“I want to be the first transvestite in the Federal Senate”, says Erika Hilton

Este artigo também está disponível em:
Português

At the age of 28, an article in the Constitution prevents councilwoman Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP) from running for vice governor of São Paulo: she is not yet old enough – 30 years old – until October 2022, to run the post. “Everyone wants me to come deputy to [Guilherme] Boulos for the government of São Paulo, but I’m too young for that,”she said in an interview for Marie Claire magazine, published this Tuesday (23)..

Asked if she would accept if she could, Erika replied: “Maybe so. But I don’t look at the Executive as a will. I like the Legislative Power much more. My desire is to be a senator of Brazil”.. The activist is the first trans person to hold a seat at the City Council of São Paulo.

For Erika, being the first trans person among the councilors of São Paulo is not something that should be read only as a great achievement, achieved through the struggle of trans women and transvestites for the occupation of spaces. “Being the first in 2020 shows that those who came before me couldn’t get there. So, I see this as a very serious denunciation of the erasure and the violence that affect our existence”, emphasizes the councilor.

In addition to stating that her desire is “to be the first transvestite in the Federal Senate”, Erika was also asked about the possibility of being president of the republic. “[…] I like to dream about this possibility. But maybe today, understanding politics and its backstage, I don’t want to be in that place”, pointed out the councilor.

In 2020, Erika was elected with 50,508 votes, being the most voted woman for vereança in the entire country in that election. She also spoke to Marie Claire about her reaction when she learned of the result: “I got paralyzed. And then very happy. Dammit, it worked out so much. And how great it was that I was myself, this project, this body that got it. […] Now, in no way did I think I would be the best voted woman in the entire country right after Bolsonaro’s election.”