Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Argentina rank among the highest in the world. Upon legalising same-sex marriage on 15 July 2010, Argentina became the first country in Latin America, the second in the Americas, and the tenth in the world to do so. Following Argentina's transition to a democracy in 1983, its laws have become more inclusive and accepting of LGBT people, as has public opinion.
Argentina also "has one of the world's most comprehensive transgender rights laws": its Gender Identity Law, passed in 2012, allows people to change their legal gender without facing barriers such as hormone therapy, surgery or psychiatric diagnosis that labels them as having an abnormality. Because of the law, as well as the creation of alternative schools and the first transgender community centre, BBC Mundo reported in 2014 that "Argentina leads the trans revolution in the world." In 2015, the World Health Organization cited Argentina as an exemplary country for providing transgender rights.
Societal acceptance is also very high. In a 2020 Pew Research Center poll, Argentina was ranked the South American country with the most positive societal attitudes towards homosexuality, with about three-quarters (76%) of those surveyed saying it should be accepted. The country's capital and largest city, Buenos Aires, has become an important recipient of LGBT tourism and has been described as "South America's gay capital". Nevertheless, reports of bullying against LGBT people, especially youth, are still common.
History
Pre-colonial times Prior to Spanish colonisation, multiple groups inhabited modern-day Argentina. These include the Mapuche and the Guaraní people, both of whom accepted homosexual relations or viewed them with indifference. Traditionally, the Mapuche recognised a third gender called . The Mapuche did not possess the typical Western notions of sex or sexuality. Indeed, individuals were regarded as neither male or female, but as some sort of mix between the two. would typically play certain important societal roles, including being a machi, a Mapuche shaman. The Guaraní people are also on record as having accepted homosexuality.Bazán, Osvaldo (2004). Historia de la homosexualidad en la Argentina. Buenos Aires: Marea Editorial. p. 478.
The arrival of the Spanish Empire in the 16th century resulted in the spread of Christianity in Argentina, which in turn introduced negative attitudes towards homosexuality. The Spanish reportedly referenced the indigenous peoples as "savages" for engaging in homosexual activity, and called the Mapuche the "sodomites of Patagonia". Sodomy was apparently one of the reasons the Spanish conquistadors declared war against the local peoples. Following the creation of Spanish governorates in South America, sodomy became punishable with burning at the stake.
Independence and early 20th century Same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 1887, when Law No. 1,920 () enacted Argentina's first federal Penal Code. The Penal Code made no reference to consensual sexual acts between adults. However, until recently, several local regulations issued by provincial, municipal and local authorities targeted "homosexualism". LGBT people were heavily persecuted under these regulations.
During the 19th century, writings on homosexuality treated it as a medical pathology, an accusation to be levied against political opponents or something brought into the nation by foreigners. The only public image of homosexuality was urban prostitution and public locations used for cruising. In 1914, a homosexual-themed play named Los Invertidos was forced to shut down, although medical journals were permitted to discuss homosexuality.
Police harassment of homosexuals is reported to have increased during the first military coup of 1930 which initiated the Infamous Decade. The cadet scandal of 1942 led to the most violent persecution against gay men in Argentine history, with a series of police raids and defamations that managed to imprison many homosexuals, led others into exile and resulted in two suicides. It led to the enabling of brothels in the vicinity of military barracks in 1944. Reports on the policies during the Peronist terms (1946 to 1955) are vague and contradictory. In 1946, Eva Perón extended her personal protection to Miguel de Molina, and some reports claim that Juan Perón ordered the police and the military not to engage in gay bashings.
Dirty War
The first LGBT rights organization to be established was Nuestro Mundo in 1967 by Héctor Anabitarte. It represented the homosexual liberation front that sought an alliance with the political left in order to advance civil rights. Driving the creation of Nuestro Mundo was the dictatorship of Juan Carlos Onganía whose regime heavily suppressed and subjugated members of the LGBT community. Although a landmark moment in the LGBT rights movement in Argentina as a whole, the creation of Nuestro Mundo did not usher in an age of reforms nor increased rights for those in the community. Instead, the group generally avoided being politically active and was primarily concerned with bringing awareness to the oppression the LGBT community faced. It especially focused on ending police brutality against homosexuals and called for the end of anti-LGBT laws. Although Nuestro Mundo itself did not have many successes, it inspired the creation of other LGBT groups, such as Safo, a lesbian organization. Nuestro Mundo eventually combined with other activist groups—Safo, El Grupo Profesionales, Emanuel, Alborada, Bandera Negrea, and Eros—to establish the Frente de Liberación Homosexual (FLH) in 1971, which lasted until 1976. The new organization was created only two years after the Stonewall Riots in New York City, an event that galvanized activists in Argentina.
