	because the truth is that Luana suffered a lot.
1:30.3	We did not understand what was happening to her when she was very young, and the memories, perhaps, I have, of her incessant crying, of not being able to sleep, of her self-harming.
1:42.2	It was only when she could say and express it in words.
1:48.6	She told me, me, girl, me, princess, when she was two years old.
	...

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