This week, national news outlets, newspapers, and television programs gave extensive coverage to what they described as a “gender fraud,” “abuse,” or “deception” and a “legal loophole” in the case of Sergia Lazarovich, a woman from Tucumán who lives in Salta and works for the AFIP (Argentine Federal Tax Authority). According to her coworkers, she changed her registered gender “to receive her pension sooner.” Phrases like “we never noticed her as feminine” were prevalent. All of this, of course, provoked reactions from both conservative groups and LGBTQ+ activists who condemned this media coverage, which, among other things, violates the Gender Identity Law. In response, Pía Ceballos, a leading figure in the Argentine Trans Women's Network in Salta, wrote this opinion piece.
By María Pía Ceballos*
In response to the hypocrisy of many pundits and the sensationalist role of some media outlets, I say:
The Gender Identity Law guarantees the protection of one's identity prior to the legal gender change. When the media shows Sergia's ID, they are violating the Gender Identity Law. Yesterday on television, there were panelists laughing and mocking her: this only fuels more violence against our community. There is so much work to be done and so much to explain…
In the media, nobody says anything about the law being broken. The violations committed by the state. That's not news.
It seems I need to emphasize that trans people die young, that life expectancy is only 32 to 35 years. That there are fewer than ten trans women over 60 in our province, the only survivors of years of neglect by the state. I can still hear the cries of my companions demanding justice, because they were killed by the police, by clients, by family, or by illnesses contracted during the harsh winters on the streets, or they simply die of hunger.
This isn't shown in the news; they show you one case out of more than 500 legal gender changes in Salta, where 40% of the trans/travesti community didn't change their legal gender. Many didn't do it by choice, to exercise their bodily autonomy, and that's perfectly fine.
And I remind you again:
The Yogyakarta Principles established in 2007 the fundamental standards for the United Nations and States to guarantee the protection of human rights for LGBTI people.
Article 2 of Law 26.743 defines gender identity as “the internal and individual experience of gender as each person feels it, which may or may not correspond to the sex assigned at birth, including the personal experience of the body. This may involve the modification of bodily appearance or function through pharmacological, surgical or other means, provided that this is freely chosen. It also includes other expressions of gender, such as clothing, manner of speaking and mannerisms.”
Trans teacher Quimey Ramos appeared yesterday on the program "Bella Tarde" on the cable channel TN, hosted by Nelson Castro.
The real debate
The underlying debate surrounding Sergia's case is different, because they used this as a smokescreen, and it's related to the pension reform debate. The national government is looking to raise the retirement age, so they're using this kind of news.
They're not fooling us with sensationalism. They're looking for a pretext to raise the retirement age. It will be a setback, not just for trans people, but for everyone. We will defend human rights, we will defend the Gender Identity Law.
We're not going to judge Sergia. If the Justice system wants to investigate, let it. But never under the Gender Identity Law, only through the Ministry of Labor.
Activist María Pía Ceballos, in Salta
Previously, the justice system required three pieces of evidence from us: a medical report (if there had been any interventions), a psychological-psychiatric certificate, and an environmental certificate. These requirements invaded our freedom and pathologized our bodies. Since when does the State have the right to interfere in our bodies?
Our trans sisters in Salta are dying of meningitis and pneumonia because they work on the streets as sex workers, because they have no other choice. Some of our sisters are malnourished and living in extreme poverty. This is part of the transfemicide crisis because there is a state structure that doesn't value our lives.
We value our lives. Let's demand respect for the gender identity law. We must be vigilant; let's not allow it to be challenged.
We firmly believe that we can build a society of social justice and rights for all, starting from the recognition of our identities, and we will demand it until our last breath, because we die and the State does nothing.
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