Hello from Santo Domingo! My name is Gaby Sandor, and I am currently completing my practicum with the Instituto Dermatológico Dominicano y Cirugía de Piel “Dr. Huberto Bogaert Díaz.” This summer, I am working on the GAP (Gender-affirming Abriendo Puertas (Opening Doors)) project, which aims to reduce stigma and increase social cohesion among transgender women with HIV in Santo Domingo. One of my first tasks has been to review recorded interviews with GAP participants. In these interviews, participants share their experiences as trans women, including exploring their gender and sexual identities, finding out their HIV diagnosis, and identifying support networks. GAP participants have also told stories of being rejected by their family, of keeping their trans identity a secret, of the difficulties of navigating their health and wellbeing in a society that largely does not accept them for who they are. Though I have not met these women in person, I am deeply grateful to be able to hear their stories, to be invited into a world so different from my own.
Since arriving in Santo Domingo, I’ve also had the honor of meeting many of the clinical and community-based partners who are involved in the GAP project, some of whom who are central to the liberation movement for trans women in Santo Domingo and the Dominican Republic more broadly. One of these activists, Chris King, the executive director of TRANSSA, one of GAP’s community partners, was involved in the creation of Media Luna (Half Moon), a short documentary about trans women in the Dominican Republic. Media Luna reflects much of what I’ve been hearing while reviewing interviews with GAP participants, and I invite you, reader, to take a moment to watch this powerful film. I also implore you to hold present that though Media Luna shares stories that belong to many, these are ultimately not the stories of all. Just as there are stories of pain, violence, and rejection, there are also stories of joy, of sisterhood, of hope, and of resilience. The reality of trans women in the Dominican Republic is nuanced beyond what we, as outsiders, can comprehend. Media Luna allows us a brief view into these realities, plural. As Sabrina Moderno, a local trans activist and leader who has since passed, shares in the film, “All this darkness that they see in me, doesn’t exist. It’s just a light that many people aren’t able to see.”
Please note that Media Luna contains graphic stories of gender-based violence.
Gaby