Buenos Aires (Argentina) . Is it possible to measure how much (and how) sex-gender diversity impacts our living conditions? The reality of the LGBTIQ+ population has always been a statistical mystery. In recent years, no research has been conducted that cross-references a large volume of information at the national level and with academic rigor. Until a few days ago, the data collected in 2023 by the First National Survey of Living Conditions of Sexual and Gender Diversity in Argentina became compiled the living conditions of more than 15,000 diverse people in great detail , providing highly accurate and comparable data on different aspects of their lives.

How it was done

The first diverse census constitutes the largest database on the living conditions of LGBT+ people in Argentina. It collects information from across the country, organized into six nodes. It was coordinated by a team of 50 professionals from national institutes and universities . Between May and August 2023, 15,211 people responded to the self-administered survey . The database will be available to everyone in the first quarter of 2025.

Today, this census offers a detailed overview of the current state of sexual and gender diversity in Argentina, essential for thinking about the future. Among the most relevant data about the different identity groups encompassed by the acronym, it highlights a large number of bisexual (22.5%) and non-binary (13.2%) people. Also notable is the number of trans masculinities, 5.3%, which outnumbers femininities: 4.1% are transvestites, trans women, and transfemininities. 

A group of national universities from all regions of Argentina, with support from the now-dismantled Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity, managed to survey more than 15,000 cases of people of sexual diversity and collect data on different aspects of their lives. The institutions participating in this project are: the Center for Population Studies (CENEP), the National University of Comahue (UNComa), the National University of Córdoba (UNC), the Institute of Geohistorical Research (IIGHI – CONICET/UNNE), the National University of Salta (UNSa), the National University of San Martín (UNSAM), and the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET). The project was funded by the R&D&I Agency, in an agreement with the Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity. The working group is made up of six nodes, each corresponding to a region: Buenos Aires City, Centro, Patagonia, RMBA, Northeast/Litoral, and NOA. 

Census data confirms that the transgender population is the most affected by discrimination, both in education and employment. This restricts their access to higher education and results in precarious working conditions.

Maximiliano Marentes , a sociologist trained at the National University of San Martín, is part of the large team that carried out the census. Coordinator of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region node, he reflects on the data collected: from the commitment of a publicly affirming bisexual majority to how strategies are being developed to improve the living conditions of the trans population.

“ Trans women, trans men, and, to a lesser extent, non-binaries , show worse indicators, so to speak, compared to the general population, in terms of educational attainment , income level, and access to and longevity in employment. In the case of gay men and lesbians, it's close to the average for the general population,” he says.

Why a census on living conditions

Marentes, who also holds a PhD in Social Sciences and specializes in gender and diversity, believes that further research is still needed, including control studies and some variables to understand how being an LGBTIQ+ person affects living conditions. 

—Why is this census about “living conditions”?

— Because it was an area of ​​vacancy. Those of us who work with diversity issues from different angles and perspectives saw a certain gap in relation to Oriana (Junco )'s question: "What do they make a living?" Because there had been a lot of progress in systematizing and understanding gay men and transfeminism, in terms of discrimination, aggression, and violence. But there was a lack of knowledge about the material conditions of existence . And how it influences these identities when it comes to entering the labor market, developing professionally, and so on. There is some previous work; we're not here to reinvent the wheel: we seek to generate data that can be compared with the general population, that is, statistical data.

In his doctoral research on “ Love between gay men . An analysis of cultural production based on equal marriage (2010) in Argentina”, he compared the lives of two brothers to try to measure how sexual orientation had influenced them.

A census, like any research project, can be thought of as an inert instrument or a living being, reflects Marentes. And he proudly presents an ecosystem of data to be read and compared with other variables, a body with political power.. 

How the acronym LGBTINB+ Argentina is configured

Among those surveyed, the number of people who identified as bisexual was surprising: 18.2% were bisexual women, and 4.3% were bisexual or pansexual men, for a total of 22.5% bisexual. Thirty-five percent identified as gay, queer, queer, or homosexual, and 15% as lesbian. A further 13.2% of respondents identified as non-binary.

 — As researchers, were you surprised by the number of non-binary and bisexual people, or that the number of trans masculinities is higher than that of femininities? 

— If that's striking, it's because we had come to believe there would be more trans femininities. But it also coincides with the INDEC general census (36.8 masculinities, compared to 30.8 trans women and transvestites). We were also surprised by something that's a global trend: the number of bisexual women. There's starting to be more and more self-definition. That's why it's nice to see the survey as a political strategy, or a politicization of identities ; there's a greater commitment to embracing them. One sees the survey as something bland, and suddenly it becomes a political battle. Before, there was invisibility; no one said they were bisexual. Or there were the difficulties organizations had in being respected by other organizations within the movement, and it wasn't thought of as a temporary identity. Here we see this greater presence, a greater tendency to identify.

— Any other news to highlight?

—One thing that happened to us is that when we asked about gender identity, some people used "gay" or "queer," when for us that would be part of sexual orientation. We saw that in the process of regrouping identities, and we were discussing the same thing with some Chilean colleagues who are conducting a similar survey. We detected greater flexibility in terms of defining sexual orientation and gender identity.

Families and territorial organization

The results of the Diverse Census were presented at the University of San Martín on August 30th, as part of a "federal tour" of presentations that can be consulted on the website . On September 5th, the presentations were held at the National University of Comahue in Neuquén Province; on Tuesday, September 10th, the presentations will be held at the Evita Museum in the Province of Córdoba; in October, the presentations will be held in Salta; and in November, the presentations will be held at the National University of the Northeast in Chaco.

