Transgender Rural Californians Face Hate Crimes
By Jorge Amaro on February 19, 2010
http://www.hispanicla.com/archive/transgender-rural-californians-face-hate-crimes/Sandra Hinojosa, a transgender woman, shares her story of tribulation and triumph as an agricultural worker
Sandra Hinojosa was raised along with her 10 siblings by her single mother. A native of Santiago, a small town in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, her mother "washed other people's clothes, made tortillas to sell, and sold dinner at night," says Sandra. ""It was she that helped us move forward. But none of us went to high school."
Like most immigrants, Sandra arrived to the United States looking for work and new opportunities. A little over ten years ago she moved to Gonzalez, a rural town 20 minutes outside of Salinas, California, and found work as an agricultural worker with the help of her older sister. "My first job was cutting lettuce," she says, "I worked 8 years for the same company." It is also around this time, that Sandra began transitioning from male to female, with the support of her family and friends.
