Argentine President Javier Milei participated in the Davos Economic Forum and in his speech took aim at people of sexual diversity. His words veer between misinformation, lies, fallacies, and manipulation. Milei repeats phrases used by the anti-rights lobby and the far right worldwide. 

 In this article, we refute Milei's statements one by one, using arguments from social sciences and verified data. 

1-It is false that a man dresses up as a woman and kills a woman in a ring

"The LGBT+ agenda is promoted by trying to force us to believe that women are men and that men are women only if they perceive themselves that way, and they say nothing about when a man dresses up as a woman and kills his opponent in a boxing ring."

What the president says goes against Gender Identity Law 26.743 . Article 2 states: “Gender identity is understood as the internal and individual experience of gender as each person feels it, which may or may not correspond to the sex assigned at birth, including the personal experience of one's body. This may involve the modification of appearance or bodily function through pharmacological, surgical, or other means, as long as it is freely chosen. It also includes other expressions of gender, such as clothing, speech, and mannerisms.” It is the law of the country he presides over; he should know and respect it.

We don't know which "boxer" the president is referring to. Is he referring to the boxer Imane Khelif ? Recall that the Algerian boxer was the target of attacks and misinformation when it was reported that she was a trans person in a women's competition. And despite her declaration that she was a cis woman, she continued to be unjustifiably attacked.

Does this refer to all trans people in sports? There is no scientific evidence showing an athletic advantage for trans women. A report published in 2021 revealed that trans women have no biomedical advantage in elite sports . It clarifies that social factors such as nutrition and training skills are what affect their performance. But this information is ignored by anti-rights groups.

2- It is false that trans women are a danger to cis women in prisons.

"Or when a prisoner claims to be a woman and ends up raping every woman he encounters in prison," the president continues in his speech. 

Milei doesn't provide details, but we infer she's referring to a case that occurred in Córdoba and was used by the media and the libertarian political community to stigmatize the woman. This woman was detained in Bouwer in late 2016 for gender-based violence against her former partner. In 2018, she changed her gender and sex on the registry, leading to her transfer to the women's ward of Bouwer prison. There, she was again charged with violence, threats, and sexual abuse against one of her fellow detainees. 

Milei relies on a single case to criminalize an entire population. He uses the fallacy of composition, a type of argumentative manipulation in which one part is taken for the whole to generalize, in this case, stigmatizing an entire population group. 

In procedural terms, there are no clear rules about where LGBTI+ people, and particularly transvestite and trans people, should be housed. The Yogyakarta Principles tell us that detainees should be asked where they think they would feel safest. But there is a huge gap between the text and reality . With overcrowding, overcrowding, and cruelty in prisons, this cannot be implemented. There is no ward or safe place in prisons for trans people.

The situation of trans people in prisons

What's more, we know of more cases of trans people being abused in confinement than the other way around . And these cases are reported, but justice is rarely achieved in these cases.

“The idea of ​​vulnerable groups being exploited to obtain rights is also nothing new. They get pregnant for a plan, they have children for house arrest, for the benefits, and now they're 'becoming trans' to change wards,” says lawyer César Bisutti.

Sexual diversity wards have been created in both the federal and provincial systems. Generally, trans women are housed in male prisons. These sexual diversity wards are often shared with cisgender men convicted of sexual violence.

Until 2015, for example, the sexual diversity ward at the Sierra Chica prison in Olavarría was called "for passive homosexuals and crimes against sexual integrity." The first provincial decree organizing the housing of penal units in the province of Buenos Aires referred to specific facilities for "homosexuals and perverts." The assimilation of homosexuality and sexual assault as deviant behaviors is longstanding and finds a specific form of accommodation in confinement. 

3-It is false that there is a “gender ideology”

Gender ideology is a term used in a negative and derogatory way to cancel or dismiss the sexual and gender diversity to which societies, cultures, and nations have increasingly opened up.

The term "ideology" refers to the dogmatic nature assumed regarding the ideas of equality, empowerment, and respect for the personal experience of identity and sexuality. Feminist and diversity movements are rejected, arguing that they go against nature and the family and that they operate by endangering the established social order.

The term “gender ideology” emerged in 1995 as a discursive strategy of the Vatican during the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.

The Pontifical Council for the Family stated that “gender ideology is part of the “feminist ideologies” that derive from the “loss of faith in the world.”

It was in 2016 that Pope Francis popularized the concept by declaring that gender ideology is an “ideological colonization” that “goes against natural things.”

This narrative has been spread by various churches and anti-rights groups to oppose comprehensive sexual education and the gender perspective .

4-It is false that people of sexual diversity are pedophiles 

At another point in his speech, the president alluded to the news that circulated in December about a gay couple in the state of Georgia, United States, sentenced to 100 years in prison for abusing their adopted children. "When I say abuse, it's not a euphemism because in its most extreme versions, gender ideology constitutes, plain and simple, child abuse. They are pedophiles. Therefore, I want to know who endorses these behaviors," the president said. 

In this way, Milei used the fallacy of composition as a rhetorical device in her speech, a type of argumentative manipulation in which one part is taken for the whole to generalize about a population group. “She uses this technique of applying what happens in individual situations and generalizing them, which doesn't apply to the needs and demands of society. Milei talks about a gay couple who adopt children, and it turns out to be a couple who practice pedophilia, which is a crime. It's deceitful because there are many gay couples, men, women, or where there are trans people, where adoptions go very well and good families are formed,” said Hernán De Arriba, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in charge of the inpatient service at Borda Hospital and a member of the organization 100% Diversity and Rights.

