She is recognized as being one of the first trans women to have her change of name and sex approved on her national identity document (DNI) in the late 1970s, for being granted the right to adopt in 1985, and for being a key figure in the LGBT community in Spain.
[2] This caused her to move to Vilanova i la Geltrú in the early 1960s, where she worked as a bricklayer, cleaner, kitchen assistant, and newspaper delivery girl.
[2] During the Spanish transition to democracy, she became an activist for LGBT rights and participated in the first demonstrations that were held in the country to support this cause, visiting the Pasaje Begoña [es] in Torremolinos on several occasions.
[1] Saborido was convicted of a crime related to her ex-husband and drug trafficking that led to her imprisonment in 2004,[6] although she later declared that she had been convinced to accept a plea agreement despite not being guilty.
[3] During her life, she collected Elizabethan-style decorative pieces and antiques for her home, and in August 2013 she turned it into a museum, with money received from ticket sales being dedicated to social assistance for the people of her hometown.
This helped her to inaugurate, together with a collaboration agreement with the organization Inserta Andalucía, the first shelter in Arcos de la Frontera to serve as a refuge for people who have suffered rejection for being part of the LGBT community.
[8] Since 2023, the foundation has had its headquarters in the Flora Tristán International Space for Social, Cultural, and Technological Innovation at Pablo de Olavide University in Seville.
[10] In 2016, Spanish writer and filmmaker Valeria Vegas dedicated her first documentary, Manolita, la Chen de Arcos, to Saborido's life.
In this 60-minute film, Vegas, as director, tells the story of Saborido's adoption process as the first transgender mother in Spain, as well as some facts about her career as an artist and businesswoman.
"[15] In 2020, she received the +Social Award from the Regional Government of Andalusia, nominated by the Pasaje Begoña Foundation, in the category of work to support LGBT people and their families.
[16] In 2022, Saborido received the Jerez Rainbow Award, recognizing her as a "tireless fighter for the rights of transgender people, who has become a role model for the LGBT community", and highlighting her career because "since birth she suffered discrimination against those who feel different and want to be free.
[23] The artist and circus entrepreneur Manuela Fernández Pérez [es] gained fame performing under the name Manolita Chen beginning in the 1940s.
When she left Manolita Chen's Chinese Theater [es] in the late 1970s due to an ear tumor and facial paralysis, a competing company hired Saborido to perform under Fernández's stage name and recreate some of her sketches.
[25] The dispute was taken to a court in Seville, where it was verified that neither of the two had legally registered the name Manolita Chen, so the case would be resolved if both parties reached an agreement.