Nadia Echazú
Nadia Echazú was human rights activist from Argentina, who was a founder of the Organization of Transvestis and Transsexuals of Argentina. The Nadia Echazú Textile Cooperative is named in her honour; it trains transgender people, with the aim of facilitating their integration into the economy. Echazú is cited in the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy as a key thinker in the development of Trans Philosophy in Argentina.
Early life
Born in Salta, Echazú moved to Córdoba in the 1980s where she worked as a sex worker in the Second Police Precinct. Between 1993 and 1994 she moved to Buenos Aires.Activism
In the 1990s, along with activists Lohana Berkins, Diana Sacayán and Marlene Wayar, Echazú fought against the creation of ghettos for the travesti and transgender communities in the cities of Córdoba and Buenos Aires. In Córdoba she co-founded the Association Against Homosexual Discrimination with bar owner Eugenio Cesano. In Buenos Aires she was an activist with the Association of Transvestis of Argentina and later a founder of the Organization of Transvestis and Transsexuals of Argentina. She was a strong proponent of the legal rights of travesti people.From 1995 to 1998 Argentine police had the authority to detain people who appeared in public and were pereceived to be transgender. In 2001 Echazú was arrested, whilst handing out condoms and HIV advice. She had tear gas sprayed in her face and was tortured during her subsequent detention. The arrest was reported on Amnesty International.
Despite living in Buenos Aires, Echazú regularly visited friends in Córdoba. One visit in 2000 coincided with the death in police custody of Vanesa Ledesma, her death precipitate the first transgender marches in Córdoba, which Echazú helped organise.
Echazú died on 18 July 2004 of HIV at Muñiz Hospital.
Legacy
In 2008 the activist collective she was active in launched a workers' cooperative bearing her name - the Nadia Echazú Textile Cooperative. It was co-founded by Marlene Wayer. This enterprise has been recognized by national and international institutions and organizations and promotes social integration, an idea outlined by Echazú to lift trans women out of the marginalization and prostitution to which they were relegated. It is located in the Crucecita neighborhood of Avellaneda, provided by the National Institute of Associanalism and Social Economy. At this centre, training and experience are offered to other transgender people, with the aim of facilitating their integration into the economy.Echazú is cited in the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy as a key thinker in the development of Trans Philosophy in Argentina.