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Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona had been summoned to the Chamber of Deputies' Committee on Women and Diversity to explain the current status of gender policies following the dismantling of the Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity and programs against violence. But the meeting of the committee, chaired by Representative Monica Macha, ended in news and scandal. Instead of responding, the minister hid behind a series of false data and statements about sexual diversity, which violate not only Argentine law but also the recognition of a legal system and international human rights practice. 

What the minister said

“Gender alone is over; we are moving towards other values, we are moving towards family. The family is the center of society and education. Traditional family values ​​are love, unity, work, study, equality before the law. We must promote patriotic symbols, respect and honor our national heroes. This is central to harmony and social cohesion. We reject the diversity of sexual identities, which do not align with biology; they are subjective inventions,” the minister said. 

Some representatives quickly pointed out that his speech was pathologizing and unacceptable, including Vanina Biasi, Paula Penacca, Maximiliano Ferraro, and Esteban Paulon. "Denying our identities and reducing gender politics to 'subjective inventions' is setting back decades in the fight for equality," Paulon later reiterated on social media. But a group of libertarian activists present applauded him loudly. 

They demand that he retract or resign

From various quarters, there was condemnation and condemnation of the statements made by one of the authorities responsible for promoting human rights protection in his role. The Argentine LGBT+ Federation went further: it called on the minister to retract or resign. “ We demand that the Minister of Justice immediately retract his statements and that the Government take concrete measures to promote equality and the inclusion of sexual and gender diversity in all areas of society. We will not allow any setbacks in human rights. Argentina is an example of equality and freedom in the world, and we will not cease to be so at the behest of those who seem to defend the only freedom to hate, discriminate against, and attack people .”

Request for interpellation and impeachment

The Pride and Struggle Front, for its part, asked the National Congress to summon Cúneo Libarona to question him and consider initiating impeachment proceedings "for poor performance in the exercise of his office, the illegality and unconstitutionality of his statements, the dismantling of gender policies, and for the scope and hierarchy from which he issued this message." Their statement, they expressed through a statement, " violates current laws, the National Constitution and international instruments that constitute obligations for the Argentine State. The minister exacerbates ancestral mandates and prejudices that order women only to reproduce and dedicate themselves to domestic work and that frame LGBTI+ people as "sick," thus violating the principle of equality and non-discrimination .

Ricardo Vallarino, 100% Diversity and Rights

Ricardo Vallarino, president of 100% Diversity and Rights, said: “ We are facing the most misogynistic and anti-LGBT government of the democratic period . The minister's statements are extremely serious. Added to the constant attacks and the hollowing out of policies since the beginning of this government, they alarm us. They reproduce prejudices that endanger LGBT people and provide a permit structure for any violent person to discriminate against and attack us. The minister's words are aggravated by the fact that they manifestly violate current laws supported by Argentine society.”

Vallarino emphasized that the minister also failed to provide any details regarding the dismantling of all aid to address, prevent, and punish violence against women and LGBT people. "It is extremely worrying that a minister with a dubious record should establish himself as an authority in the administration of justice, standing on a moral pedestal over supposedly traditional values," he stated. He also announced that on November 2, the day of the Buenos Aires Pride march, "we will call on all of Argentine society to repudiate these attacks on our lives and on the principles of equality and freedom." 

Marcela Tobaldi, transvestite activist, The Orange Rose

Marcela Tobaldi, founder of the transvestite organization La Rosa Naranja, said: “We are witnessing a political project that is harming Argentina. They are trying to annihilate a society that has been evolving in terms of human rights. This has been the struggle since 1983, and these people's failure to recognize the entire LGBT+ community is the biggest international embarrassment this man could commit. I think we must fight for Milei's impeachment. The Argentine people must come out and teach a lesson in civility, rights, and democracy.”

Darío Arias, Conurbanes for Diversity and ILGALAC

The coordinator of Conurbanes por la Diversidad and co-secretary of the International Association ILGALAC (International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association for Latin America and the Caribbean), Darío Arias, emphasized that Cúneo Libarona's statements "are not an isolated event." 

"They are taking place within the framework of a government that is eliminating the institutional framework for sexual diversity and the prevention and response to discrimination; hollowing out public policies for the LGBT+ population, while deepening a narrative of hatred and violence against our identities, lives, and struggles. Ultimately, what they are seeking is to erase our identities and sweep away our struggles ," he said.

