journaly

Monday, June
Dear Diary, 16th, 2023

My name is Alex, and I am writing to you today

to tell you about a classmate I met today in
ethics class. Her name is Ana, she comes from
Colombia and is 20 years old - which is quite
a bit younger than me. She is very intelligent,
in fact, she won a scholarship at the
university due to her intelligence and as her
family comes from a low economic
background.
Something different about her is that she
dresses as a woman, identifies as a woman,
but her physical appearance has some male
traits. Among the topics that we covered in
class today - which included ethics, morals,
what is legal or illegal, sympathy and
empathy - Ana intervened to tell us about
something very personal that had happened
in her life.
Her family, being very Catholic, imposed
certain behaviors and rules that she had to
follow while living with them in Columbia.
However, Ana did not feel comfortable with
these rules, so she left her family and
traveled to Ecuador 3 years ago to start a
new life as a transsexual woman. In order for
her to look as much like a woman as possible
she has undergone a surgical operation and Tuesday, June
hormone therapy.

17th, 2023

Dear Diary,

I'm Alex, I want to tell you a little more

about my friend Ana, yesterday she told
us a little about her life, but today she
took the time to explain a little more
about what it's like to be a transsexual
woman. She goes through many
problems in her day-to-day life, such as
discrimination and violence, not only
within her family but also when looking
for a job, and seeking public health care
- all so the government of her country
will recognize her as a “her” on Ana’s
identity card. The change of gender from
male to female takes a very long time,
more or less 2 years, and when she
presents her identity card, her first and
last names assigned at birth, which is
Juan Garzón, continue to appear. These
types of problems have caused great
damage to her mental health, but she is
supported by the LGTBTI+ community
and by her friends who have never left
her alone during this process.

Wednesday

, June 18th, 2023

Dear Diary,

I'm Alex, today in our ethics class, Ana our

new friend told us about one of the
experiences she had in Colombia - which
made her decide to travel to Ecuador to
live. One day when she went to a health
center, a doctor wanted to address her
as the name on her ID, Juan Garzón, but
she told him that she identified herself as
Ana Garzón. Ana being a medical student
in her country and having gone through
an ethics class prior to that experience
reminded the doctor that deontology
requires professionals to provide quality
care to all people regardless of their
gender identity. This involves respecting
the autonomy and self-determination of
trans people, as well as providing them
with access to appropriate medium
treatments, such as hormone therapy or
gender reassignment surgery, if they
desire and if established clinical criteria
are met. The doctor ended up
apologising, but she couldn't take it
anymore for all the things that happened
to her there - so she moved to Ecuador.
Today she is happy studying the career
she wants and sharing her thoughts and
decisions which happened at such an
early age, so that they are an example to
others of freedom.