Name: Santiago

Identity: Non-binary

Candidacy: District 8 - CABA

Political party: Socialist Workers' Party (PTS)

List: List 1A - Left Front Unity

Position on the list: First alternate

Why does a person from a diverse sexual/cultural background have to be in Congress or the Legislature?

Because if the major traditional political coalitions say that to pay the IMF they have to cut education, healthcare, housing, and pensions, they're talking about cuts that will disproportionately affect women and LGBTQ+ people. We are the ones who hold the worst jobs and are overrepresented in poverty statistics. Because we cannot tolerate the reactionary rhetoric of the right wing and the Church that seeks to jeopardize major achievements like comprehensive sex education and legal abortion. It's self-defense.

When did you decide to run for office and why?

My comrades elected me as a candidate on a list full of workers, students, activists, and fighters, to propose, along with my comrades Myriam Bregman, Jorge Adaro, and Andrea D'Atri, a left-wing solution. This is the only list that argues we cannot resign ourselves to this situation, that we must follow Jujuy's example against austerity.

How do you think hatred can be combated through politics?

The hatred of governments and employers against workers, the popular sectors and even our environment, the hatred of the right wing and the Church towards women and sexual diversity, is fought in the streets by uniting workers, students, and LGBT people in the same struggle.

Did you think of any strategies to respond to the smear campaigns and disinformation against LGBT people in the media?

First, we must increase the budget for Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) and eliminate Article 5, which grants reactionary institutions veto power over the implementation of this law. We must also eliminate all decrees from the dictatorship that allow the Catholic Church to be financed with state funds and our taxes: Church and State are separate. The effective implementation of the trans employment quota is also crucial. This would send a powerful message to all media outlets and society.

How do we prevent a decline in rights?

No government has ever given us anything for free: we must remain organized and in the streets, mobilizing independently of all those parties that support the Church, austerity, and repression. That's why strengthening the left in these elections means reinforcing our struggle, defending our gains, and ensuring an independent voice enters the local councils, the legislature, and Congress.

What is the first project you are going to present?

First, the trans employment quota must be effectively implemented, along with a new Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) law. Furthermore, the workweek should be reduced to six hours a day, five days a week, with a salary indexed to inflation, so that everyone can work. If this were applied only to the country's large companies, it would create one million new, genuine jobs. Finally, an Emergency Program against Gender Violence is needed to address the housing and economic situation of victims of violence.

Recommendation

A film, song, book, or cultural experience that politically influenced you?

The book "Bread and Roses: Gender Belonging and Class Antagonisms" by Andrea D'Atri, a socialist feminist candidate for Buenos Aires legislator for the Left Front Unity List 1A.