In figures

Worldwide, one in five women and one in seven men report having suffered sexual abuse in their childhood. The data collected by the United Nations are alarming enough to be considered a public health problem. They also warn of the need for the issue to be treated seriously and with reliable information.  

The perpetrators of these abuses are, for the most part, members of the family itself. In Argentina, according to a Justice and Human Rights , between October 2020 and September 2021, 3,219 children and adolescents were reported victims of sexual violence. Their aggressors were, 56.5%, family members, and 36.2% of the abuse occurred in the home.

Regarding the profile of abusers, UNICEF, in its report “Sexual Abuse of Children and Adolescents. A Guide to Taking Action and Protecting Their Rights ” (2018), describes: “There is no way to know, based on personality type or social behavior, whether or not a person is a sexual abuser of children and adolescents. They can be successful people, doctors, psychologists, lawyers, teachers, religious leaders, and youth leaders such as student guides who go on graduation trips or sports coaches. Sexual abusers circulate hidden in the family and social environment. Statistics indicate that the majority of abusers are socially adapted heterosexual men .”

The importance of ESI

To prevent child abuse, specialists emphasize the need for comprehensive sexuality education. “ESI doesn't imply too much or too little information, but rather the right amount of information. Psychologists and people dedicated to pedagogy work to ensure that the information is appropriate for each stage of life a person is going through, depending on the age of the child, adolescent, or adult. It has to do with knowledge of one's own body, affection, love, and care. It's necessary for people who are victims of this type of behavior to be able to identify that it's wrong and speak out,” De Arriba stated. 

In this regard, the Buenos Aires City Public Prosecutor's Office found that between 70 and 80% of children and adolescents interviewed by the agency realized they had been abused after receiving ESI classes.

5- It is false that trans childhoods are mutilated with hormones

-“They are irreversibly damaging healthy children through hormone treatments and mutilations, as if a child under 5 could consent to such a thing. And if it turns out that their family doesn't agree, there will always be state agents ready to intercede in what they call the child's best interests. Believe me, the scandalous experiments carried out today in the name of this criminal ideology will be condemned and compared to those that occurred in the darkest times of our history. And covering this multitude of abject practices is the eternal victimhood, always ready to fire off accusations of homophobia or transphobia or other fabrications whose sole purpose is to try to silence those who denounce this scandal, in which national and international authorities are complicit.”

Globally, no gender identity law that guarantees this right to trans children seeks to "mutilate," "hormonalize," or "operate" on trans girls, boys, and children. 

According to the ILGA World database , Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile have regional guidelines, laws, or precedents that guarantee gender identity recognition for minors. In some cases, this is guaranteed administratively, in others through judicial means. In no case is medical or surgical certification or hormone treatment required.

Advisory Opinion 24/17 of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ( IACHR ) holds that the recognition of the gender identity of transgender persons, both minors and adults, must be guaranteed without requiring them to prove medical or surgical interventions, hormonal treatments, or other procedures.

The evidence

Adrián Helien is a doctor and head of transgender health at Durand Hospital. He leads a pioneering team in Argentina serving families with trans children. “There are rights for trans children and adolescents in the country. These groups pathologize trans identities, drawing catastrophic and negative attention to child and adolescent support, but there are no trans voices. There are people who oppose trans rights,” he explains. 

Helien asserts that, based on her experience in the clinic, the catastrophic consequences proposed by these anti-gender movements are not so. “These people are probably the political vanguard of anti-rights legislation around the world. They have no interest in the health of trans people or in respecting their identities. We know that in the United States today, many people have to move to another state to receive treatment or from professionals who provide trans health care, and their licenses are revoked,” she describes, based on her participation in the World Association of Trans Health Professionals. 

“We, those of us who work with trans people in multidisciplinary teams, have the evidence, starting with treatments,” says Helien. In 2005, the Trans Health Care Service was created at Durand Hospital. “The evidence shows that transitions can occur at different stages of life; there are no rules. They can happen in childhood, puberty, adolescence, or later ages.” She refers to one of the arguments of these groups, which embrace a narrative that maintains that, for them, the “true” transition should occur earlier. “This position pathologizes trans identities and attempts to stake out the ground with empty rhetoric. They speak without evidence, creating false narratives.”

6-It is false that “wokism” is the opposite of freedom 

"Slowly, what seemed like absolute global hegemony of the woke left—in politics, in educational institutions, in the media, in supranational organizations, or in forums like Davos—has been crumbling, and a glimmer of hope for the ideas of freedom is beginning to emerge."

The term "woke" comes from English and means "awake." It originally came into use in the United States during the 1960s in the context of the Black civil rights struggle. It referred to the idea of ​​"being awake" or "aware" in the face of injustice; it speaks of opening one's eyes, seeing everything, and letting nothing pass.

The term has been broadened and for some time now has included more struggles related to human rights, including LGBT+ rights, women's rights, people with disabilities, and so on. It is in this context that conservatives turn it into their nemesis and call themselves "anti-Woke."

Milei's speech at Davos, which echoes Trump's inauguration speech and aligns with the sayings and policies of mega-millionaires like Musk and Zuckerberg, constructs the idea of ​​"wokism" as a censorious enemy that restricts freedoms to somehow justify its attack on the human rights of the most vulnerable populations who do not agree with its authoritarian regimes.

On Wednesday, January 22, Milei posted on the X network: “Not only are we not afraid of you. But we will go to the last corner of the planet to seek you out in defense of freedom. You left-wing sons of bitches, tremble.”