He May 9, 2012 It is the beginning of the Democracy for the transvestite population. This is how they live it, this is how they feel it. That day, the The National Congress approved Law 26743 on Gender Identity. “It is a law that came to expand rights and incorporate us into democracy,” explains Tatiana Breve, representative of the Association of Transvestites, Transsexuals and Transgenders of Argentina (ATTTA).
“This law came to heal part of the wounds that the State itself had created with this plan to exterminate our identity, for transvestite trans people the Gender Identity Law It is the door to citizenship, it is the door to recognition”explains Tatiana. It is known, it is known, the law defines gender identity as internal and individual experiencejust as each person feels it and gives the right to trans, transvestite, non-binary people to modify the first name, sex and photo on their document. The procedure is administrative, it can be carried out in any Civil Registry, and no judicial authorization is required to carry out the procedure.
Today 12 years are celebrated, but with some peculiarities: “the context that we have to experience,” says Tatiana Breve, “is extreme crisis, of extreme vulnerability. And once again, trans transvestites have to be on the side of survival.”
“These neoliberal governments, with their perverse economic plans, make us find ourselves in a situation super precarious and very alert in regarding hate speech that these governments spread,” explains Tatiana Breve, “these hate speech They are not free, and it affects those of us precisely. we have to put the body”.
This context of dehumanization for ATTTA reference It also occurs in provincial and municipal governments “Here in the province of Neuquén there was a policy from the previous administration that they called ‘Historical Reparation’ and with this administration we no longer have it guaranteed.”
Tatiana Breve refers to the Historical Reparation Program for Trans People which was launched by the provincial government in 2019. The announcement was made by Mariano Gaido, who at that time was the Minister of Social Development, Labor and Security within the framework of the Day for the Promotion of the Rights of Trans People. The spirit of the regulations sought to “economically and socially strengthen the trans people whose rights were violated due to their gender identity, such as conventional edicts, expulsion from the labor, educational and health markets.”
When presented the Program, from the government said: “These social and institutional attitudes led to trans women have a life expectancy of 40 years. The few trans people who have managed to exceed this average lifespan are in most cases without work experience, without retirement contributions or registered work and in a psycho-social and economic state of extreme vulnerability.” The program was targeted at this particular population.
Maria Evangelina Mollinari who is 57 years old. Since December she has not received income. “PI asked why I don’t charge more and they couldn’t answer me. I am an older trans person, which was supposed to be the responsibility of those people, but I don’t charge it.” And he tells about his situation: “It helped me buy me medicines, food, to be able to move forward. I know it’s not a lot of money, but to I was a help”.
It is estimated that in Neuquén they are close of 66 trans people who receive the program, about 31 thousand pesos per month. But, since the change of government and the analysis they have been carrying out of the social plans, many stayed without collecting it. “At this age,” says María Evangelina, “there are many girls who do not have many resources, and the Program helped.”
From the Ministry of Labor and Labor Development they assure that when re-registration was carried out many of the transvestite people stopped receiving the Program because They were incompatible due to collecting other pensions. ““We did not achieve the sensitivity of the provincial government, nor the Ministry of Labor nor the Gender Secretariat” says Tatiana Breve, “these policies come to transform and improve our quality of life. We need you to review this decision. They removed it and did not create anything else similar or better. They pass the chainsaw and do not think about a broader or more inclusive policy. We are talking about adults, older people, who find it difficult to make ends meet, what were violated all their lives by the State itself who recognized the violence he exerted on them. It seems that this government does not understand the particularity of this policy.”
And he continues: “and not to mention the municipalities in which It costs horrors to meet the transvestite trans job quota. For example, in Chos Malal we are seeing that a colleague who had joined because of the trans job quota was fired. There are a lot of municipalities that have these ordinances and do not comply with them.”
For Tatiana Brief The response for this population is urgent and twofold.: on the one hand, it is necessary that they all return to collect the provincial program and on the other, that Neuquén Legislature approves the Historical Reparation Law: “One has to end makeup policies. We need policies that transcend governments and repair so much violence exerted on us”.