In San Martín, Dr. Ernesto Meccia was part of the panel that discussed the results. The director of the Sociology program at the National University of Litoral emphasized the contribution the study makes by "considering the realities of identities linked to the territory where they are woven, and whether proudly or not, are assumed." He emphasized the relevance of the data produced on the relationship of these identities with organizations in the territory, social and/or political organizations, the majority of which are not linked to feminism or the field of diversity (45.9%). He also greatly valued the fact that the chapter on health focuses on access to health and mental health from a comprehensive perspective. Both sections provide a glimpse into how alliances are being forged with unions, social organizations, and others. 

In turn, María Luisa Peralta, a lesbian biologist and activist, reflected on the data produced regarding family and caregiving. She focused on the 50% of LGBTIQNB+ people who are not in a relationship, and the need to legitimize caregiving relationships that occur between friends, both socially and through labor legislation .

“It's interesting to think about what kind of strategies can be forged, and what alliances can be made, because it's not like we're in Sweden, where work is as formal as possible,” reflects Maxi Marentes. The idea of ​​family in our latitudes, he explains, remains a space where people can count on each other for some things. 

One question that wasn't included in the booklet was, precisely, "Who do you count on?" a) when you need money, b) when you need care for health problems, or c) when you need support because you're sad. 

Speaking with Marentes, he explained that, according to the survey data, in our Argentine latitudes, family, partner, and friends appeared, in that order, in those categories. Our Argentine families, which merge something of the Italian migrant with the indigenous peoples and their community experience, are not as expulsive as the Saxon one.

Considering these specificities, Marentes believes that some people often resort to disguising their ties. For example, if I have to babysit for a girlfriend, and it's someone a few years older than me, some people say it's an uncle or aunt . But this can also happen to a CIS woman, who needs to care for or be cared for by a friend, and suffers from the same system of (il)legitimacy.

From this dataset, the links and relationships emerge that are articulated with various organizations such as business chambers, companies, unions—other actors with whom diversity is already interacting, weaving their daily lives.

Through this data, the researchers observe that "the possibility of forging potential alliances with different stakeholders can be a strategy to overcome this moment and build better conditions," Marentes enthuses.

Discrimination and working conditions

This survey was conducted in 2023, before Javier Milei's government took office and its officials, including Justice Minister Cúneo Libarona, attacked gender diversity. Therefore, it is suspected that the numbers documenting discrimination may have increased.

-Over the 12 months prior to December 2023, around 60% of trans people surveyed had been discriminated against because of their gender identity, followed by 40% of non-binary people. 

-30.4% of those surveyed felt discriminated against for reasons other than their gender identity or sexual orientation, with political identity predominating. This is hardly surprising in "a society as polarized as ours," as María Luisa Peralta said at the University of San Martín.

-Regarding employment relationships, the vast majority of the sample is active: 77.4% make a living from their work. 

-Unemployment and inactivity mainly affect trans masculinities (14.3%), trans/transvestite women (12.3) and non-binaries (10.3). 

This segment also reported experiencing the most discrimination in educational settings, both by authorities and by other students (around 30% of individuals were discriminated against, while the average for the LGBT community as a whole is 20%) . And they are the ones making the least progress in obtaining degrees.

When identity has a positive influence 

-When analyzing their work activities, it is notable that 43.6% work as professionals, scientists, and intellectuals.

—Could this data about professional, scientific, or intellectual work be a sample bias, since it was collected by universities?

— It's a great question, and there could be several hypotheses. There could be a bias because it's being conducted by universities or because it's a complex survey, in order to be comparable with the Permanent Household Survey (EPH), which isn't self-administered. But at the same time, all the work in this line, with primary and secondary sources of information, shows that it's a population with higher levels of educational credentials . One of the hypotheses we use is that of over-adaptation. To the extent that one feels less important because one isn't part of hegemonic masculinity, or because one isn't feminine like others, or because of those things about identities and orientations that distance us from the norm, some of us take refuge in studying and seek, quote unquote, to "counterbalance that" and study more and so on.

Marentes recounts that in the case of her doctoral research, which followed two brothers, both of whom had grown up in the same slum. One was heterosexual and a supermarket stocker, the other was gay, and through political sociability and activism, he came to work as a secretary at INADI and was studying to become a professor in Fine Arts. “There's something about that class origin, that capitalism would say that if you're all poor you'll die poor, and that sex-gender identity influenced their trajectory in a positive way .”

Data that speaks of sexual diversity

-In Argentina's last official census, the results of which were released in December 2023, the question was asked for the first time whether a person identified with the sex assigned at birth. 196,952 people responded no. This represents 0.04% of the population, although sexual orientation and intersex identity continue to be ignored. 

-The first national survey is part of a line of research that is not new and has crucial precedents. The first to pave the way was the "Preliminary Report on the Situation of Transvestites in the City of Buenos Aires" (1999), with a sample of 147 women. 

-In 2005, Lohana Berkins and Josefina Fernandez conducted a survey in Buenos Aires, La Matanza, and Mar del Plata, which gave rise to the book "The Deed of the Proper Name" (Mothers of Plaza de Mayo Publishing House). 

Image source: https://censodiversidad.ar/#que