Jail..Where Clinton Voters Belong
2017-02-28 09:49:53 UTC
BUENOS AIRES Diana Sacayán was found tied up in a 13th-floor
apartment in Buenos Aires in October, stabbed to death. A month
earlier, Marcela Estefanía Chocobar, 26, was decapitated and her
body dumped on a vacant lot in Río Gallegos, in Patagonia. Also
in September, in Santa Fe, a city on Argentinas Pampas
lowlands, the corpse of Fernanda Olmos, 59, was discovered on
her bedroom floor, a plastic bag pulled over her head. She had
also been stabbed.
The unsolved killings of transgender women in recent weeks have
jolted Argentina, prompting soul-searching in a country that has
introduced some of the most liberal civil rights legislation in
Latin America, but that critics say remains mired in
conservative and macho attitudes toward gender identity.
Society hasnt changed in the slightest, said Andrea Cantero,
29, a hairdresser who until last year was called Andrés. Were
people like anybody else, she added, but I feel it was a
message to say, Youre worthless.
Ms. Cantero, who says she is regularly insulted and threatened
over her gender identity, spoke at a recent march of gay and
transgender Argentines. She had tied her hands and ankles with
rope, painted blood stains on her skin and written on her chest,
Liberate us from violence.
At the march, protesters held handmade signs denouncing the
murder of Ms. Sacayán, 40, one of the most prominent transgender
activists in Argentina. She led a group that fights
discrimination against transgender people and was a regional
representative of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Trans and Intersex Association. On the street, someone had
stenciled graffiti that read, Basta de travesticidios, or
Enough transgendercide.
In recent years, legislators have passed a series of laws to
protect the rights of transgender and gay people in Argentina.
Although conservative attitudes on social issues persist and the
Roman Catholic Church remains influential, the government of
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has pushed for greater
equality, seeing the issue as a crucial human rights concern. In
2010, Argentina became the first country in Latin America to
allow same-sex marriage.
Three years ago, legislators passed a groundbreaking gender
identity law that allows people to change their gender without a
psychiatric diagnosis or surgery. It also requires state health
care and private insurers to provide hormone therapy and gender
reassignment surgery.
In Buenos Aires Province, Argentinas most populous, lawmakers
passed a bill in September that requires public sector employers
to allocate 1 percent of jobs to transgender workers.
About 6,000 people, including a 6-year-old boy, have changed
their gender on official documents in the last three years,
compared with a handful before the 2012 law, said Esteban
Paulón, president of the Argentine Federation for Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual and Transgender People.
Government ministries have in some cases supported transgender
people searching for jobs by subsidizing wages and helping
arrange medical attention.
But despite these advances, many challenges remain.
The gender identity law has been carried out slowly, critics
say, noting that the provision for hormone therapy and surgery
was only enforced this year. And few cities have doctors trained
to perform reassignment operations. Similarly, as activists like
Ms. Sacayán hailed the provincial labor law, doubts were being
voiced in some quarters, like trade unions, about whether it
would ever be respected.
In addition, hostile and uninformed attitudes on gender equality
remain commonplace, according to many transgender people. In
2011, Susana Giménez, a popular television host, offered a
glimpse of these attitudes when she said on air that she would
rather die than be lesbian.
Silvia Augsburger, a former congresswoman who drafted the gender
identity law, said, We have passed hugely important laws so
that the community can express itself. But, she added, as a
state, we still dont have the resources to guarantee them lives
free of discrimination.
A 2014 report by the National Institute Against Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Racism estimated that 40 percent of Argentines
held discriminatory attitudes toward transgender people.
A survey of nearly 500 transgender Argentines by the Huésped
Foundation, published last year, said that discrimination had
diminished in some contexts, like in schools and medical
clinics, since the 2012 gender identity law was passed. But it
also highlighted the challenges that transgender people face.
More than 60 percent of the people interviewed were prostitutes,
pointing to the difficulties transgender people have finding
other employment. A majority had not finished high school.
Transgender life expectancy is 35, according to the foundation.
In the general population in 2013, according to the World Health
Organization, it was 73 for men and 80 for women.