However, in the face of this attack, the sexual diversity movement is responding "with more organization, with more struggle, and with a deeper focus on our work in every neighborhood, every district, and every province." " We have already experienced this history of attacks against our community on repeated occasions, and they will not make us lower our flags and stop us from living our lives with pride ," she concluded.

Gabriela Mansilla, Free Childhoods

Gabriela Mansilla, founder of Childhoods Free from Violence and Discrimination, is particularly concerned about two points. On the one hand, "how are children and adolescents in school, where this discourse circulates among the same classmates who voted for Milei in high school, going to defend themselves? There's a section of power that's saying they don't exist, that it's wrong, that we have to return to the traditional, that gender doesn't exist. The emerging childhoods that need support, care, and protection—where are they going to find it?" she asked.

On the other hand, she is concerned about the "thousands of families who are currently going through their children's transition and the part of society that applauds all of this." "They walk down the street, they are part of our families, you run into them when you go to the supermarket. The hatred that is taking root on the streets is worrying ," she emphasized.

"It's very dangerous for adults, for children, and for adolescents who need our care, support, love, and our embrace. I don't understand what we're doing, what we need to go out into the streets and shout, 'Enough.' Not one more step. Enough. It can't go on."

Leo Grosso, former legislator and leader of the Evita Movement

“As I said on some social media, calling Cúneo Libarona mediocre or ignorant is praising him. At this point, it's a disgrace that, as Minister of Justice, he doesn't adhere to the law. And we don't care much about his personal opinion; what we expect from him is that he upholds the laws that exist in the country,” the former legislator told Presentes.

That Montenegro, a trans male activist

That Montenegro, a transgender human rights activist, said the minister "used the entire intervention to evade basic issues for which he should have been accountable." He says this in a context where Loan in Corrientes remains missing, a provincial deputy allied with La Libertad Avanza and the PRO party has fled justice accused of pedophilia and trafficking in the image of minors, the Ministry of Development has failed to deliver stored food, and the justice system continues to fail to intervene, "and the list goes on and on."

" What Cúneo Libarona said violates the international laws and treaties that the Argentine State has achieved over the last 40 years of democracy ." For Montenegro, it's a strategy: "I don't think he's unaware of these laws; he's choosing to violate them to shift the focus." He adds the example from a few days ago, when President Javier Milei shared a plaque on his social media about "the prison of progressivism," which featured "a lot of gay sex," according to the president.

"They're using the human rights agenda as a smokescreen to hide the social, economic, and cultural disasters they're producing with their political-ideological alignment ," Montenegro noted. Beyond the minister's personal opinion, he explained, the concern is "what the state is doing with the kids who are going to sleep without food, with the ever-increasing unemployment rate, with the lack of ESI (Compulsory Secondary Education), and so many other urgent matters." He called on us all to ask ourselves how to build action strategies in the face of what's happening in general, and also "to choose what to focus on, rather than so much publicity."

Agustina Ponce, transvestite activist, Equal World Association

For the president of the Equal World Association (AMI) and former Undersecretary of Diversity Policies, Agustina Ponce, "the Minister of Justice's denial of national laws and international human rights treaties is terrible." "It constitutes a flagrant breach of the duties of a public official . This is something that must not be allowed to go unpunished," she emphasized.

And he recalled: “Mariano Cúneo Libarona is a very controversial person. He has been detained as part of the AMIA investigation . He has also been involved in the defense of the siblings of (former First Lady and wife of Carlos Menem) Zulema Yoma. Cuneo Libarona was the partner of Emir Yoma's private secretary, a woman (Lourdes Di Natale) who was found dead by suicide in 2003. Shortly before, Cúneo Libarona had taken his daughter away from him.”

He added: "The Minister of Justice of the Nation has a record that grants him impunity for saying what he says and doing what he does: violating the regulations by which he holds the position, which we are all paying for."

María Rachid, Institute against Discrimination of the Ombudsman's Office of Buenos Aires City

"Hearing the Minister of Justice utter such outrageous things yesterday in Congress was outrageous. They want to destroy everything we've built over all these years, ignoring the laws and public policies that have placed us at the forefront of the world in terms of rights. But they won't succeed; we won't allow them to push us back even one step."

Various organizations are promoting initiatives to condemn the statements and call for strengthening the rights of all. The Organizing Committee of the 18th Rosario Pride March stated: "In the face of hatred, ignorance, and violence, we will resist with more pride, more diversity, and more freedom." They also called for a massive Pride march in that city on October 5th, from Plaza Libertad to the Flag Monument.