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On November 19, Argentina will hold a runoff election for president. The second round will be between the two candidates who received the most votes in the October 22 elections: Sergio Massa and Javier Milei. With 35.68 percent of the vote, Massa, a candidate from Unión por la Patria (Union for the Homeland), was the top vote-getter in this election. He was followed by Milei, a candidate from La Libertad Avanza (La Libertad Avanza) with 29.98 percent.

Among the other candidates, Patricia Bullrich of Together for Change obtained 23.83 percent of the vote. Juan Schiaretti of We Do for Our Country obtained 6.78 percent. And Myriam Bregman of the Left and Workers' Front obtained 2.70 percent. We discuss their platforms here .

Thus, Massa and Milei will compete to see who will be the president who takes office on December 10th, marking 40 years of democracy. What are the main proposals that the Union for the Homeland and Freedom Advances is promoting in gender and diversity policies? We'll tell you about them in this article.

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Sergio Massa ( Union for the Homeland)

In his electoral platform , Sergio Massa, Minister of Economy and presidential candidate for the Unión por la Patria party, called for "a broad national agreement and the construction of a new majority" because "no one can save themselves alone." This agreement included representatives from political forces and universities, as well as students, young people, and groups of diverse backgrounds.

Regarding gender policies, the candidate did not directly address the LGBTIQ+ community. He called for "the implementation of a comprehensive care policy" and focused on the creation of daycare centers. He also urged " fighting for something regulated by the National Constitution but not respected by the labor market : equal pay for equal work." In this regard, he asserted: " We must close the 23% wage gap where women earn less than men."

This Sunday, in his speech at the Unión por la Patria bunker at the Chacarita Art Media Complex, the candidate who garnered the most votes in the general election didn't mention sexual diversity, but did mention women. In this regard, he stated that he will carry out an Argentine development project "looking at the reality of those mothers who often raise their children alone and need a present but efficient State."

On other occasions, Massa called for "defending the pension moratorium" because "7 out of 10 beneficiaries are women, victims of a labor market that expelled them, who were unable to contribute because they dedicated themselves to caregiving." This was stated by candidate Massa at the closing of a meeting of women and diversity groups of the Unión por la Patria (Union for the Homeland) held in July in Merlo. He also stated: "We have come to call on women to defend the idea that development must be inclusive, and that this inclusion requires equal opportunities and rights .

In 2011, his vice presidential candidate, Agustin Rossi, was the leader of the Frente para la Victoria bloc. When the Gender Identity Law was passed in the Chamber of Deputies, he spoke directly to the activists of the sexual diversity movement, thanking them: “I want to recognize all the organizations of the gay, trans, and lesbian community. You did a lot for the same-sex marriage law, and knowing you, I know that from that very day on, you were determined to achieve this gender identity law, in which we took an important step today.”

Javier Milei ( Freedom Advances )

This Sunday, presidential candidate Javier Milei, who finished second in the vote, addressed the activists gathered at the Libertador Hotel : "We're not here to take away rights, we're here to put an end to privileges." However, the proposals of La Libertad Avanza (LLA) directly target hard-won rights such as Comprehensive Sexual Education, legal abortion, and equal marriage.

's platform , La Libertad Avanza (LLA), has repeatedly proposed eliminating mandatory Comprehensive Sexuality Education at all levels of education. It also outlines, in its health proposals, the need to "protect children from conception."

This is in line with statements made to the media by both Milei and vice presidential candidate Victoria Villarruel. In an interview with Alejandro Fantino on the Neura Media program , the presidential candidate said he was "against" abortion because "it is against the right to life." He also warned that he would "at least hold a plebiscite" in reference to the voluntary termination of pregnancy law, passed in 2020. In an interview with Marcelo Bonelli on Todo Noticias, Milei stated that both he and Villarruel identify as "pro-life." He added: "It is murder in the womb of the mother."

For his part, Villarruel said in the vice-presidential candidates' debate that "Comprehensive Sexual Education must be based on biological content." He also took a stand against same-sex marriage in an interview with Luis Novaresio, saying that same-sex unions were already "guaranteed with civil unions." Nor was the candidate for mayor of the City of Buenos Aires, Ramiro Marra, exempt from attacks on the LGBT+ community. In a tweet, he listed a series of proposals, including "fewer LGBT events in cultural centers."

At the book launch of The Libertarian's Path , Milei asserted that if he takes office, he will eliminate the Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity . "I'm not going to apologize for having a penis. I have no reason to feel ashamed of being a white, blond, blue-eyed man.  I'm not going to concede anything to cultural Marxism. With this, they know that the Ministry of Women... clue, because the only equality that matters is equality before the law," he said.

Regarding the privileges enjoyed by certain sectors, their proposals on gender issues, far from attacking them, seek to legalize them. In this regard, Lilia Lemoine, a national representative from the LLA party who was elected this Sunday, stated on a program on Una Hora y Gracias (One Hour and Thank You) on Neura Media that her first bill will aim to allow men to renounce paternity leave. This is a problem that already exists in the country, which is why various sectors are demanding compliance with child support for parents.

However, with this bill, Lemoine seeks to regularize this situation, which aims to give men 15 days to decide whether or not to take care of their offspring. "Since women have the privilege of being able to kill their children and renounce being mothers, why do men, by law, have to support a child?" the representative said when speaking about her bill.

Finally, the presidential candidate also positioned himself against social justice . After learning the results of the primary elections, he told the crowd in their bunker: “We are facing the end of the caste model, that model based on that atrocity that says where there is a need, a right is born. But it forgets that someone has to pay for that right, the ultimate expression of which is that aberration called social justice.”