By Marica Santonicola

A few months ago, the news of the appointment in Belgium of Petra De Sutter, which is the first transgender to become a minister in Europe, was made to the most heckery. So Petra went into history. She is a gynaecology teacher and a supporter of transgender rights, who decided to become a woman at 40 years old. This decision caused her a lot of suffering because it made her lose colleagues and friends who did not accept her change. For this reason, when she became a minister, she decided to support and promote the rights of LGBTI people, saying: “It is unfair that people in the world suffer from what they want to be”.

Petra’s election triggered many controversy, especially on the web. Some people have expressed their solidarity to Petra, by saying that it’s important that she works well while others have criticised her only because she is transgender.

What do you think about this?