SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL — It's not easy being queer in Brazil, especially for transgender and "travesti" (basically, a genderqueer person who uses female pronouns) residents. Members of these populations are marginalized in society, and as a result, often end up as prostitutes or living on the streets.
A revolutionary program in São Paulo, dubbed Transcidadania, aims to change this fate. The program — the first of its kind in the world — offers cash, housing, psychological support, and education to 100 transgender and travesti residents for two years. By the time the program is finished, most participants will have finished high school (sometimes decades after they first left school) and will be on their way to getting jobs.
Already, government officials from Uruguay, the US, and other parts of Brazil are looking into the program to see what they can learn from it — and whether it is replicable.
The inaugural batch of participants in Transcidadania, which launched in 2014, are now working through their first year of the program. Below, a look at their hopes and dreams.