Patria Jiménez
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Patria Jimenez, (born Elsa Patria Jimenez Flores in 1957 in San Luis Potosí, Mexico) is an openly lesbian Mexican politician and head of El Clóset de Sor Juana (Sister Juana's Closet). In 1997, representing the PRD, she became the first openly gay member of Mexico's legislature in the country's history —indeed, the first in any legislature in Latin America. [[1]]. Originally elected to Mexico’s lower Legislative House, Cámara de Diputados (Chamber of Deputies), in 2000 she was elected as an acting Senator in the Mexican Senate. [[2]]
She is also the long time head of Sister Juana’s Closet, a lesbian rights group named after Juana Inés de la Cruz, a Carmelite nun and renowned Mexican poet. [[3]] It is a United Nations accredited Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). [[4]]
Both as a civil rights leader and a member of the government, Jimenez is a major Latin American voice for LGBT rights and civil rights in general. [5]]