Rusly Cachina Esapa (born ) is an

Equatoguinean Demographic features of the population of Equatorial Guinea include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Population According to ...

transgender rights The legal status of transgender people varies greatly around the world. Some countries have enacted laws protecting the rights of transgender individuals, but others have criminalized their gender identity or expression. In many cases, transg ...

activist based in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. She is a co-founder of the organization Somos Parte del Mundo.

Early life and education

Rusly Cachina Esapa was born in

Malabo Malabo ( , ; formerly ) is the capital of Equatorial Guinea in the province of Bioko Norte. It is located on the north coast of the island of Bioko (, and as ''Fernando Pó'' by the Europeans). In 2018, the city had a population of approxim ...

, Equatorial Guinea, . From a young age, Cachina has identified as a

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

woman. She faced abuse from her teachers at school, leading her to drop out before finishing her baccalaureate. She has a

twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...

brother who is a transgender man.

Career

In 2016, Cachina co-founded the

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

rights

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

Somos Parte del Mundo. The group aims to fight homophobia and transphobia, and provide education on LGBTQ issues. It also provides professional training to help LGBTQ people enter the labor market. In her work with the organization since its founding, she has focused her activism on encouraging dialogue and emphasizing the brutal oppression of transgender people in Equatorial Guinea, especially transgender women, who, according to Esapa, are often forced to turn to prostitution to survive, suffering violence and contracting

STIs The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) is a spectrograph, also with a camera mode, installed on the Hubble Space Telescope. Aerospace engineer Bruce Woodgate of the Goddard Space Flight Center was the principal investigator and creator ...

. She also offers mental and physical health support for those in need. In 2022, Cachina went into exile from her country and settled in Spain, fleeing a situation in which transgender women are beaten and poisoned to death on a daily basis. Since her emigration to Spain, she has continued her work as an activist. In December 2023, she participated in the first conference on the rights of LGBTQ migrants in Spain, organized by the Spanish refugee assistance NGO Comisión Española de Ayuda al Refugiado (CEAR). She also, in March 2024, participated alongside the activists Yun Ping, Biel Navarro, Andre Zuloeta and Nayare Soledad Otorongx in a

Spanish Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture (MC) is the Spanish government departments, department of the Spanish government, Government of Spain responsible for the promotion, protection and dissemination of the Spanish Historical Heritage, Spanish historical herit ...

event discussing transgender issues. In addition, she has worked with the LGBTQ refugee NGO Migrantia and the activist group {{Interlanguage link, Arcópoli, es.

References

1996 births People from Malabo Equatoguinean transgender women Equatoguinean exiles Equatoguinean emigrants to Spain Transgender rights activists Equatoguinean activists Living people 21st-century Equatoguinean LGBTQ people