“I would hug, accept, and love, but I would not approve of a trans child.”
Kika Nieto said that in July 2025, during episode 65 of RCN’s Mujeres sin filtro, titled “The Dilemma of Trans Children”. A few days later, lawyer and activist José Francisco Montúfar went to court: he sought protection for equality, human dignity, and gender identity, as well as a public retraction and internal protocols at the channel for addressing issues of diversity.
In his view, the program presented gender identity in a “transphobic, misinformed, and stigmatizing way”, without voices from the LGBTIQ+ community or experts. He also recalled that Nieto had faced criticism for similar statements in 2018, and that she apologized at the time.
The Administrative Court of Tolima saw it differently. It considered it “an intensely personal opinion that did not meet the threshold for discrimination”, and took into account that she also said she would “respect, love, listen to, be there for, and support” a trans child. It denied the petition for constitutional protection and rejected the requested measures.
Freedom of expression or a hurtful statement? You decide which side you’re on.