We are still victims, said Daniela Ruiz, the founder of
Artetrans, a transgender art cooperative.
Gay and transgender Argentines are now pushing for modifications
to an existing law that targets traditional forms of
discrimination, like those based on religious or political
beliefs. They want provisions that would explicitly criminalize
discrimination against transgender people.
Some are also urging transgender people to break out from the
safety of their own community, which might speed up societal
acceptance. Because they dont integrate much, prejudices
persist, said Cristian Reches, 39, a gay university student who
was at the march. Theres responsibility on both sides.
Gender equality issues were also a factor in the campaign
leading up to the presidential election on Nov. 22, won by
Mauricio Macri, an opposition leader.
In the final weeks of the race, Daniel Scioli the governing
partys candidate and his supporters, including Mrs. Kirchner,
sought to scare voters away from Mr. Macri, seen as socially
conservative. Mr. Macri once called homosexuality a disease
and, last year, defended the harassment of women. Deep down,
all women like being catcalled, he told a radio station. There
cant be anything nicer.
But Mr. Macri, currently the mayor of Buenos Aires, said this
month that he would not thwart the gender rights movement. We
have respected minority rights, he said of his municipal
government, which has supported same-sex marriage.
Despite the murders and the complaints about enduring
discrimination, there are also signs that attitudes are changing.
In Chivilcoy, a city of 64,000 that has drawn attention for
efforts against gender discrimination, a municipally funded
medical center for transgender people opened last year, one of
several similar facilities nationwide.
The center provides services like hormone and psychological
therapy, vaccinations and speech coaching for transgender people
to alter the pitch of their voice.
When we would face up to our families, we were thrown out of
our homes, said Victoria Ocampo, 40, a transgender nurse at the
center. But thats changing now. She recalled two teenagers
grappling with gender dysphoria who recently turned up at the
center with their parents.
I focus on the progress, Lizy Tagliani, a transgender woman in
her 40s who is a hair stylist and a local TV celebrity, said as
fans huddled around her. I dont worry about whats yet to be
achieved. I always try to see the glass half full.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/world/americas/transgender-
argentines-confront-continued-murder-and-discrimination.html?_r=0
apartment in Buenos Aires in October, stabbed to death. A month
earlier, Marcela Estefanía Chocobar, 26, was decapitated and her
body dumped on a vacant lot in Río Gallegos, in Patagonia. Also
in September, in Santa Fe, a city on Argentinas Pampas
lowlands, the corpse of Fernanda Olmos, 59, was discovered on
her bedroom floor, a plastic bag pulled over her head. She had
also been stabbed.
The unsolved killings of transgender women in recent weeks have
jolted Argentina, prompting soul-searching in a country that has
introduced some of the most liberal civil rights legislation in
Latin America, but that critics say remains mired in
conservative and macho attitudes toward gender identity.
Society hasnt changed in the slightest, said Andrea Cantero,
29, a hairdresser who until last year was called Andrés. Were
people like anybody else, she added, but I feel it was a
message to say, Youre worthless.
Ms. Cantero, who says she is regularly insulted and threatened
over her gender identity, spoke at a recent march of gay and
transgender Argentines. She had tied her hands and ankles with
rope, painted blood stains on her skin and written on her chest,
Liberate us from violence.
At the march, protesters held handmade signs denouncing the
murder of Ms. Sacayán, 40, one of the most prominent transgender
activists in Argentina. She led a group that fights
discrimination against transgender people and was a regional
representative of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Trans and Intersex Association. On the street, someone had
stenciled graffiti that read, Basta de travesticidios, or
Enough transgendercide.
In recent years, legislators have passed a series of laws to
protect the rights of transgender and gay people in Argentina.
Although conservative attitudes on social issues persist and the
Roman Catholic Church remains influential, the government of
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has pushed for greater
equality, seeing the issue as a crucial human rights concern. In
2010, Argentina became the first country in Latin America to
allow same-sex marriage.
Three years ago, legislators passed a groundbreaking gender
identity law that allows people to change their gender without a
psychiatric diagnosis or surgery. It also requires state health
care and private insurers to provide hormone therapy and gender
reassignment surgery.
