Juan Carlos Florián Silva has been announced as the new pick to be Equality and Equity Minister in Columbia.
The politician’s has acknowledged his experiences as a sex worker and his appearances in adult films.
He currently serves as the Deputy Minister for Diversities, and his resume boasts an impressive career with time spent working in non-profit organisations and government roles. He is currently studying for his Masters degree in political communication.
He has 20 years of experience in organisations including Save The Children International and Doctors Without Borders. He also worked at the Secretariat of Social Integration and the District Institute of Tourism during the administration of current president Gustavo Petro when he was mayor of Bogotá, as well as at the Colombian consulate in Paris.
The politician was blocked from taking up his current role for over a year by Vice President and then Minister for Equality and Equity Francia Márquez who was opposed to Florian Silva being in the role due to his previous work in gay adult films. He’s had the support of the country’s president Gustavo Petro.
Florián Silva has acknowledged his background and been boldly unapologetic.
“I come from the streets, from the struggle, from real activism. I was a sex worker, I made adult content, I am HIV positive, and I was a migrant,” he wrote in a recent social media post. “But I am also a political scientist, I have been a builder of public policies, a public manager, a defender of human rights, a deputy minister and, above all, a son of the people who does not forget where he comes from.”
The government of Gustavo Petro has seen a rapid change in Ministerial appointments during its three years in power. While Vice President Francia Marquez was previously the Equality and Equity Minister she was succeeded just five months ago by Carlos Rosero, who is now being replaced by Florián Silva.
