Julieta Gómez, trans communicator: "Uniting our struggles so that there are no other cases like Loan and Patricia"
Julieta is an activist, trans communicator, and president of Fuerza Transfeminista Argentina (Argentine Transfeminist Force). She is participating in the 38th Plurinational Meeting of Women, Lesbians, Transvestites, Trans, Intersex, and Non-Binary People in Corrientes. And she tells us how she sees it.
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“I’m from Formosa, living in Chaco and now conquering Corrientes: I’m a federalist and a trans activist.” This is how Julieta Gómez, 30, president of the Fuerza Transfeminista Argentina association and host of the program Es tiempo de travestis on FM Mega 98.1, an independent radio station in Corrientes (Wednesdays from 7 to 9 pm), introduces herself.
For the third time, Julieta, a worker at the National Registry of Persons (Renaper) in Chaco, is participating in the Plurinational Meeting of Women, Lesbians, Transvestites, Transgender, Bisexual, Intersex, and Non-Binary People . After San Luis (2023) and Jujuy (2024), as a co-founder of the Northern Dissident Roundtable, she participated in the preparations, its tensions, and challenges.
How are you experiencing this Encounter?
Corrientes is a conservative province. Hosting this event is an opportunity to unite the struggles of our comrades and halt the erosion of our rights in this province. Today, Corrientes is the epicenter of a gathering that reflects what is happening nationwide . The defunding of gender policies leaves us vulnerable and unprotected, but we are resisting and organizing more than ever. This is not just another gathering. It is a gathering under a neo-fascist government, in the year in which dissidents and women have suffered the most from defunding, violence, and the erosion of our rights.
-¿What was the relationship like with the provincial government for the organization?
-Up until three days before the Encuentro, we didn't have enough schools for the workshops. They had to be rearranged, and we managed it because our colleagues wouldn't give up. It happens at many Encuentros; the governments speculate until the last minute, playing a game of tug-of-war about whether it will happen or not.
–What is happening in Corrientes with gender and diversity policies?
–Gustavo Valdés is one of the governors most closely aligned with Milei. He doesn't support the trans and travesti employment quota law. The bill hasn't even passed the first stage of approval; they're not interested. The supposed diversity departments exist in theory, but we all wonder, where does that money go? It doesn't reach our sisters' healthcare. They're not finding jobs. The gender identity law isn't being respected. There's very little access to comprehensive healthcare for the TTTNB (transvestite, trans, transgender, and non-binary) community. There's a lack of protection for this community, but also for lesbians and women.
-What has been the local atmosphere surrounding the Meeting in these days leading up to it?
Corrientes is a country apart, with different practices even in the way politics is done. I don't think they expected such a large crowd. A couple of days before, all the hotels were already full, and many of our comrades had to rent rooms in Resistencia. We believe these next few days are going to be heated, with a lot of debate and political discussion, because there's a lot of frustration.
Emilia, Juana, Micaela and Julieta.
–For you and your transvestite colleagues, what has been the most challenging aspect of organizing?
–To be able to build by making our own space. Corrientes has a rather biologically focused organizing committee. It happens at all the gatherings. The proof is in the pudding: there are always few trans women on the organizing committee. There's resistance to giving us the spaces that are rightfully ours. The gathering is plurinational and includes trans, gender-diverse, non-binary identities thanks to the women who put their bodies on the line. It's our right to be part of it. It was a struggle to keep the name. And the workshops that emerged in Jujuy and continued as working groups: job quotas and the historical reparations law, but we succeeded. When we lost Patricia Ramírez, our leader, we were left without support and it was hard to reorganize.
Patricia Natividad Ramírez was a trans activist , a driving force behind Corrientes Pride and the trans quota. Famous for portraying Eva Perón in carnival troupes, she was run over and left for dead in the street in December 2022. At the time of this writing, it was planned that Patricia's face and the demand for justice for her unpunished death would lead the "Stop Trans Murders" march, alongside the image of Diana Sacayán, ten years after her death.
Today, Patricia's name will be alongside Loan's - and the demand for her safe return - at the forefront of the march that will travel through the streets of Corrientes.
“We want to unite a collective cry so that there is no other Loan or another Patricia. That is why this meeting is being held here. They are two names that continue to challenge us.”
This article is part of the collaborative coverage between Tiempo Argentino and Presentes of the 38th Plurinational Meeting of Lesbian, Transvestite, Trans, Bisexual, Intersex, and Non-Binary Women in Corrientes. It is published in both media outlets.
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