"When the Israeli Embassy and the AMIA [Israeli Mutual Help Association] were bombed, we all became Jews; when photographer Jose Luis Cabezas was murdered we all became him. In the same way, today gays, lesbians, bisexuals, heterosexuals, we are all transvestites"-- Luciana Kerner - Young Gay and Lesbians' Group
Buenos Aires
For about six hours on January 10, almost 30 transvestite, lesbian, gay and bisexual activists -joined by Laura Bonaparte, from Madres de Plaza Mayo, Linea Fundadora- laid siege on Buenos Aires Justice Palace. The demostration had two main objectives:
1) To launch our anti-transphobia campaign aimed at the general public, in order to get all citizens involved in defending the right to free sex/gender choice and also to help them link the violence endured by transvestites with that suffered by other groups the system needs to keep under control as it can not, overtly, eliminate them (young people, women, indigenous communities, elders, poor people, etc.) and
2) To denounce systematic human rights violations comitted against transvestites in Argentina and the absolute indiference/ complicity shown by the "democratic" powers (Justice system, Internal Affairs Ministry, etc.)
Both objectives were more than satisfactorily achieved. The demostration was thrilling, moving and challenging. The Palace's main entrance was blocked by big sized dolls carrying the names of some of the 64 transvestites murdered by the police in recent years. A dozen LGTB activists and Laura Bonaparte chained themselves to the stairs. Almost 4,000 leaflets (the text is enclosed bellow) were distributed among passers-by. The city's most relevant media were present as was a large police "custody", that fortunately remained idle.
The public's response was highly positive: nobody was agressive and, on the contrary, several people showed their agreement when ever corruption and police brutality were mentioned. Almost nobody rejected the leaflets and that is a very good sign: it is probably that, upon reading them, those people will start questioning if it is legitimate and human to force every human being to choose among pink and blue once and forever, under threats of exclusion and death.
Please allow me to say that our creativity and enthusiasm played a big role in the demonstration's success. Transvestites and lesbians made the absolute majority in the crowd. The favorite slogan was: "Ms., Mr. / don't be indifferent / transvestites are being killed / right in your face", sometimes turned into "Judge, judge ...". A group of people from a shanty town called Villa 21 was also demonstrating nearby against the death of several young men in the hands of the police.
Following our invitation, the group's spokewoman took our megaphone and told the public: "we can not be indifferent to any of our people's struggles because in the face of this system that kills some of us by hunger, that kills women through abortion [illegal in Argentina], that kills young people and transvestites through the police, the only thing that can give us the victory is unity, the unity of we all".
Laura Bonaparte described the outrage that the generous budget assigned to the police for killing and stealing unpunished means in a country that is currently devastated by unemployment and hunger.
Lohanna Berkins, from ALIT (Fight for Transvestite Identity Association) denounced that "those policemen who kills us are not the only ones to blame; it is also the legal system that does not listen to our claims, the authorities sending the police to annihilate us and society as a whole, for being silent and so issuing a licence to kill"
We activists also had a chance to show our sense of humour. Lohanna and other transvestites offered the public small street pieces like the following:
Another moving time came when the media photographers arrived. Like they are doing in every event since his fellow co-worker Jose Luis Cabezas was murdered (almost surely by the police), they distributed leaflets with Cabezas' picture on it and the legend "Do not forget him". Transvestite, gay, lesbian and bisexual activists raised our chained arms holding the leaflets very high. The public spontaneously applauded.
We know "nothing is changed" by a single demonstration. Like Lohanna Berkins said, many of the transvestites who were there this morning will probably be arrested and beaten this very same night at different police stations.
And tomorrow, without our noisy presence at the door, the judges will keep ignoring our habeas corpus and pending claims. We will keep calling the police stations where we know our friends have been arrested so those murderers paid by the system will not dare to have them "disappeared". We will keep asking for international help and solidarity.
We will keep approaching Human Rights organizations to make them join us in our fight, like the SERPAJ - Peace and Justive Service- and Amnesty International did, by sending representatives to today's demonstration. But this type of action is instrumental for our long-term goal: we want every citizen to understand that transvestites are human beings too - even if it sounds obvious to us-, that their rights are human rights and so, any day, whenever they watch how a policeman brutalizes a transvestite, they stand up to stop it.
Alejandra Sarda
Avda. San Martin 2704 - 4to. C (1416) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Telefono: (54 1) 581 01 79
E.mail: ales@wamani.apc.org
(*) Note: In Argentine "transvestites" are people who live full time according to their chosen sex/gender. They would be called "pre-op transsexuals" in North America and Europe.
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