In the five years it existed, FLH aligned itself with feminists, Marxists, and other left-winged groups and was more openly politically active than its predecessors. Although its political goals were similar to those of Western organizations—of which were models for LGBT activism—its methods differed from those in the West. For instance, FLH was less concerned with establishing a consolidated democracy; instead it was focused on generating freedom and equality via anti-imperialism and "working-class politics", hence the alliances with leftist organizations that were not necessarily involved primarily in LGBT activism.
The 1976 coup and the beginning of a new dictatorship eradicated this movement. Twice, LGBT activists and community members were directly attacked by the regime. In preparation for the 1978 World Cup, which was being held in Argentina, the military—and possibly local police as well—underwent a "cleansing" process in which they arrested, beat, and violently suppressed members of the LGBT community. A second cleansing initiated by the paramilitary organization Comando Cóndor took place from January 1982 to January 1983. During this period, 18 gay men—including an FLH activist—were murdered. In 2023, numerous trans women survivors of imprisonment at a regime blacksite, testified in court about the experience of being hunted by the state, and, once imprisoned, forced to perform sexual acts in exchange for food.
Contemporary times
The return to democracy in 1983 allowed for the creation of an LGBT rights movement. During this initial era of democratization, the first gay bar in Argentina opened in Buenos Aires in 1983 and the LGBT community began to become more open, with pride festivals, publications and political activism. Out of this came the founding of the Comunidad Homosexual Argentina (CHA) in April 1984, by among others Carlos Jáuregui. The organization maintained its strength and uniformity through the 1980s, before beginning to splinter in the 1990s. Groups of all kinds began to form out of CHA, such as the Convocatoria Lesbiana, Sociedad de Integración Gay-Lésbica Argentina, and Transexuales por el Derecho a la Vida y la Identidad. As these groups and many others became increasingly political and wanted institutional, legal change, they eventually came to a consensus in 2006: they needed to band together to create one uniform organization that would allow them to effectively create change. Thus came about the Federación Argentina de Lesbianas, Gays, Bisexuales y Trans (FALGBT).
Although influenced by CHA, FALGBT was different: it was particularly focused on legalizing same-sex marriage; it is considered an "umbrella organization", and therefore is less centralized; and is more concerned with issues outside of rights for gay men, such as rights for gay women and feminism. Furthermore, it was less concerned with conforming to heteronormative ideas of gender and sexuality than CHA—openly endorsing and supporting transgender people and others who challenge the gender binary. FALGBT went so far as to rival CHA's attempts at legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples to instead demand full, legal marriages. FALGBT was heavily influenced by Spain, especially after Spain—a Catholic country like Argentina—legalized same-sex marriage. Spain's Federación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gays, Transexuales y Bisexuales (FELGTB) is considered to be the model for the organisation. These reasons are why CHA is still a separate entity from FALGBT. Since the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2010, FALGBT has continued to advocate for rights and representation of LGBT people in Argentina. Its other successes include: passing the Gender Identity Law in 2012, which allows people to legally change gender without permission from medical or healthcare providers and also ensures non-binary, transgender, or gender non-conforming individuals get equal access to healthcare; the repealing of the Fault Codes, a collection of laws that "criminalized sex diversity"; getting pro-LGBT sex education to be taught in schools; passing laws that protect LGBT students from bullying and other forms of harassment; and lastly passing a law allowing for LGBT families to use reproductive technology such as in vitro fertilization without discrimination.
After both the creation of FALGBT and the legalization of same-sex marriage, there has been more visibility for LGBT people in Argentina. For instance, in 2007, the International Gay World Cup was held in Buenos Aires, with the Argentinian team winning. In recent years, there has also been an effort to encourage LGBT tourists to visit Buenos Aires, with the hope that the increased tourism will help the economy.
Despite these advances, there are still instances of what could be considered anti-LGBT sentiments in the Argentine government and judicial system. In 2015, a judge reduced the sentence of a man convicted of raping a six-year-old boy, on the basis that the young child had a "homosexual orientation". Agence France-Presse reported that Aníbal Fernández called for the impeachment of the judges that made that decision, describing it as "one of the biggest disgraces we've ever seen in this country".
Recognition of same-sex relationships
Background