The Transgender Nurse Who Healed Argentina

How the son of a macho farmer grew up to become a beloved nurse—and changed many of her compatriots’ perceptions about sexuality.

Photos by Sofia Ungar

Cerenha La'Croa'n, a six-foot-five, 250-pound nurse with tulip lips, a white jacket and blonde ponytail, saunters through a gritty stretch of Buenos Aires on her way to the hospital. Through thick square sunglasses she beams at friends on nearly every block. A policeman waves. A coiffed older woman stops to thank her for a free haircut and color job. A male nurse halts her for a hug.

"I attract everyone, everyone wants to be a part of the light," La'Croa'n boasts in Spanish, then pulls out ice packs from a plastic bag on her shoulder, handing them to a wily car windshield washer whose eye is red and swollen from a fight.

"Gracias, gracias!" The hooded hustler sheepishly grabs the gift from La'Croa'n amidst honking cars.

So when a pack of men bark cruel names and gawk at her on the next block, La'Croa'n just laughs it off.

"I'm the woman they're never going to have," she says, then switches to English and quotes a Josie and the Pussycats song. "I don't want to be your …