* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
In November 2014 in Argentina, a bill was submitted making provisions to economically compensate victims of gender identity-based institutional violence. The bill is a proposed third step forward in Argentina, potentially raising the bar on a series of historic legal steps taken for the rights of the LGBTIQ community since 2010.
Activists are raising the Bar
Argentina became the first country in Latin America to recognize same sex marriage when it passed Law 26.618 on July 15, 2010. Two years later, on May 9, 2012, Law 26.743, also known as the Gender Identity Law was passed, allowing trans* people (travestis, transsexual and transgender people) to record their chosen name and sex on their identity papers. It also mandates that all medical procedures required for changing to one’s gender expression be covered by the health system, through both public and/or private facilities. These laws were developed and lobbied for by grassroots LGBTIQ activists.
The proposed new law, launched in the Annex of the Deputies’ Chamber on November 11, 2014 by ruling party MP Diana Conti, who supports the bill, has a grassroots base, being jointly drafted by several trans* organizations[1]. The bill called, “Compensatory Regime for Victims of Gender-Identity Based Institutional Violence”, aims to grant compensation, in the form of non-contributory pensions, to those deprived of their freedom by Federal Security Forces and/or decisions made by legal authorities or federal prosecutors, because of their gender identity.
Argentina has a history of repressive regimes: the military de facto government of Juan C. Onganía (1966-1970) and the last military dictatorship (1976-1983), when edictos policiales (police edicts)[2] were issued as part of a broader persecution and social control approach, seeking to repress social groups the State Power considered to be “deviant, as they exhibited attributes seen as damaging for the nation-State”.
“There are experiences shared by all persons, which have been completely denied to us.”
In an interview with AWID recently, Marlene Wayar[3], a trans* activist and one of the bill’s authors, spoke of the bill’s rationale. She says the draft proposal draws attention to the fact that “trans persons, whose very gender identities were a contravention, were among these [repressed] groups. They were, and often continue to be, victims of the repressive State machinery both under dictatorship and in democracy. The bodies of travestis and transsexuals were construed as “abject” and jeopardizing sexual morals.” Wayar goes on to say that “we have been almost the exclusive inmates of this horrific police system. We have been raped, economically exploited, bribed.”
This law will help make visible how repression and prejudice against the entire collective of trans* people including travestis, transsexuals and transgenders, affected and still affects their entire existence. Wayar notes, “We were unable to study, or to work; we missed feeling loved and respected, building our identity with and in self-esteem; we could not have a photo collection with our peers at primary or secondary school, we have not been able to be selected for raising the flag at school or as the ‘best mate’ in class….. Let us start by saying that there are experiences shared by all persons, which have been completely denied to us. The pain this causes grows exponentially if we add the systematic persecution and harassment we suffered at the hands of the national and provincial police and security forces.”
“Every victim of a human rights violation, including of a violation based on sexual orientation or gender identity, has the right to effective, adequate and appropriate remedies”
For Wayar this law will be an incredibly important opportunity to offer a “real, concrete and honest way to repair a relationship and set up a legal order... For our community it is very important that this apology refers to something concrete and has a material weight, unfortunately that weight is economic so it might seem frivolous, but it is not so.”
The request for redress embodied by this proposed law is also grounded in Yogyakarta Principle number 28 on the Application of International Human Rights Law in Relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity that reads: “Every victim of a human rights violation, including of a violation based on sexual orientation or gender identity, has the right to effective, adequate and appropriate remedies. Measures taken for the purpose of providing reparation to, or securing adequate advancement of, persons of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities are integral to the right to effective remedies and redress”.
Wayar says that they are hoping to push discussion further in Argentina on issues of discrimination, including, what lies behind doctrines or beliefs that “certain individuals are potentially criminal by their very nature, because of their skin color, race, religion, sexuality, sexual or gender choices. This is still unclear for our society; there has not been enough awareness-raising. We hope to open this discussion so we are all aware and ready so if any political party or conservative sectors wants to go back to the past we will have a firm voice to say ‘No’”.
The proposed law is likely to be discussed in May by the Finance and the Human Rights commissions in Parliament, who will work with MPs to develop the juridical and legal language, and to decide how compensation claims will be administratively processed. Wayar and other activists are preparing for meetings with public officers to share their testimonials and planning to lobby MPs on a one-on-one basis.
* Trans activists use the * symbol to reflect the broad range of gender identities and expressions present in their communities, beyond "female" and "male" ones.
Research assistance by Gabby De Cicco
[1] Abogad*s por los Derechos Sexuales (ABOSEX, Lawyers for Sexual Rights), and trans organizations Asociación de Lucha por la Identidad Travesti y Transexual (ALITT), FUTURO TRANSGENÉRICO and MAL (Movimiento Antidiscriminatorio de Liberación – Anti discriminatory Liberation Movement).
[2] The writer and activist Nestor Perlongher explained in an article written during the last dictatorship that “The so-called police edicts – that are not exactly laws by political internal regulations – allow officers to arrest any person under suspicion of prostitution, homosexuality, idleness, alcoholism, etc. and keep her or him in jail up to 30 days in Buenos Aires and 90 in Cordoba without a judge intervening”. http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/suplementos/libros/10-1300-2004-11-09.html
[3] Marlene Waya is member of the group Futuro Trans, and Director of El Teje, -she is an art educator, social psychologist and communicator.
