María Pilar Lima Gozálvez[1] (born 21 November 1977)[2] is a Spanish politician of the party Podemos. She served as a senator from 2015 to 2019 and was elected to the Corts Valencianes in 2019. Deaf from birth, she was Spain's first deaf senator.[3]
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Biography
editLima was born in Valencia. She was deaf from birth, which her family discovered when she was two years old, and did not learn a sign language until the age of 16. She graduated in Social Work and became a sign language teacher. She did voluntary work for the Vicente Ferrer Foundation in Anantapur, India, where she trained sign language teachers.[3] Lima is openly lesbian.[4]
In 2015, Lima was nominated for the Senate of Spain by the Podemos group in the Corts Valencianes. She required sign language interpreters and prepared for her office by contacting deaf Members of the European Parliament.[3]
Lima was elected to the Corts as list leader in the Valencia constituency in 2019, also becoming the Podemos spokesperson in the chamber, as the party formed the Generalitat Valenciana with Coalició Compromís and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). In June 2020, she became the party's secretary general at regional level, with 44.7% of the votes.[5] In November 2022, she became the Podemos candidate for mayor in the 2023 Valencia City Council election; the party had no seats in the council from the previous election in 2019.[6]
References
edit- ^ "Lima Gozálvez, María Pilar" (in Spanish). Senate of Spain. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
- ^ "María Pilar Lima Gozálvez" (in Spanish). Corts Valencianes. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
- ^ a b c "Pilar Lima, primera senadora sorda: "No me siento un símbolo, soy una persona normal"" [Pilar Lima, first deaf senator: "I don't feel like a symbol, I'm a normal person"]. 20 minutos (in Spanish). 12 July 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
- ^ Martín, Daniel (14 August 2021). "Pilar Lima: "He roto techos de cristal como mujer, sorda y lesbiana"" [Pilar Lima: "I've broken glass ceilings as a woman, a deaf person and a lesbian"]. Ara (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 December 2022.
- ^ Vázquez, Cristina (19 June 2020). "Pilar Lima, elegida nueva coordinadora autonómica de Podem en una reñida votación con Naiara Davó" [Pilar Lima, elected new autonomous coordinator of Podem in a close vote with Naiara Davó]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 December 2022.
- ^ Aguar, Ximo; Gozalbo, Marta (5 November 2022). "La líder de Podem se queda fuera de Les Corts en unas primarias con un 31% menos de participación" [Podem leader ends up out of Les Corts in primaries with 31% less participation]. Valencia Plaza (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 December 2022.