MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay | The first openly transgender lawmaker in Uruguay died April 22.
Michelle Suárez, 39, in 2014 won a seat in the Uruguayan Senate. She was an alternative senator without full voting privileges until October 2017.
Suárez during an interview with the Washington Blade said she felt “very honored” to have made history in the South American country that borders Brazil and Argentina.
She was the first trans woman to graduate from an Uruguayan university and was the first trans lawyer in the country. Suárez also wrote Uruguay’s same-sex marriage law that took effect in 2013.
Suárez resigned from the Senate in December 2017 amid allegations she forged legal documents.
El País, a Uruguayan newspaper, reported in 2019 a court sentenced Suárez to two years of house arrest and two years of probation. Suárez was also banned from holding public office and working as a lawyer until 2023.
Uruguayan media reports indicate Suárez had been in the hospital with a “cardiac problem” when she died.
Sergio Miranda, the director of the Diversity Secretariat in Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital, mourned Suárez.
“I am profoundly saddened by the news of the death of Michelle Suárez, a key Trans activist in the fight for LGBTIQ+ rights and author of the Marriage Equality Law in Uruguay,” tweeted Miranda April 22.
Lamento profundamente la noticia del fallecimiento de Michelle Suárez, activista trans fundamental en la lucha por los derechos LGBTIQ+ y redactora de la Ley de Matrimonio Igualitario en Uruguay.
— sergimiranda (@sergimiranda) April 22, 2022
