By Lucas Fauno Gutiérrez. I never heard anyone shout “hetero” as an insult. Now, “faggot” (I write it like this because otherwise Facebook censors me) is commonplace. All of us who distanced ourselves from the privileges of heterosexuality learned to transform the insult into pride. Those of us who pulse with a rhythm that clashes with the choreography of heteronormativity were disqualified from that board of the “game of normal life” and had to learn to survive by other rules. So today, when the Twitter account of the National Secretariat of Human Rights says that “heterosexuality is part of sexual diversity,” the scars left on me by not being that “hetero” and, according to the Government, “diverse” sexuality, still burn.

The voice behind the tweet

The first thing I did was look for the voices behind the tweet. In a conversation with Diego Borisonik, Director of Comprehensive Diversity Policies at the National Secretariat for Human Rights and Cultural Pluralism, he told me: “What was misinterpreted, or not understood at all, in the tweet is that the struggle is about understanding that when we talk about sexual diversity, heterosexuality is just one among many, and it's not the hegemonic, the only, or, in quotes, the 'normal' one.” Borisonik explains that the tweet's objective was, to some extent, to make that other person uncomfortable. To tell them: “Don't think that the other person is diverse and you aren't.” “You are as diverse as I am, as she is, etc.” But of course, however “diverse” that heterosexual man may be, I pointed out that violence continues to be perpetrated against the LGBT+ community. To this, the director of the Secretariat responded that by addressing heterosexuality, the aim was to “break with that privilege or sense of superiority.” And regarding the tweet that sparked controversy on social media, he said: “The position is to break with heteronormativity and that hegemony, and to make people uncomfortable; perhaps that wasn't understood.” He also mentioned that the account tweets about lesbian visibility, trans rights, and other related topics. He then told me about more actions the Secretariat is taking regarding sexual diversity, and we ended the conversation with the possibility that a video clarifying the confusing tweet would be uploaded soon.

Uncomfortable

I read the tweet while we were standing in front of the Palace of Justice in Buenos Aires. Inside, they were reviewing the evidence in the transphobic murder of Diana Sacayán. While we were all demanding that the aggravating circumstance of hate crime based on gender identity be taken into account. Looking at my phone, the first thing I read was "HETERO" in huge letters next to a medium-sized "sexual diversity." While they beat us to a pulp for being faggots, arrest lesbians for kissing, make us invisible for being bisexual, and deny us jobs for being trans, the Human Rights Secretariat is speaking to heterosexuals, telling them they're part of it. Even if they don't kill them, arrest them, or ignore them for being heterosexual, they're still part of it. Far from reconciling, far from opening up to dialogue that develops what 'heteronormativity' is and helps to make dissidences visible, very far from this, on an island, in a sealed bottle, floating: a tweet.

What they don't say

Tomorrow that tweet will surely be forgotten. Tomorrow, perhaps the Human Rights Secretariat won't tweet again to correct this message that contributes nothing positive. Tomorrow, we homosexuals, who are also part of sexual diversity, will experience the daily lives of those who don't enjoy the privileges of that other part of sexual diversity: heterosexuality. Tomorrow, when someone wants to attack us, they'll shout "FAGGOT," but watch out, don't let any wall say that President Macri is STRAIGHT in an insulting tone. No. Because we can all be part of this diversity, but in the street, in everyday life, it's we non-heterosexuals who pay the price for having rejected that norm. And that's something no tweet says.