In Buenos Aires Province, Argentinas most populous, lawmakers
passed a bill in September that requires public sector employers
to allocate 1 percent of jobs to transgender workers.
About 6,000 people, including a 6-year-old boy, have changed
their gender on official documents in the last three years,
compared with a handful before the 2012 law, said Esteban
Paulón, president of the Argentine Federation for Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual and Transgender People.
Government ministries have in some cases supported transgender
people searching for jobs by subsidizing wages and helping
arrange medical attention.
But despite these advances, many challenges remain.
The gender identity law has been carried out slowly, critics
say, noting that the provision for hormone therapy and surgery
was only enforced this year. And few cities have doctors trained
to perform reassignment operations. Similarly, as activists like
Ms. Sacayán hailed the provincial labor law, doubts were being
voiced in some quarters, like trade unions, about whether it
would ever be respected.
In addition, hostile and uninformed attitudes on gender equality
remain commonplace, according to many transgender people. In
2011, Susana Giménez, a popular television host, offered a
glimpse of these attitudes when she said on air that she would
rather die than be lesbian.
Silvia Augsburger, a former congresswoman who drafted the gender
identity law, said, We have passed hugely important laws so
that the community can express itself. But, she added, as a
state, we still dont have the resources to guarantee them lives
free of discrimination.
A 2014 report by the National Institute Against Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Racism estimated that 40 percent of Argentines
held discriminatory attitudes toward transgender people.
A survey of nearly 500 transgender Argentines by the Huésped
Foundation, published last year, said that discrimination had
diminished in some contexts, like in schools and medical
clinics, since the 2012 gender identity law was passed. But it
also highlighted the challenges that transgender people face.
More than 60 percent of the people interviewed were prostitutes,
pointing to the difficulties transgender people have finding
other employment. A majority had not finished high school.
Transgender life expectancy is 35, according to the foundation.
In the general population in 2013, according to the World Health
Organization, it was 73 for men and 80 for women.
We are still victims, said Daniela Ruiz, the founder of
Artetrans, a transgender art cooperative.
Gay and transgender Argentines are now pushing for modifications
to an existing law that targets traditional forms of
discrimination, like those based on religious or political
beliefs. They want provisions that would explicitly criminalize
discrimination against transgender people.
Some are also urging transgender people to break out from the
safety of their own community, which might speed up societal
acceptance. Because they dont integrate much, prejudices
persist, said Cristian Reches, 39, a gay university student who
was at the march. Theres responsibility on both sides.
Gender equality issues were also a factor in the campaign
leading up to the presidential election on Nov. 22, won by
Mauricio Macri, an opposition leader.
In the final weeks of the race, Daniel Scioli the governing
partys candidate and his supporters, including Mrs. Kirchner,
sought to scare voters away from Mr. Macri, seen as socially
conservative. Mr. Macri once called homosexuality a disease
and, last year, defended the harassment of women. Deep down,
all women like being catcalled, he told a radio station. There
cant be anything nicer.
But Mr. Macri, currently the mayor of Buenos Aires, said this
month that he would not thwart the gender rights movement. We
have respected minority rights, he said of his municipal
government, which has supported same-sex marriage.
Despite the murders and the complaints about enduring
discrimination, there are also signs that attitudes are changing.
In Chivilcoy, a city of 64,000 that has drawn attention for
efforts against gender discrimination, a municipally funded
medical center for transgender people opened last year, one of
several similar facilities nationwide.
The center provides services like hormone and psychological
therapy, vaccinations and speech coaching for transgender people
to alter the pitch of their voice.
When we would face up to our families, we were thrown out of
our homes, said Victoria Ocampo, 40, a transgender nurse at the
center. But thats changing now. She recalled two teenagers
grappling with gender dysphoria who recently turned up at the
center with their parents.
I focus on the progress, Lizy Tagliani, a transgender woman in
her 40s who is a hair stylist and a local TV celebrity, said as
fans huddled around her. I dont worry about whats yet to be
achieved. I always try to see the glass half full.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/world/americas/transgender-
argentines-confront-continued-murder-and-discrimination.html?_r=0