Trans women soccer team becomes pride of Mexico City neighborhood

Mexico City, Oct 5 (EFE).- Mexico City’s iconic and humble Tepito neighborhood celebrates La Gardenias, a 50-year football team of trans women.

“In other neighborhoods, there may be teams of trans women,” Melany, a member of the team who has taken her nine-month child for his first game, tells Efe.

 “In Tepito, knowing that there are machos and that it is a rough neighborhood, to have a team and that they respect us is something very surprising,” she added.

Every year, Las Gardenias play during Saint Francis of Assisi’s festivities in a venue located in the heart of Tepito.

The stadium is packed with fun, passion for football and admiration for Las Gardenias and the rest of the teams.

With her participation, Jessica wants to draw attention to the community, but also to the sport.

“We want to play more to promote the sport for the LGBT community because we also exist at work, in studies, in culture or in sport,” she said.

Many of them can notice the difference between when they started playing to now.

“When I entered the field for the first time with all the girls, my father came in and kicked me out because there was machismo. But I did not care and I went back to play,” Melany said.

They started playing for fun when they were young, but with Las Gardenias it was more than just a game.