Leyva Sisters Share Story of Sisterhood and Transition

Leyva Sisters hugging eachother

At first, Selenis Leyva was thrilled to see Caitlyn Jenner on the cover of Vanity Fair in 2015, but over time, she felt unsettled by it.


“I realized that this kind of representation, while positive for Caitlyn, was dangerous for those without the resources: what happens to those trans folks who don’t fall into this specific category of glamorous, rich, and famous?” Selenis Leyva, an actress known for Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black” (OITNB) and Disney+’s “Diary of a Future President,” asks in the memoir she co-authored with her sister Marizol Leyva, “My Sister: How One Sibling’s Transition Changed Us Both.” “The decision to write this book came from a place of wanting to share a realistic account of what it means to be transgender – specifically, what it means to be transgender person of color of modest means.”



My Sistershares Marizol’s journey to her transition from the perspective of both sisters, two Afro-Latinas who grew up in the Bronx. In addition to sharing their personal story, they talk about challenges specific to the Latinx community, like anti-Blackness and machismo, and offer national and local resources for readers, including health care, suicide prevention and more.

While the sisters shared a childhood, they don’t always have the same memories of what they experienced. “In some instances, my recollection does not line up perfectly with Marizol’s, and we embrace these contradictions,” Selenis writes. “We want to remain true to the reality that memories have funny ways of changing over time, that the details of life experiences and stories are wholly dependent upon the storyteller.”

When Selenis asked Marizol if she wanted to write a book about her experience, it wasn’t a quick yes. Marizol explains in the book that most of her initial hesitation came from the fact that she’s never been fully open with anyone about what she’d been through. Eventually though, Marizol agreed. “I couldn’t stop thinking about my trans brothers and sisters – especially those whose voices aren’t usually heard,” Marizol writes. “We share so many unfortunate experiences, and so few people outside of our community understand the hardships we face. This was a chance to educate others and be a source of support for so many trans folks who feel like they have none.”

Selenis had two younger brothers until her parents – immigrants from Cuba and the Dominican Republic – fostered and eventually adopted two other children, including Marizol. Marizol came into the Leyva family as an infant boy named Jose, also from a Dominican background. A teenaged Selenis was immediately drawn to and protective of the child. She writes that she noticed early on that Marizol maneuvered through the world a bit differently. “My mother noticed it, too,” Selenis writes. “And though we never verbalized it, there was a moment when we looked at each other, almost to say, How do we feel about this? We’re fine. But we knew, from then on, that we had to be the ones to take charge and protect Jose.”

In the memoir, Marizol provides honest insight about some of the difficult experiences she faced, like the violence and abuse she experienced from her birth father during her childhood and in her romantic relationships. She also talks about her struggles as a young person, and the things that led her to skip school, lie to her parents and even steal from them. But through it all, Selenis was always there to provide her younger sister a sympathetic ear and even sometimes necessary tough love.

It was Selenis who brought up the possibility of gender transition to Marizol. At 16, when Marizol came out as gay, it wasn’t a surprise to Selenis. Instead she replied with another question: “do you want to be a woman?” Marizol says that she always identified as female, but she hadn’t heard the term “transgender” or met anyone who identified that way until after high school. Selenis’ question initiated the chain of events towards her new identity as Marizol. She would dress up to go out with her friends, but it wasn’t until her 21st birthday when she finally introduced herself as Marizol to her family.

That same night, Marizol attended a Drag Queen Cabaret in Manhattan, where she recognized the trans actress Laverne Cox performing on stage. Cox wasn’t on OITNB at the time, but she was a contestant on the reality show, “I Want to Work for Diddy.” “She was the first trans person I had ever seen on TV who wasn’t being made a spectacle,” Marizol wrote. “Seeing her was when I realized that, as a trans person, you didn’t have to settle for just being the man in the wig. You could be yourself, and you could be successful.”

The cabaret performers came around the tables later that night for tips. They all stopped to say something to Marizol. “‘Yaz, girl!’ Or, ‘I see you!’ Or ‘Yes, girl, work!’ It made me feel good, like I was connecting with other girls like me,” Marizol writes. “I was happy.”

