translated from Spanish: Maria Rachid: “We must move forward for the trans community”

Around the world, today is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.In Argentina, the date becomes more important as it is so close to the anniversary of the Law on Gender Identity, a key law for the extension of rights sanctioned on May 9.

Today 30 years ago, the World Health Organization recognized that no sexual orientation should be considered a disorder and removed homosexuality from its list of mental illness. pic.twitter.com/Y7noYqcFSZ—Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity (@MinGenerosAR)
May 17, 2020

This is why, from Filo.news, we talked with María Rachid about this very special situation that lives in Argentina.María Rachid was one of the authors of the Law on Equal Marriage and the aforementioned Law of Gender Identity. She was a Buenos Aires legislator between 2011 and 2015 and vice president of INADI between 2010 and 2011.Today, she serves as General Secretary of the Argentine LGBT Federation, from where she generates strategies to combat sexual discrimination.

In 1990, WHO removed homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses. This date invites us to reflect and continue to express ourselves, from the visibility of our political, cultural, artistic, communication actions, for the real equality of rights. pic.twitter.com/ICqtSCrOk3—LGBT Arg Federation (@FALGBT)
May 17, 2020

On May 9th, the Gender Identity Act, of which she was a driver, was the eighth birthday, what has been gained since then? I think we’ve won a lot. Progress was made in public policy, diversity spaces were created in all ministries, but of course there is still much work to be done: there was much setback in the last four years. Institutional violence resumed and many public policies were paralyzed. Now we will have to resume and advance on behalf of the trans community, which has an average lifespan 35 to 40 years in Argentina and the region, the product of the extreme exclusion and marginalization that they have lived for centuries.

There is still very little trans involvement in politics, media or television productions, to what is it? While it is true that there is very little participation of trans people in society in general, from the Gender Identity Law there were some cultural advances with the participation of trans people in fiction. In the civil service, trans officials, such as the Under-Secretary of Diversity and the Anti-Discrimination Policy Director, of INADI have been convened. In the media, for example C5N and Public TV have trans people in important places and those are advances that need to be highlighted. Of course they are not enough, but these are very important advances. It is common to find yourself on networks with hateful messages thrown very lightly and pointing out against sexual orientation as an insult, did this always exist or is it a setback typical of the time? Insults and discrimination always existed in the LGBT community, so I’m not surprised to find them on social media. More considering that these networks offer anonymity for aggressors and, in addition, we are in a moment of much violence, which makes social networks an open space for these aggressions towards our community.

Photo: Argentine LGBT Federation

What do you think about THE TERF, that sector of feminism that excludes trans women from that movement? I think there is always a sector of society that expresses the stale, most conservative and fascist. Unfortunately, feminism doesn’t miss that. There is a sector of feminism that expresses that too, and in my opinion those are the FERf. But always, historically, feminism has excluded some sector. At the time it was lesbians who were excluded or limited to our visibility. In another, it was most feminism that excluded trans people, now I believe that acceptance has been advanced and today it is a minority that excludes them. The same is true of sex workers: there is always one sector that is left out because of the will, of another group, to impose a moral of its own towards the whole. Regarding the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, will there be any activities this Sunday? Unfortunately, as a result of the pandemic there will be no face-to-face activities, but virtual ones. There will be conferences and meetings through different media and held by major organizations.

Photo: Argentine LGBT Federation

You were one of the authors of the Gender Identity Act and the Equal Marriage Act. From THE FALGBT, what other issues do you propose? To reverse the situation of extreme marginalization of trans people, we propose the Trans Comprehensive Law, which is an initiative that includes the trans labor quota, tax incentives for companies that take a trans person, subsidies for cooperatives, housing and school terminal programs. On the other hand, we are also proposing, many years ago, a new Anti-Discrimination Law, which not only includes diversity, but is an effective law in the fight against discrimination.

Original source in Spanish

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