Colombia’s capital city of Bogotá made history in October when the people elected Claudia López Hernández as their mayor. She became the first woman and queer mayor in the city. On Monday, the barrier-breaker married her girlfriend of three years, Angélica Lozano Correa.
López shared the news, and a few images from the private ceremony, on her social media accounts.
“Thank you to life for this marvelous year,” she wrote. “I graduated with my doctorate, [became] mayor, and married the love of my life!”
Needless to say, it’s been quite the year for López, but she knows that she has major political battles ahead of her when she takes office in 2020.
“Colombia is a country that has advanced in many things,” the former journalist told CNN en Español shortly after her win in October. “But still it’s got a lot of machismo, it’s a very conservative country.”
According to Reuters, more than 100 LGBTQ people were killed in Colombia in 2018.
When she won, López famously declared it “the day of the woman,” and credited the unity of her diverse following for her historic win. López and her wife are staunch advocates for the LGBTQ community. Although same-sex marriage and adoption are already legal, they believe there’s still work to be done, including decreasing the unemployment rate of the transgender community.
López will officially begin her role as Bogotá mayor on January 1, 2020.