workingclasshistory:

On this day, 3 November 1889 Mexican revolutionary Amelio Robles Ávila was born. Assigned female at birth, he later lived as a man, and insisted on being treated as such – on occasion sticking his gun in the face of individuals who mis-gendered him until they acknowledged him as male. From an early age Amelio learned not only to ride, but to tame horses and then to handle weapons. He became involved in the revolutionary events and armed struggle in 1911. Between August and Nov 1911, Amelio was sent to the Gulf of Mexico on a commission to extort money from oil companies for the revolutionary cause. From 1913 until Nov 1918, when he delivered weapons, Amelio Robles participated in the ranks of the forces of peasant revolutionary Emiliano Zapata under the command of the main revolutionary leaders of the state, as Jesús H. Salgado, Heliodoro Castillo and Encarnación Díaz. In 1923, he retired from the ranks of the army but rejoined in 1924 and took part in the Batalla de la Hacienda de Pozuelos, where he was injured. That same year he took the name Coronel Amelio Robles Ávila or simply Señor Robles, and openly had relationships with women. He formed a 10 year relationship with Ángela Torres and raising an adopted daughter, Regula Robles Torres. In 1970 he became the first person assigned female at birth to be recognised as a male veteran by the government. He lived until the age of 95. https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1253576081494206/?type=3