“The LGBTQ movement in Argentina is one of the most powerful and active on the continent,” writes Gabriela Borrelli Azara. Why aren’t there more gay, lesbian, and trans people on the lists of the main political parties? she asks. And she proposes to the national political spectrum “a trans quota law, in the workplace and in Congress, to truly combat the murders of trans people and crimes against lesbians and gay men.” By Gabriela Borrelli Azara* It’s an image. Alejandro Modarelli (journalist, writer, playwright, LGBTQ activist) at WorldPride Madrid 2017, holding aloft a photo of a smiling Evita with the LGBTQ flag behind her. A photo of our Evita: the dissident, the one from Paquito Jamandreu, the Evita we, the queers, the lesbians, the bisexuals, the transvestites, and the trans people, created. Our Evita. Because she was always political, wasn’t she? Among the colors, among the feathers, among the ties we forge with the lesbian continuum, with miniskirts and heels, mounted, dismounted, desiring, fat and hairy, always political. That's why Evita smiled at that political and international celebration, that's why a station bears the name Jáuregui, that's why the celebration and the unbridled joy when Higui was freed. The celebration of politics, of being in the streets and in the beds with our dissident identities. It might seem unnecessary to clarify it again and again, but we do politics. We think, we debate, we organize, we fight, and we struggle for spaces of power. Why shouldn't we?

Alejandro Modarelli and the Chilean activist and journalist Víctor Hugo Robles in Madrid. 

The LGBTQ+ movement in Argentina is one of the most powerful and active on the continent. It brought the Equal Marriage Law, which is celebrating its seventh anniversary, into question, and through political and activist efforts, it successfully pushed through the Gender Identity Law, approved in 2012. Amazing, aren't they? In an openly conservative country, where you still get strange looks if you're holding hands with your girlfriend, we fought for these two progressive laws, groundbreaking in our continent and the world. It was our political leaders who managed to improve our lives. Why aren't these leaders among the top candidates on the lists for the open, simultaneous, and mandatory primaries, better known as PASO? Why doesn't this most vibrant of political movements, along with feminism (because they support each other), include more gay, lesbian, and trans people on the lists of the main political parties? At World Pride Madrid, the same one where Evita smiled among the masses, was the only openly homosexual legislator of the city of Buenos Aires, Maximiliano Ferraro of the Civic Coalition: “There are no openly LGBTQ+ people holding legislative positions in either the National Congress or the Senate. To be more precise, there are a couple of openly gay members of the Chamber of Deputies, out of a total of 257 deputies and 72 senators. No lesbian or trans person is a member of the Chamber of Deputies or the Senate. Currently, only my position as a member of the Buenos Aires City Legislature could be considered that of an openly gay person in a legislative role.”.

In the Interparliamentary Session of the Spanish Senate, I proposed a broad international coalition for LGBTI rights and against hate crimes. pic.twitter.com/WPPjjnxN2v

— Maximiliano Ferraro (@Maxiferraro) June 29, 2017

Maximiliano Ferraro at the Global LGBTI parliamentary session in Madrid, Spain, on the occasion of World Pride 2017. And let's not even look at the two chambers of the National Congress. We can count the openly LGBTQ+ members of parliament and senators on one hand..  

Trans quota law in work and politics

Let's consider the Women's Quota Law. Last Sunday, July 9th, La Nación published one of its Controversial editorials against the female quotaThe idea had already been established in the media, and many journalists repeated it: the parity on the lists was due to the fact that all the candidates were wives of well-known politicians. And that positions should be won through merit, not by law. Perhaps that editorial doesn't remember that the Quota Law was passed in 1991 and that only now have we achieved acceptable parity on the lists. Law and all, it was women who had to put their bodies on the line time and again to fight for a place in the legislative arenas. Do you know what the percentage of female legislators is 26 years after Law 24.012 was passed? Only 36% in the National Congress. The law establishes 30%. And it's one of the highest percentages thanks to that law, which, I repeat, was passed two decades ago. Can you imagine if we didn't have it? That's why It is also necessary to establish a trans quota law, in the workplace and in the chambers. This is one of the first concrete measures that the national political spectrum must take to face a real fight against transphobic murders and crimes against lesbians and gays.. The picture isn't entirely bleak, although we still have a long way to go to achieve true parity that materially reflects the sexual dissidence present in the streets. One example: Alma Fernández, a 30-year-old from Tucumán, a leader and student at the "Mocha Celis" trans community high school. Alma is the sixth candidate for National Deputy for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, running with Ahora Buenos Aires in Unidad Porteña. We're going for more souls. For more politics, for more of us to be present. *  

Gabriela Borrelli Azara is a journalist and poet.

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