Alexa Hoffmann

Alexa Hoffmann (born December 1993) is a Barbadian human rights activist. She is known for her advocacy in support of LGBTQ people in Barbados.

Personal life Hoffmann was born in December 1993 in Barbados. She recognised she was transgender from a young age, but was not supported by her religious family. In 2013, Hoffmann transitioned to living as a woman, and later legally changed her name to Alexa. As of 2018, she lives in Christ Church.

Activism Hoffman was advocated against religious and pop culture rhetoric, including murder music, which she stated had influenced prejudice against LGBTQ people in Barbados.

After coming out in 2013, Hoffmann went on to found Trans Advocacy and Agitation Barbados. The organisation has provided training for services such as the Barbados Police Service on how to work and support members of the LGBTQ community. It has also organised "flash stands" outside of the Parliament Buildings in Bridgetown, with the aim of encouraging reflective conversations about and with transgender people in Barbados.

In June 2018, Hoffmann was the first claimant, alongside an unidentified lesbian and gay man, in a legal challenge against Barbados' colonial-era Sexual Offences Act filed before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In June 2019, the Commission gave the Barbadian government three months to respond to the petition, with it escalating the case to the Inter-American Court on Human Rights if it failed to do so.

In August 2020, the Barbadian government passed the Employment (Prevention of Discrimination) Act, which prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, marital status and domestic partnership. Hoffmann argued the bill excluded protections for transgender people due to it omitting gender identity and gender expression.

2018 meat cleaver attack On 18 February 2018, Hoffmann was attacked by her former roommate with a meat cleaver after she accused him stealing her possessions. She received lacerations to her forehead, nose, upper lip, shoulder and the side of her neck. The Latin American and Caribbean Network of Trans Activists also criticised the police's response. It was filed after the Labour Department failed to resolve the dispute. On 12 August 2024, the case was dismissed by the Employment Rights Tribunal, which stated it could not make a ruling due to there being no laws concerning or recognising transgender people in Barbados. The ERT highlighted the need for laws to be amended to reflect an "evolving Barbadian society" and to ensure transgender people were given "freedom of choice" and "basic human dignity".