(ADN).- The legislators of the Justicialista Party–Nuevo Encuentro bloc presented a bill that proposes an allocation of historical reparation for Transvestites and Transsexuals in the province. The initiative that pursues the objective of recognizing the decades of social exclusion and violation of human rights suffered by this community, is specifically aimed at those people over 50 years of age who have lived a large part of their lives under these vulnerable conditions.
The project, authored by parliamentarians Ana Marks, Daniel Belloso, Luis Ivancich, Leandro García and Pedro Dantas, with the support of legislators Ayelén Spósito and José Luis Berros from the Vamos con Todos (VcT) bloc, seeks not only to provide economic reparation , but also enshrine the right to Social Security for this group, strengthening access to other human rights such as health, decent living conditions and access to cultural goods. This approach is aligned with various International Human Rights Treaties and current national and provincial legislation.
The historically vulnerable situation of transvestites and transsexuals has been marked by the stigmatization, criminalization and pathologization of their identities. Despite significant advances in rights for sexual diversity during the governments of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, such as the Law on Equal Marriage and the Law on Gender Identity, the most basic rights of this population continue to be violated.
The life expectancy of people from both communities in our country is estimated between 35 and 40 years, and the most common survival circuits currently continue to be informal work and prostitution.
According to a survey carried out in 2017 by the National University of Comahue, the Human Rights Secretariat of Río Negro and activist organizations, only 3% of Transvestites and Transsexuals in the province were 56 years old or older, compared to 19% of the total population according to the national census. This disparity reflects a life marked by discrimination, exclusion and violence since childhood.
The proposal also responds to the need for specific state interventions to protect the rights of adult Transvestites and Transsexuals. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights urged States to develop intersectoral strategies that guarantee the participation and empowerment of LGBTI people, which includes education, work, social security, food, housing and health.
This bill joins similar initiatives in other provinces such as Santa Cruz and Santa Fe, which have already implemented laws of recognition and historical reparation for transgender people. In Río Negro, projects such as the “Comprehensive Trans Law” of the Frente de Todos in 2022 and the “Comprehensive Law for Trans People” of JSRN in 2023 have set precedents in the search for equal rights. In Río Negro, in addition, this project was worked on together with the transvestite-trans organization “Las Históricas Argentinas”, whose representative is Sandra Igor.
