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By Alexis Oliva – From Córdoba

Oscar Perassi, deputy director of Neighborhood Policies, addressed Noemí Maldonado, president of the electoral board of a neighborhood center, as "sir" and "gentleman," according to a complaint filed with the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI). Diversity organizations are demanding his resignation.

Noemí “Mimí” Maldonado is 49 years old and a trans woman known for her social activism, which she has carried out since the early 1990s in the 6th Precinct, in the eastern part of Córdoba city. For the past two months, she has been president of the electoral board of the Yapeyú neighborhood association, nominated by the residents to represent its more than eight thousand inhabitants.

On Friday, September 7, Mimí Maldonado went to the Córdoba City Hall to submit the list of authorities for the community center at the Neighborhood Policies office. Its head, Deputy Director Oscar Perassi, rejected the application.

—Sir, this is very bad… —the official told him.

—Well, it seems like everything I do is wrong.

—Look, sir, since all this is done wrong, correct the anomalies and come back with things done right.

—You respect my gender, because I don't disrespect you—Maldonado demanded.

—I'm not interested in your gender. I treat you as what you are: a man.

“I got up, shook his hand, and left feeling utterly powerless,” Maldonado told Presentes. “Even though this had been going on for a while, I wasn’t going to file a complaint so as not to harm my neighbors, but they themselves asked me to do so, and trans women’s organizations supported me.”

“My mother accepted me and gave me dignity; at my job and in my neighborhood, I am respected. I cannot accept this lack of respect, this belittling and this garbage treatment, especially not from a public official. It is not my fault that this man is homophobic or transphobic; I am not here to please him, and I cannot allow him to do what he does,” she added.

The complaint

Accompanied by the Trans Center of Córdoba, Mimí filed a complaint on Friday the 21st with the Inadi against the municipal official for discrimination and for violating National Law 26.743 on Gender Identity, which in its article 12 establishes that the self-perceived gender identity of people must be respected "both in public and private spheres".

María Pedicino Keuroghlian, delegate of the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI), confirmed that the complaint exists. In the coming days, the accused official will be summoned to provide his statement, and then the witnesses will be called to begin the investigation.

“Usually, we try to reach a settlement, but in this case, the complainant doesn't want to settle,” she explained. “Beyond the ruling, which will take some time, we're going to offer the Municipality training for its officials on the topic of sexual diversity,” the Inadi delegate in Córdoba added.

Today at noon, at the initiative of councilwoman Nadia Fernández, the Union for Córdoba bloc presented a project in the Deliberative Council to condemn Perassi's discriminatory attitude, so that it can be discussed immediately in the session next Thursday the 27th.

Meanwhile, LGBTQ+ rights organizations are calling for a rally on Wednesday the 26th at 6 PM in front of City Hall to demand the resignation of the head of Neighborhood Policies. Franco Bonino, from the Córdoba Trans Center, stated that the official's actions are "extremely serious because he is not only violating the gender identity law, but also denying it."