Pro-LGBT+ protesters defend diversity with march against Milei

Political, trade union and civil society groups in Argentina are marching Saturday in repudiation of President Javier Milei's recent remarks about feminism and the LGBT community and against his government's advance on diversity policies.

The “Marcha Federal del Orgullo Antifascista y Antirracista LGTBQI+,” as the organising groups call it, will take place in the capital, running from Congress to the central Plaza de Mayo – where the Casa Rosada is located – and will be replicated in cities across the country.

‘We are at the gates and in expectation of a historic march that puts the LGTB movement and feminism back at the centre, leading the fight against the hate policies of this government,” said Luci Cavallero, a sociologist and feminist activist.

She also considered that, “emboldened by the triumph of [US president Donald] Trump” in the United States, Milei “crossed a threshold” with last month’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

In the speech, Milei charged against so-called “Wokeism,” asserted that “radical feminism” seeks “privileges” and criticised the concept of femicide, arguing that it legalises that “a woman's life is worth more than a man's.”

In addition, he said that “in its most extreme” version, “gender ideology” is equatable with child abuse, citing a paedophilia case in which “two homosexual Americans who, flying the flag of sexual diversity, were sentenced to 100 years in prison for abusing and filming their adopted children for more than two years.”

Milei's words were followed the next day by an announcement by Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona that the government will seek to eliminate the concept of “femicide” from the nation’s Penal Code, which aggravates the penalties when gender violence is involved in a homicide.

Although the low number of ruling party lawmakers in Congress would seem to make it difficult for the bill to win approval, the government is preparing a bill on this issue and to eliminate the non-binary option on national identity documents (DNIs), sanctioned in 2021, and the so-called “trans quota” that ensures one percent of state jobs should be reserved for transgender people.

Milei’s speech at Davos “hurt the sensibilities of a very important part of the population, and that catalyses an existing unease in many sectors,” Cavallero explained.

Human rights organisations, opposition leaders, trade unions and pensioners – many of them affected by Milei's harsh austerity policies – have announced that they will take part in Saturday’s demonstration, which could be the largest since a massive rally last April against proposed funding cuts for state universities.

Facing controversy, repudiation from activists and sectors of the opposition and the call for the “anti-facist march,” Milei has implied that his words were distorted – he accused his opponents and the media of having “mounted a campaign of indignation against supposed things that we never said, with the sole purpose of doing harm,” according to a post on the X social network.

The self-proclaimed “anarcho-capitalist” argued that he “respects the life project of the next person,” but says the state should not “impose … unequal treatment before the law.”

As part of his sweeping budget cuts, Milei abolished the INADI anti-discrimination watchdog and downgraded the Women, Gender & Diversity Ministry during his first year in office.

Political analyst Gustavo Marangoni told the La Red radio station this week that “it is difficult to be surprised” by the President’s comments at Davos. “When you see the ‘Milei film’ you see that he is constantly playing hardball and doubling down,” he said.

“There is a style,” he added, “an aesthetic that constantly seeks to raise issues that have to do with questions of identification, such as gender issues ... because he knows that it generates controversy.”

In an election year, with crucial midterm elections coming in October, Marangoni predicts that Milei will reinforce his narrative in “binary” terms in a bid to “improve his position in Congress.”