Maria Luiza da Silva

Maria Luiza

Marcelo Díaz

Maria Luiza da Silva

The first transgender in the brazilian army, Maria Luiza's story begins in Ceres (Goiás, Brazil), where she was born in July 20, 1960 - the same day we celebrate Santos Dummont's birthday, patron of the Brazilian Aviation. Since she was a child, she didn't consider herself as a boy. During puberty, she went through a vocal cord scraping process and a hormonal treatment to become manlier. Depressed, she dropped out of school. At 18 she enlisted in the Air Force, and being completely in love with airplanes, she saw an opportunity there. She was drafted into the military in 1979. It marked the beginning of 22 years of service as a military aircraft mechanic in Brasilia.