A year later when Selenis was filming OITNB, she decided to share with Cox that she had a trans sister. As she was getting her hair done by one of the show’s stylists, Mamma D, she told her about her mother’s support for her sister. “It was an immediate connection, and soon, all three of us – Laverne, Mamma D, and I – were crying, sharing this little emotional moment together,” Selenis writes.

After Season 1 of OITNB, Selenis felt for the first time that her industry and society were actively paying attention to what it means for someone to be trans. She thanked Cox months later for giving her sister a voice. Selenis shared in the book that her co-worker smiled and said “Well, she’s always had a voice,” which she responded with “No. She might have always had a voice, but no one was ever listening.”

“My Sister: How One Sibling’s Transition Changed Us Both” was released in March and is available in both English and Spanish. It was important for the sisters to offer the physical book in both languages. “We’re Latina,” Selenis said in a chat hosted with Nydia Simone, founder of Blactina Media and #WeAllGrow contributor. “We felt the need to have this in (Spanish), so that our communities, so those that really, really, really, really need it can read it.”

It also made it accessible for the sisters’ parents to read it. Selenis described in the #WeAllGrow conversation that watching her parents read their book was “overwhelming.” “That was a beautiful thing for us to see that,” Selenis said in the #WeAllGrow chat. “To see our parents be able to read our stories, their story in their language, was extremely important for us.”

From Your Site Articles
hands holding up yellow protest signs that say Hands Off Our Bodies
Photo Credit: Gayatri Malhotra via Unsplash

Originally published in Common Dreams. Reprinted with permission.

The Latino electorate will prove decisive in securing reproductive freedom and abortion access through ballot measures around the country, particularly in states where Latinos are a significant portion of the electorate.

In November, abortion rights measures will appear on ballots across ten states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, and New York, where Latinos make up a significant portion of the electorate. For decades, pundits and politicians have recycled long-held misconceptions about Latino voters and abortion access, citing our conservative and religious beliefs.

Anti-abortion extremists have long fueled these misconceptions through misinformation and disinformation campaigns targeting Latino communities with egregious lies and inflammatory rhetoric about abortion. Yet, polling, focus groups, and direct interactions with Latino communities have debunked these outdated tropes.

The Latino electorate will prove decisive in securing reproductive freedom and abortion access through ballot measures around the country, particularly in states where Latinos are a significant portion of the electorate.

For Latinos, the freedom to decide, a pillar of our American democracy, is critical. Meanwhile, Latinos are being hit directly with anti-abortion efforts that take away that freedom such as the six-week abortion ban put into effect by the Florida Supreme Court and the 1864 abortion ban upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, people of color and Latinas have felt the impact of a lack of abortion access, an element of basic healthcare.

A 2023 report by the National Partnership for Women and Families estimated that nearly 6.5 million Latinas, or 42% of all Latinas of reproductive age in the country, live in a state that either had or was likely to ban abortion. Ironically, it will be abortion access and anti-choice efforts to restrict freedom of choice that will mobilize Latino voters this election.

In a poll conducted by three national reproductive justice organizations, 87% of Latinas named abortion and women’s rights as one of their top priorities as they head to the polls. Another battleground poll conducted by Somos PAC and BSP Research found that 61% of Latino registered voters expressed a more positive/favorable view of Kamala Harris after hearing that she will protect abortion rights, versus only 19% of Latinos who said they had a more negative view of Harris after hearing that.

In key states to secure the White House and both chambers, Latinos make up large chunks of the electorate: Arizona (25%), Colorado (15%), Florida (20%), Nevada (20%), and New York (12%). In the face of unprecedented attacks on basic healthcare access and targeted attempts by extremists to mislead and divide our community on this issue, this November Latinos will be key deciders on abortion access across the country.

Mari Urbina, Managing Director of Indivisible, Battleground Arizona Lead and former Harry Reid advisor.

Héctor Sánchez Barba is president and CEO of Mi Familia Vota (MFV).

This Viral Video Game Is Changing the Face of Voter Outreach

In 2024, voting campaigns have evolved greatly, to say the least. Creativity is now the name of the game and tongue-in-cheek humor is expertly leveraged to drive action. One example of that is Bop the Bigot, a revival of a viral game created in 2016 by Bazta Arpaio, an Arizona activist group, as part of a campaign to unseat Maricopa County’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio lost his re-election to Paul Penzone that year.

