On Saturday, February 10th at 4:30 pm, we will hold the First Binational (Rioplatense) Transvestite/Trans Meeting. It will be an assembly-style meeting, born from dialogue with our Uruguayan sisters, to develop and design a shared agenda and build networks, following the questions raised at the Latin American Women's Meeting in Cali, Colombia (ELLA 2017). By Violeta Alegre. Photo: Ariel Gutraich. What place do transvestites and trans people occupy in feminisms? How will we participate in March 8th? Before the mobilization, we need to reflect. Before the national strike, we will strike because we need to unite our struggles. We can say that many of the demands of March 8th are not part of our agendas (and of course we defend them), but our agenda is urgent because the increase in violence against the transvestite/trans community has intensified at the hands of the state (national, provincial, and municipal). The police and the media are enabling a society that feels more entitled to unleash violence against us.

[READ ALSO: Media harassment of a trans activist: “How painful this Nogoyá is”]

We experience exclusion firsthand: in the workplace and in the lack of concrete public policies that guarantee us a better quality of life. Because our bodies are not a minor issue and challenge hegemony, affecting both women and men. We have won many battles, it's true, but we have also suffered many setbacks. Our gender identity law is a model, but in recent months... governments are failing to comply. Diana Sacayán's Transgender Employment Quota Law It has not been fully implemented in the province of Buenos Aires and it is a dream that seems increasingly distant.

[READ ALSO: The trial for the transvesticide of Diana Sacayán begins on February 16]

All of this is happening as we demand justice for the transphobic murder of Diana, just days before the start of what will be a historic trial. We do so with eyes shining with emotion, pain, and hope that social and legal awareness will be raised regarding the profound nature of her absence. A hateful and criminal absence for which we demand justice.

Dissident Femininities

We discussed at length the participation in the Binational Encounter and decided that this time it will be transvestite and trans women who come together. We will do so in this space, as dissident women who challenge the hegemony, respecting and valuing female self-perception above all else. We understand ourselves as a political body/territory, and at the same time, we know ourselves to be in transit through a social body that often reads us without recognizing us, delegitimizing human rights and our identity, and casting us into a few possible destinations where our survival will depend.

[READ ALSO: When the limit of feminism is trans femininities]

For these and many other reasons, we conceived of this gathering, which is modest because, being organized by activists and militants and open to the entire trans and travesti community, we haven't received any support in securing funding. We needed it to cover some travel expenses for our fellow trans people. While we would like everyone who wants to participate to be able to do so, we continue to understand the structural poverty of our community, but also the power and the necessity of knowing that, as individuals, we have very few opportunities.

Transvestites and trans people

We believe it is essential that self-perception not delegitimize others, whether transvestite or trans woman. From this perspective, we must continue demanding justice for transvesticide and transfemicide and recognize that the enemies are outside, not within our struggles, nor within our anti-patriarchal, anti-capitalist, and non-binary feminism.

Let the wave continue to grow or return to the ocean where it will remain hegemonically anchored. Let the class perspective be more present, let feminism no longer be sustained by the interests of women vying for power (power in those terms is patriarchal). Let sexual, identity, and affective diversity no longer be made invisible. Let the struggle be decentralized, made Mendoza, Salta, the greater Buenos Aires area, Latin America. Let those silenced, obedient voices be given the tools to continue growing until they become a feminist and diverse tsunami. The struggle is collective and organized, or we will drown.   The meeting will be this Saturday, February 10th, at the Trans Mocha Celis High School, Av. Federico Lacroze 4181Buenos Aires at 4:30 pm ]]>