Ana Lupez, pioneering transgender actress and cabaret star, dies at 82https://www.thepinknews.com/2026/10/16/ana-lupez-death-2026-transgender-activist-performer/ 🔗Sian Thompson (16 Oct 2026)
Trailblazing transgender actress and dancer Ana Lupez has died aged 82, leaving behind a decades-long legacy of performances that helped open doors for queer entertainers across South America and Europe.
Lupez died in the early hours of Wednesday (14 October) in Mendoza, Argentina, from heart cancer, LGBTQ Nation reports. She was one of the first Argentine women to undergo gender-affirming surgery and became a celebrated performer at a time when transgender people faced widespread discrimination, harassment and the threat of arrest.
Born on 28 March 1944 in Guaymallén, Argentina, Lupez knew from childhood that she was a girl, despite being raised in a society that regarded transgender identities as an illness or moral failing.
According to Argentine newspaper Diario Uno, she recalled experiencing panic attacks when her mother insisted on dressing her in boys' clothes. Her mother eventually took her to hospital in an attempt to understand what was happening.
"From a young age, I believed I was a girl and behaved like one," Lupez said. "My poor mother didn't understand and took me to the doctor to be 'cured'."
In 1986, Lupez underwent gender-affirming surgery in Barcelona, describing the experience as a profound personal liberation.
"I was the first trans woman to have surgery in Spain... when the law was passed, and was the first Argentinian to do so, when nobody [in Argentina] talked about it," she said.
"For me, it was an indescribable liberation, because for me, of everything I've achieved in my life, my greatest triumph was becoming a woman."-----------------------
@Sarah B
