US lists transgender Brazilian congresswoman’s gender as ‘male’ on visa

A transgender Brazilian congresswoman says the U.S. issued her a visa that listed her gender as “male.”

Erika Hilton on Wednesday wrote on her Instagram page that she requested a visa that would have allowed her to travel to the U.S. in order to participate in the Brazil Conference at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The conference took place earlier this month.

“I was classified as ‘male’ by the U.S. government when I went to get my visa,” wrote Hilton, who added a visa she received from the U.S. in 2023 listed her gender as “female.”

Hilton is a Black travesti and former sex worker from São Paulo who won a seat in the Brazilian Congress in 2022. The Washington Blade spoke with Hilton shortly after her election.

“It is a big responsibility … but I feel very honored,” said Hilton. “I very much like to be able to be a representative for my people, and the more than 250,000 people who voted for me have confidence in me,” she said after she spoke at a rally in support of now Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a São Paulo square. “This demonstrates that our work has the potential to have a gigantic reach; where we can advance efforts to end death, poverty, misery, genocide that we have.”

President Donald Trump in his inaugural speech announced the federal government’s “official policy” is “there are only two genders, male and female.” The Trump-Vance administration has also banned the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers.

Germany and Denmark are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S. These warnings come ahead of WorldPride, which is scheduled to take place in D.C. from May 17-June 8.

Hilton said she is “not surprised” the U.S. issued her a visa with a male gender marker.

“I’m also not surprised by the level of hatred and fixation these people have with trans people,” she said. “After all, the documents I presented are rectified, and I’m registered as a woman, even on my birth certificate.”

Hilton further accused the U.S. of “ignoring official documents from other sovereign nations, even from a diplomatic representative.”

“At the end of the day, I’m a Brazilian citizen, and my rights are guaranteed and my existence is respected by our own constitution, legislation, and jurisprudence,” she said.

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Editor’s note: Duda Salabert, another transgender Brazilian congresswoman, also said the U.S. listed her gender as “male” on her American visa.