Erika Hilton, one of Brazil's first trans legislators, celebrates Lula's presidential victory

This story originally appeared on Them.

Erika Hilton, one of the first trans people in Brazil elected to the country’s National Congress, is celebrating the reelection of President Luiz Inácio da Silva, known mononymously as Lula, in the face of a challenge from far-right candidate, Flávio Bolsonaro. Hilton had played a prominent role in Lula’s campaign against the younger Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, whom Lula previously defeated in 2022.

“That’s my president. I never doubted you, President,” she said in Portuguese in a selfie-style video posted to social media, showing her cheek to cheek with Silva amid a crowd of supporters.

The win marks not just the reelection of a progressive leader in Brazil, but also a symbolic victory amid a broader tilt toward right-wing leadership in South America. LGBTQ+ advocates also see Lula’s win as a milestone for safeguarding protections for LGBTQ+ Brazilians, as the president has long been a supporter of marriage equality, transgender rights, having created the “Brazil Without Homophobia” campaign in 2004. Brazil has become a leader in LGBTQ+ protections for the region, legalizing same-sex marriage in 2013, two years before the United States did the same; allowing same-sex adoption, and permitting trans people the right to select the gender marker that correponds to their identity without a surgical requirement.

Bolsonaro, a conservative politician in the mold of his father, had pushed a campaign that largely demonized LGBTQ+ people save for a last-minute appeal, supported the restriction of reproductive rights, and endorsed the deregulation of agribusiness practices that advocates said would contribute to deforestation of the Amazon.

Lula’s reelection was seen as an uncertain prospect after the incumbent, who previously served as president from 2003 to January 2011, lost the narrow first-round election. The campaign boasted support from young progressives and working-class leftist organizations like the Socialism and Liberty Party, or PSOL.

Hilton, a Black trans organizer from Franco da Rocha, São Paulo, Hilton, played a key director role in the campaign, campaigning heavily for Lula. Hilton began her political career in 2016, gaining national attention as she organized for trans rights in the nation. In 2018, she joined PSOL.

Since being elected to the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo, becoming the first trans woman to do so, Hilton has only become a more influential force in electoral politics. In 2022, she became one of the first two trans women Brazilian voters sent to the National Congress. As a deputy of the PSOL, Hilton has become a popular public presence, encouraging voters to the polls both at rallies, and using her sizable social media presence.

“We are witnessing a very violent rise of fascism in Latin America, supported by the U.S. government under Donald Trump,” she said during a recent rally in the street to engage voters, per El País. “The Brazilian election will symbolize Latin America’s democratic resistance.”

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