The game has now been updated for the current election cycle and relaunched by On Point Studios, with new features added to enable players to find out what’s on their ballot, confirm voter status, and register to vote.

Much like its former 2016 version, the game allows users to take out their political frustrations by virtually “bopping” GOP candidates in the head. It’s very similar to whack-a-mole, except the mole is replaced by former President Donald Trump, Ohio’s Senator J. D. Vance, and Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation, which is spearheading Project 2025.

cartoon renditions of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance around a Bop the Bigot logoPromotional image provided by On Point Studios.

B. Loewe, Director of On Point Studios, came up with the concept for this game when working as the Communications Director at Bazta Arpaio in 2016, and is the executive producer of this revamped version. In the first version of the game, Bop the Bigot players used a chancla (flip flop) to “bop” the characters, tapping into Latino culture by leaning on the childhood experience of being set right by a flying chancla from a fed-up mother or grandmother.

This year, the chancla is replaced by a more current element, a green coconut, referencing Kamala Harris’ coconut tree meme. There are also side characters like “the couch,” cat ladies, and more coconuts. All references to jokes about Vice-Presidential candidate Vance, or insults Vance has made about women on the campaign trail.

Another new addition is that Harris’ laugh is immortalized as the game-over sound effect, an unexpected detail that adds even more humor and levity to the game.

cartoon renditions of Donald Trump, Kevin Roberts, and J.D. Vance around a Bop the Bigot logoPromotional image provided by On Point Studios.

Bop the Bigot, which is playable on desktop and mobile, is intended not just as a way to vent political frustrations, but also as a tool for activism and securing voter engagement.

For example, the game supports the work of Mexican Neidi Dominguez Zamorano, Founding Executive Director of the non-profit organization Organized Power in Numbers by using the “game over” screen to prompt players to donate to it and support their efforts.

Organized Power in Numbers is focused on empowering workers in the South and Southwest of the U.S. through collective action and comprehensive campaigns. Their mission is to create a large-scale movement that challenges the status quo and advocates for workers' rights, and racial and economic justice.

Currently, Dominguez Zamorano is leading worker outreach to 2 million working-class voters in the South and Southwest through doorknocking, texting, and calls with the help of local groups in North Carolina, Arizona, New Mexico, and more.

“We have been blown away by the enthusiastic reception for the video game. We knew we wanted to be part of its creative approach because our movement needs more fun and laughter. We need more ways to connect with nuestra gente so we can feel joy among all the absurdity we witness every day,” Dominguez Zamorano shared with Luz Media via email.

“Our people are gente trabajadora and we deserve to feel uplifted even in our toughest moments. We are deeply involved in the South and Southwest so we know what’s at stake in this election and we’re happy this can be a resource to mobilize, raise spirits, and get out the vote," she concluded.

Dominguez Zamorano is a committed activist for immigrants and workers' rights, known for her strategist skills and expertise. She played a key role in the campaign to win DACA and has also held roles in major campaigns, including as Deputy National States Director for Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign. In addition to her work with Organized Power in Numbers, Dominguez Zamorano is serving as a Senior Advisor to Mijente’s Fuera Trump Initiative.

Grassroots efforts like these have taken on new life in 2024, with Bop the Bigot adding to the larger, ongoing fight against political apathy and disinformation. Just as it did during the 2016 race, the video game uses humor to soften the serious task at hand—getting people to the polls.

"We want the game to be a fun and comical outlet for anyone who’s been insulted, frustrated, or harmed by Trump in the past and everyone who is ready to move forward as a country after election day," explained Loewe in a press release. "The proposals in Project 2025 and the beliefs of Trump and Vance aren’t just weird, they’re truly harmful. We wanted to give people a humorous and peaceful way to smack down their racism and sexism. We hope it makes people laugh and also feel empowered and motivated to get to the polls on or before election day."

With a mix of satire, sharp political critique, and nostalgia, the game is a call to action. The upcoming election, which is getting closer by the minute, has sparked fierce activism and creative yet grounded initiatives like these aim to ensure voters are engaged, especially young Latinos and disenfranchised groups.