ALEJANDRA ORTIZ

Alejandra Ortiz is a renowned writer, who fled violence and transphobia in Mexico. In The Netherlands she has established a language center, organized symposiums and co-authored research reports, all to improve the position of trans refugees. Alejandra wrote her autobiography The Truth Will Free Me about her youth, her life as a transgender woman, her quest for a safe place to be herself, and her asylum application process in The Netherlands. At the Rooted Festival, Alejandra will share an inspirational reading.

“To belong is to be fully embraced. To be accepted as an integral part of a family, a group, a belief, an ideal, a land. In the hegemonic hetero-patriarchal society in which we live, carving a place for one to exist with all of our intersecting identities, but especially to belong, is not easy. There is always resistance to what deviates from the norm. There are barriers put in place to stop or block what does not fit within the current parameters of acceptability. But as history shows us, these parameters keep on changing.” – Alejandra Ortiz