Anti-Trans Argentinian President’s Speech Sparks Protests

LGBTQ+, women, and human rights activists in Argentina inspired folks around the world by protesting Argentinian President Javier Milei’s ignorant and hateful speech. Milei gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January where he expressed his disdain for the “mental virus of woke ideology” and claimed that “woke” is  “the great epidemic of our time that must be cured.” He parroted words from Trump’s inauguration speech, saying, “It is essential to break these ideological chains if we want to usher in a new golden age.” Milei also called LGBTQ people pedophiles and said that “gender ideology constitutes child abuse.”

On Saturday, February 1, folks protested in the Argentinian capitol, Buenos Aires and in more than 100 other cities across the world. People in New York, Paris, Berlin, London, Madrid, Amsterdam, Mexico City, Barcelona, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo,Rosario, Córdoba, Mar del Plata, and Salta marched in solidarity. Alejandra Rodríguez, a trans-feminist activist with the Buenos Aires City LGBTQIA+ Antifascist Assembly said there were “health workers, students, scientists, sex workers, artists, teachers, retirees, workers of memory and human rights sites … that said ‘Enough, Milei!’ The fight for our anti-fascist and anti-racist LGBTQIA+ pride march is also for society as a whole.” Argentine Congressman Esteban Paulón even filed a criminal complaint against Milei for encouraging hateful rhetoric and violence against the LGBTQ community.

This is really encouraging to see. Even though Trump’s influence has emboldened others to spew their white supremacists views and values, the resistance against them has also been emboldened. We are not taking any of their attacks, verbal or otherwise. Carola Escolar, a queer English teacher at the University of Buenos Aires who marched with her union said, “It gives you energy to see people react.” We are using that energy to mobilize and organize. And we are supporting each other and standing in solidarity with each other all over the world.