Tchinda Andrade (1979 – 29 November 2024) was a Cape Verdean
LGBT activist
A list of notable LGBTQ social movements, LGBTQ rights activists who have worked to advance LGBTQ rights by political change, legal action or publication. Ordered by country, alphabetically.
Albania
* Xheni Karaj, founder of Aleanca LGBT org ...
and
event manager
Event management is the application of project management to the creation and development of small and/or large-scale personal or corporate events such as festivals, conferences, ceremonies, weddings, formal parties, concerts, or conventions. ...
. Andrade was the first
trans woman
A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...
in Cape Verde to
come out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...
publicly and quickly became a leading figure in the country's LGBT community, with the country's trans women coming to be known colloquially as "tchindas". Since her coming out, LGBT rights in Cape Verde have experienced notable progress, with the country becoming the most LGBT-friendly in Africa. Andrade has also become a leading organiser of the carnival on her island of São Vicente, which was the subject of the 2015 documentary ''
Tchindas
''Tchindas'' is a 2015 Spanish-Cape Verdean documentary film directed by Pablo García Pérez de Lara and Marc Serena. The film premiered at the Outfest Los Angeles 2015 where it received a Grand Jury Award.
Plot
In the Atlantic Ocean, the ...
''.
Biography
Tchinda Andrade was born in a working-class neighbourhood of the city of
, on the island of São Vicente. She worked in one of the city's bars and sold '' coxinhas'' as street food. She began dressing in feminine clothing during the 1990s, but remained
closeted
''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for LGBTQ people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior. This metaphor is associated and sometime ...
for most of this time.
In 1998, Andrade became the first LGBT person to
come out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...
publicly in Cape Verde. That year, dressed in feminine clothing, she joined the women's section at the local carnival, which immediately drew attention towards her. She was interviewed by a journalist, who wrote an article about her titled "Tchinda-val!", making her a local celebrity overnight. This was at a time when, according to her, "all homosexuals n Cape Verdewere in the closet."
Soon after coming out, Andrade was assaulted at a concert in
Praia
Praia (, Portuguese for "beach") is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde.Cesaria Evora paying for her medical bills. Andrade responded to the discrimination by preaching tolerance to the island's young people. Since then, Cape Verde has transformed into the most LGBT-friendly country in Africa. According to Catalan journalist
Marc Serena
Marc Serena (born 1983), is a Spanish filmmaker, journalist and author. He is most notable as the director of critically acclaimed African documentaries such as ''Tchindas'', ''Peixos d'aigua dolça'' and ''The Writer from a Country Without Book ...
, the small, close-knit community of São Vicente provided a fertile environment for the development of a more tolerant culture. Cape Verdean sociologist Claudia Rodrigues has additionally attributed the country's LGBT tolerance to its history of
gender equality
Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...
, which was established through the feminist policies of the anti-colonial leader
Amílcar Cabral
Amílcar Lopes Cabral (; – ) was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, political organizer, and diplomat. He was one of Africa's foremost anti-colonial leaders. He was also a pan-Africanist and intellectual nationalist ...
. Although the country has become more tolerant, Andrade herself has noted that there have continued to be problems with discrimination, which she said has made it difficult for her to have lasting relationships. She noted that discrimination is particularly visible in the country's capital city, as well as when people from other African countries visit the islands. Serena reports some Senegalese people
kneeling
Kneeling is a basic human position where one or both knees touch the ground. According to Merriam-Webster, kneeling is defined as "to position the body so that one or both knees rest on the floor". Kneeling with only one knee, and not both, is ca ...
in
prayer
File:Prayers-collage.png, 300px, alt=Collage of various religionists praying – Clickable Image, Collage of various religionists praying ''(Clickable image – use cursor to identify.)''
rect 0 0 1000 1000 Shinto festivalgoer praying in front ...
upon seeing Andrade and other trans people in Cape Verde.
Andrade quickly became a leading figure within the country's LGBT community, gaining enough fame that Cape Verdean trans people are now colloquially referred to as "tchindas". Andrade herself attributed this to the fact that, before her coming out,
Cape Verdean Creole
Cape Verdean Creole is a Portuguese-based creole languages, Portuguese-based creole language spoken on the islands of Cape Verde. It is the native creole language of virtually all Cape Verdeans and is used as a second language by the Cape Verd ...
had no words to describe LGBT people. She also recalled that her name being so widely used has caused her issues with
mistaken identity
Mistaken identity is a defense in criminal law which claims the actual innocence of the criminal defendant, and attempts to undermine evidence of guilt by asserting that any eyewitness to the crime incorrectly thought that they saw the defend ...
. In 2011, Andrade and other transgender activists established the Cape Verdean Gay Association (AGC), which aimed to provide visibility for the country's LGBT community. In June 2013, the organisation held the country's first Pride week, the second on the African continent, during which it organised parades and a live music festival.
Before long Andrade began overseeing the island's local
carnival
Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras.
Carnival typi ...
, for which she put together floats and costumes, and coordinated the choreography. Cesaria Evora has praised it as the "best carnival in Africa." In 2013, Marc Serena and Pablo Garcia Perez de Lara made a film focusing on Andrade and other LGBT organisers of the Mindelo carnival. The film, titled ''
Tchindas
''Tchindas'' is a 2015 Spanish-Cape Verdean documentary film directed by Pablo García Pérez de Lara and Marc Serena. The film premiered at the Outfest Los Angeles 2015 where it received a Grand Jury Award.
Plot
In the Atlantic Ocean, the ...
'', premiered at
Outfest
Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
in 2015. At a screening of the film in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, Andrade remarked that she hoped the film would provide hope to LGBT people from other African countries and the rest of the world: "so they can see it's possible to be African and gay or trans and have people respect them."
On 29 November 2024, Andrade died from an illness at the Baptista de Sousa Hospital, in Mindelo. She was 45. Her death was announced by the National Human Rights Commission, which described her as a "pioneer for equality".