Always wearing her signature sun hat and large bangle bracelets, Soraya Santiago Solla would bristle when constantly asked about the dreaded “t-word.” She knew she was a trailblazer, revered in some circles for being the first person in Puerto Rico to change the gender originally designated on a birth certificate.
But she would not accept being called “transsexual.” She was a woman, her documents proved it, and that was that. “I don’t permit anyone here in Puerto Rico or anywhere to tell me that I am transsexual,” Ms.