The government has backed its under-fire justice minister after he criticised “gender ideology” and rejected “sexual identities that don’t align with biology.”
During a meeting of a women and diversity committee at Congress on Tuesday, Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona delivered a series of remarks that were condemned by critics as discriminatory and dangerous.
Appearing to play down violence motivated by discrimination, the official said crime should be punished “regardless of gender” and called for greater prevention of violence.
“We reject the diversity of sexual identities that do not align with biology. They are subjective fabrications,” Cúneo Libarona said at a meeting of the Women and Diversity Committee of the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday.
The remarks prompted an angry reaction from deputies present. “Your personal opinions are one thing and the law is another. You are the Justice Minister, you are obliged to respect the laws of the Argentine state. It does not matter what you think,” said Unión Cívica Radical lawmaker Carla Carrizo.
Cúneo Libarona’s appearance in Congress was in response to the cutbacks on gender policies and the decision to close a department dedicated to the protection from such violence. The justice minister went on to criticise the preceding government of Alberto Fernández and its policies, stating that “there was gender hypocrisy, cynicism and identifiable omissions.”
“It was an ideological bludgeon to capture middle-class sectors,” he declared.
Amnesty International Argentina condemned Cúneo Libarona’s remarks, describing them as an “alarming ignorance of the [nation’s] current legal framework and international commitments.”
The comments, said the NGO, were of the “utmost institutional gravity that promote violence and hatred against people from the LGBTIQ+ community.”
Coalición Cívica lawmaker Maximiliano Ferraro described the comments as "barbaric."
:He cannot ignore the fact that being gay – as I am – or lesbian, transvestite or transsexual, has always been associated with ignominy and discrimination in our homes, in the workplace, in politics," said Ferraro.
Adorni backing
Quizzed by journalists about the remarks, Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni said Wednesday that the Milei administration is “against gender policies.”
“The minister was clear. We’re against gender policies and everything which defends collectives with business which do not defend anyone – neither women, nor men, nor those who aren’t either,” he said.
“I know the position of the government and the President very well. Everyone is free to self-perceive as they wish. That is infinite, there is no limit, and the State cannot interfere with that self-perception. We neither recognise nor reject anything,” Adorni stressed.
“It is unacceptable that the nation’s justice minister places his personal and subjective view above what is established in our National Constitution and international treaties on human rights, which have constitutional hierarchy,” said Mariela Belski, Amnesty Argentina’s executive director.
“The Argentine state recognises the rights of all persons to freedom and dignity on equal terms, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. It also prohibits discrimination, hatred, persecution and violence,” she said, calling on the state to “guarantee and promote real equality of opportunity for women and LGBTIQ+ people.”
Responding to the controversy, Cúneo Libarona accused his critics on Wednesday of distorting his comments.
“At no time did I refer to anyone’s sexual orientation, however much some ill-intentioned people repeat it. That happens in the private sphere and it is not within the competence of the state to interfere there,” he said in a post on the X social network.
Regular criticism
Milei’s government has faced regular criticism over women’s rights issues. Upon taking office, the President shuttered the Women, Gender & Diversity Ministry, downgrading it to a Secretariat and absorbing its departments into other portfolios.
Milei, who describes himself as an "anarcho-capitalist," holds conservative stances on issues such as abortion and climate change.
Since taking office in December, Milei has scrapped the national Women, Gender & Diversity Ministry and the INADI anti-discrimination agency, while banning the use of gender-inclusive language in the military.
The government has also closed a body dedicated to the care, prevention and assistance of reports, the Violence Undersecretariat.
He has railed against so-called "gender ideology," a term loosely used by reactionary conservatives worldwide to oppose same-sex social rights, abortion and transgender rights; he calls them a form of "indoctrination" and "cultural Marxism."
The University of Buenos Aires (UBA) on Thursday joined the repudiation of Cúneo Libarona's remarks, issuing a statement that said the minister was "ignoring legal and constitutional bases’ and ‘the rights that all people have, without distinction of gender or sexual orientation."
The Federación Argentina LGBT+ said the comments were "unacceptable and express the profound ignorance of someone who should be protecting our fundamental human rights instead of violating them."
LGBT rights activist and lawmaker Esteban Paulon (Hacemos por Nuestro País) called on Milei to sack the official.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
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