Erika Castellanos

Erika Castellanos is a transgender HIV-positive woman from Belize residing in the Netherlands.

A social worker by profession, Erika joined GATE in April 2017 as Director of Programs. In 2023 she became Executive Director of GATE. Erika’s background is in sex work issues and HIV activism. In the early 90s, Erika was a volunteer in an HIV hospice in Southern Mexico, at a time with limited treatment, her role as a caretaker involved providing comfort and a dignified death for the clients. Diagnosed in 1995, she became more active in the HIV response and joined the demand for treatment and eradication of stigma and discrimination, which was rampant in healthcare settings. In 2010, she founded the first network of people living with HIV in Belize and co-founded the Belize national trans organization. Since then, Erika has contributed to and been active on regional networks: REDCA+, REDLA+, CRN+, and REDLACTRANS and became the vice chair of GNP+ in 2015.

In 2015 she also joined the UNAIDS PCB as the LAC delegate and, in 2017, became the first openly trans person to be elected as a member of the Board of the Global Fund as a board member for the Communities Delegation.