CW: Sexual Assault, Suicide, Overdose, Physical Assault
On Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, the Pomona Student Union in collaboration with Health Bridges invited Bamby Salcedo, a prominent transgender Latina activist, to Pomona College’s Rose Hills Theater for a lecture as part of the Power Series and Gender and Health Series. The event was supported by Claremont McKenna College’s Berger Institute, the Pomona Gender and Women’s Studies program and the Queer Resource Center.
Abigail Krenz PO ’26, a student organizer for Health Bridges, spoke to the process of contacting Salcedo and the goals of Health Bridges.
“I reached out to Bamby [Salcedo] in August and she agreed to come … This is part of our project to amplify conversations about health inequity and also to talk about transgender justice and health justice for women,” Krenz said. “It [is] a way to start conversations among community members about health equity and also share with the 5C community about the work that Health Bridges is doing.”
Salcedo is the founder of Angels of Change, an annual calendar and runway show for transgender and gender nonconforming youth, in addition to serving as the president and CEO of the TransLatin@ Coalition (TLC), a grassroots agency focused on addressing specific needs of transgender and nonconforming Latina immigrants living in the United States.
During the talk, Salcedo gave the audience insight into her experience as an immigrant Latina transgender woman, taking listeners through her life story.
Salcedo strutted onto the stage in a bright pink suit, opening by expressing her gratitude for transgender and gender nonconforming individuals.
“Thank you for your existence, your beauty [and] your amazingness; I see you and I love you,” she said. “We are always told we are not who we are supposed to be, [but] I want to simply tell you that I love you.”
She continued by detailing her life in Guadalajara, Mexico and the struggles she endured from early childhood before beginning her journey to the United States.
“My father left and my mother was left alone to raise us,” Salcedo said. “I was told to be the man of the house. But there was something in me that was not clicking with what people were telling me I was supposed to be.”
As an escape from her confining home environment, she sought out support in other forms. She joined one of the only LGBTQIA+ clubs in her community, the El Grupo Orgullo Homosexual de Liberación (GOHL). The club provided sexual health education, support and contraceptives.
When she turned 18, Salcedo left Guadalajara for Los Angeles and began her gender transition. She recalled how being accepted into a treatment facility in the United States marked a hopeful beginning of this journey.
Salcedo reflected on her experience at these facilities and how her identity affected the care she received. She also noted treatment as being the time she began her involvement with social justice issues.
“The treatments I used to be at, I was the only trans woman there,” she said. “So there was also a lot of violence, both from people who were in treatment but also from people who were part of the staff. Even [from the] management, because they didn’t have [any] clue how to even deal with people like myself.”
While Salcedo was in the transitional housing program, she found employment at a social justice organization, propelling her into an activist career focused on the unmet needs of the transgender community.
“There were a lot of young trans people who didn’t have the resources to get their healthcare and the hormonal treatment and stuff like that,” she said. “And that’s why we created this project, Angels of Change.”
After producing Angels of Change, Salcedo found herself at the head of TLC which also follows many of Salcedo’s values of change and power in identity.
“[The coalition members] also believe in influencing change in the institutions that marginalize us,” Salcedo said. “We know that we need to build our economic power, political power and academic power. We need to make sure that we are integrated into the tapestry of our society and that’s what we are doing as an organization.”
The crowd of students in the theater listened silently as Salcedo began to recount the hardships she confronted as part of her identity as an immigrant transgender woman.
“For me, it’s important not to forget where I come from,” she said. “It’s important that I recognize that I am one of the chosen few, to be honest with you. I survived homelessness, I survived sexual assault, I survived incarceration, I survived suicidal [thoughts]. I survived overdose. I survived beatings and you know, I had guns pointed to my head, I’ve been chased out of neighborhoods, I’ve been stabbed. I’ve been stoned … I am a miracle.”
Maggie Zhang PO ’26 asked the first question of the event’s Q&A, asking Salcedo to visualize her ideal world.
“What do you want the world to be, or your world to be, or your communities?” Zhang said. “What that would look like, without boundary or restriction, just how it feels or smells or sounds?”
Salcedo replied by instead describing the way she approaches her day-to-day personal life.
“One of the things that is important for me is that I try to stay in the present,” she said. “Although I do have a vision for our community, I only have today and I try to live by today. I try to be humble and grateful for what I have today and at night [and] also recollect everything about my day and try to be better the next day.”
When asked what advice she would give young transgender people today, Salcedo thought for a minute before giving her reply.
“To understand that you have power,” Salcedo said. “Not just as an individual but also collectively. There is a whole movement that is doing a lot of amazing work to make sure that there is a better tomorrow for all of us, despite the fact that the world tells us that we’re not supposed to exist and that we’re not supposed to be who we are … Just be you without caring what others think of you.”
