Luana Muniz was a legendary figure of Rio de Janeiro’s nightlife and transvestite culture in the neighborhood of Lapa. Nicknamed the “Queen of Lapa,” Muniz was a child prostitute in the streets of Rio since age 9 and was inspired by the transgender community of the time, struggling to survive as LGBQT during the repressive and very conservative military dictatorship in power. After some years in Europe in her 20s and 30s, which led her into the nightclub scene but also into drugs, she returned to Brazil, cleaned up her act and became an activist for the LGBTQ community, while continuing as a sex worker. She founded the Association of Transgender Sex Professionals and established a hostel in Lapa for transgender sex workers where they could live and work and have access to medical and mental health as well as her mentorship and support.
She was, without doubt, the best known transgender woman in Rio de Janeiro and appeared often in the media, ranging from news and entertainment programs, to telenovelas and films. She used her celebrity status to call attention to the social issues impacting the transgender community and fought for human rights for sex workers and the LGBQT community as a whole.
In addition to being the narrator and axis of Obscuro Barroco, Muniz was also the subject of a film that appeared only last year, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic: Queen of Lapa (2020), directed by Carolina Monerat and Theodor Collatos. Here’s their web site.