SANTIAGO, Chile — A bill that would give transgender Chileans the right to change their name and gender marker in official documents had been advancing at a glacial pace since a handful of lawmakers introduced it in May 2013.
Then along came Daniela Vega.
Last year, the acclaimed performance in the film “A Fantastic Woman” by Vega, a transgender Chilean actress, gave a face and a voice to the plight of a largely invisible and stigmatized community. On Monday, she was celebrated as a national hero after the movie won the Academy Award for best foreign language film, a first for Chile.
The government of President Michelle Bachelet, whose term ends Sunday, used the news of the award Monday to call on lawmakers to make headway on the bill this week.
“The award fills us with pride, not only because it recognizes a high-caliber film, but a story about respect for diversity that serves us well as a nation,” Bachelet, who championed gay and transgender rights during her second term in office, wrote in a Twitter post Monday morning.
Sebastián Piñera, the conservative former president who will take office for a second term this weekend, also issued a congratulatory message on Twitter, but steered clear of making a reference to transgender rights.
“Tonight, Chilean film reached the stars,” Piñera wrote. “Go Chile and a big hug, with pride and emotion, to the whole team behind #UnaMujerFantastica,” he added using the film’s title in Spanish as a hashtag.
Piñera came under attack during a presidential campaign debate in December for suggesting that a child’s gender identity “might be corrected over time.” He said his government would not discriminate against anyone, but argued that “we need to handle these cases in a responsible manner, in a serious way, not treating gender identity as something that is practically like a shirt that you can change every day.”
Gay and transgender rights advocates in Chile said they hoped the movie’s recognition would galvanize bills and initiatives to expand rights and fight discrimination, even as Bachelet’s socialist government is replaced by a conservative one.
The Senate approved the gender identity bill in January 2014. The lower House in January passed a version of the bill but lawmakers remain at odds over whether the legislation should cover children and teenagers.
“Politicians can’t just celebrate the artistic aspect and refuse to take ownership of the reality that transgender people in our country face,” Juan Enrique Pi, president of Iguales Foundation, a gay and transgender rights advocacy group, said. “The outgoing and incoming governments must assume their responsibility to defend the human rights of transgender people.”
Sen. Juan Pablo Letelier, one of the original proponents of the bill, said it was drafted with narrow aims. “Thanks to this Oscar perhaps it will be understood that this law is not about an issue of values, but rather the basic human right to an identity,” Letelier said.
In the film, Vega plays the role of Marina, a transgender woman whose romantic partner, an older man, dies suddenly from an aneurysm. Her grief is compounded by the demeaning treatment she faces from hospital workers and police, who assume she is a prostitute. The man’s family, meanwhile, bars her from attending the funeral.
The debut performance made Vega, who is also a lyrical singer, an overnight celebrity at home, and a star to watch in Hollywood.
Actress Julianne Moore, who won an Academy Award in 2015, urged her Twitter followers in February to “Run, don’t walk, to see A FANTASTIC WOMAN starring the magnificent @danivega.” Actress Helen Hunt, another Oscar recipient, called Vega “Spectacular Bravisima.” Apumanque, a high-end shopping mall in Santiago, made Vega the face of its advertising campaign last year, an eyebrow-raising move.
That makes perfect sense to Javiera Troncoso, an 18-year-old nursing student in Santiago.
“People my age see this as a normal thing,” she said. “She cleared the path for us to have a more open mind.”
But Troncoso said it would take more than a moment of national pride at the Oscars to sway the conservative politicians who have blocked the gender identity bill, and one that would legalize same-sex marriage, from moving forward.
“Older people haven’t evolved a great deal on these issues,” she said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.