Método experimental

Speaking about a 1973 demonstration in Argentina repudiating Pinochet’s coup in Chile, Néstor Perlongher of the FLH recalls “the leftist groups ran away from where they

were in the demonstration to avoid being close to the gays.”170 Regardless of who

LGBTQ activists wanted to work with, they were severely limited in their options. The

FLH was able to work with a few other niche groups, especially with feminist groups, who came together to form the Grupo Política Sexual (Sexual Politics Group), a group that would gather regularly to talk about things like the “roots of oppression” and through

which gay men and feminists were able to learn about each others struggles.171

Today, the LGBTQ rights movement has many allies, from human rights groups to politicians.172 This has been accomplished in part by the shifts in ideology and language previously discussed. Paulón suggests that these were important,

because then an agenda of diversity was able to be included in the agendas of other movements. Suddenly the traditional human rights movements, those most linked with the causes of memory, truth and justice, assumed an agenda of diversity – the women’s movement and the progressive political parties also began to incorporate questions of diversity in their agendas.

Despite Paulón’s claims to the contrary, human rights groups have long supported the expansion of LGBTQ rights, however it is true that there was very little political support

170 _{Néstor Perlonger, Prosa Plebeya, 81 quoted in Vespucci, 180.}

171 _{Hilda Rais, interview by Guido Vespucci, Buenos Aires, November 23, 2008, quoted in Vespucci, 180.} 172 _{“Organizaciones Miembros de la Federación Argentina de Lesbianas Gays Bisexuales y Trans,” FALGBT,}

for LGBTQ rights in Argentina before the FALGBT began its campaigns.173 The FALGBT, in contrast to the earlier organizations, was founded as a civil-rights

organization and it has been much more explicit in its search for political allies to further its agenda. The FALGBT is aware that a small minority, especially such a hated minority, can have very little success on its own, so it has opened itself up to make as many

alliances as possible:

Because the reality is that the diversity is a minority – this is an objective reality – and so our allies that are not part of the community are fundamental when it comes time to think about the advancement of our rights, in a place where we don’t have either the majority of the political offices or the majority of the seats in congress held by people from the community – we are a minority on every side.

The LGBTQ community needs allies and has had to promote its goals as part of a broader change that would help everyone. According to Paulón, “we had to include our agenda in these other agendas, so that it would feel like a social agenda – for all of society – to be able to advance.” He continues that the FALGBT had to demonstrate

that the advancement of the diversity community is the advancement of all society and that the advancement of our human rights advances everybody human rights. That the United States, that Argentina will be better countries because they are going to have citizens with more rights.

Here we can see some of the same ideas as discussed in the literature review. Sullivan argued that LGBTQ rights issues, especially same-sex marriage, should be framed in a way that doesn’t challenge heterosexist ideals but instead reinforces the structures established to promote them. This language removes the complicity in repression of those that participate in discriminatory structures and allows them to declare their allegiance to LGBTQ rights, with the hope that doing so will bring about a decrease in discrimination. This has helped the FALGBT to gain alliances however these alone are not enough to enact the legislative changes that the organization set out to accomplish.

173 _{Carlos Jáuregui, La Homosexualidad en la Argentina (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Tarso S.A, 1987), 230-234.}

Jáuregui presents letters received by the CHA from organizations such as the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo (Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo) in support of its campaigns for the removal of discriminatory police edicts.

In order to further its agenda, the FALGBT has had to work closely with

politicians from a variety of backgrounds and ideologies, many of whom likely have no interested in promoting LGBTQ rights aside from the political advantages it can bring them. For example, the FALGBT willingly accepted Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s support in helping to promote its legislative agenda, however it is well aware that she has not historically been an ally of the community. Unlike some of the scholars discussed earlier who saw Cristina’s support for these legal changes as more of a cynical political calculation, Paulón suggests that perhaps her support is part of a broader trend towards acceptance, noting that “Cristina is also part of this society that, perhaps at first didn’t understand, but later has come to understand.” Paulón believes that the passage of the marriage law caused an increase in the social acceptance of homosexuals and the LGBTQ community overall, and the long years of struggle for this law finally convinced Cristina, and many others, to come around.