First LGBT member of Guatemala Congress

The Washington Blade speaks with Sandra Morán Reyes, the first openly LGBT person elected to Guatemala’s Congress.

Morán, 56, in 1981 sought exile in neighboring Mexico amid Guatemala’s civil war. She lived in Nicaragua and Canada before returning to Guatemala in 1994.

Morán over the last two decades has become a prominent figure within the Guatemalan women’s and feminist movements. She has also publicly supported LGBT-specific issues in the Central American country.

Morán told the Blade there was a “positive reaction” to her campaign among LGBT Guatemalans because it was the first time there was a congressional candidate “who is like them.”

“When I won (the community) was truly very happy,” she said. “There would finally be a representation in the Congress from a sexually diverse background.”

Morán will head the Convergencia por la Revolucion Democratica (CRD) bloc in Congress. Convergencia is a leftist party established in June 2014 by the Alternativa Nueva Nación (ANN) and six labor organizations and indigenous councils. It won three seats in September and, as far as I can tell, it still has them following last week's massive transfuguismo.