Frente de Liberación Homosexual

[1] Formed at a meeting of Nuestro Mundo in August 1971, the FLH eventually dissolved in 1976 as a result of severe repression after the 1976 Argentine coup d'état.

The FLH was made up of a variety of semi-autonomous groups that operated individually but maintained contact with one another through a non-hierarchical organizational structure, enabling coordination and collaboration on actions and documents.

In the book Historia de la homosexualidad en Argentina, Osvaldo Bazán wrote that Bianco lived with his mother and that the meeting actually took place in the apartment of Blas Matamoro in Once [es].

[5] Soon after the formation of the Frente de Liberación Homosexual, the members removed their initial leadership, deciding instead on a non-hierarchical organization to avoid authoritarianism and have a structure that was not reminiscent of a patriarchical family.

[2] Different groups within the FLH were semi-autonomous from each other,[6] operating individually but remaining in contact to facilitate the organization of joint actions and agree on the content of documents.

They are ridiculed and marginalized, severely suffering the brutally imposed absurdity of the monogamous heterosexual society"[a] and that "this oppression comes from a social system that considers reproduction as the sole objective of sex".

[20] There was an FLH presence at the inauguration of Héctor José Cámpora in May 1973, where the group held a large banner with a slogan based on a lyric from the Peronist March: Para que reine en el pueblo el amor y la igualdad – Libertad a los presos políticos ("So that love and equality may reign among the people – freedom to the political prisoners").

[18] After Cámpora became president, police repression of homosexuals essentially ceased for a two-month period, during which Peronism became more popular within the FLH and the pro-Peronist faction of the group gained more power.

[25] In the interview, the two denounced the political repression that was ongoing at the time, debunked multiple pseudoscientific beliefs about homosexuality, and expressed that the FLH was interested in working with other left-wing groups.

[16] In September 1972, the FLH issued a press release after members were attacked by police officers while graffitiing the phrase Lesbiana no estás sola ("Lesbian you are not alone").

[24] The final public appearance of the FLH was in an article published in Crónica on February 11, 1976, and titled Extraña protesta: Homosexuales se quejan de persecución ("Strange protest: Homosexuals complain of persecution").

Intended for public consumption, the newspaper was circulated among government officials and activists, and additionally sold at some newsstands; copies were sent to some international organizations as well.

Two articles were written by the Profesionales, with one discussing the history of homosexuality in Mesopotamia and arguing that it was not repressed, and the other drawing a connection between machismo and capitalism.

Also included were a reproduction of the leaflets distributed in Ezeiza at the return of Juan Perón, a petition to the Ministry of the Interior to repeal anti-homosexuality rules, and three articles by North American groups.

[29] The Frente de Liberación Homosexual published an underground magazine titled Somos ("We Are")[9] from December 1973 through January 1976,[24] reaching a print circulation of 500 copies.

[...] Nobody kept what the others had produced.In addition to utopian messaging about sexual freedom, Somos included criticism of capitalism, patriarchy, heteronormativity, and the treatment of gay people in Cuba.

[...] We must therefore construct a homosexual identity, first claiming our condition as human beings with the same rights as anyone else, free from the notions of disease or inferiority or abnormality.

And secondly, we must proudly vindicate ourselves as homosexuals, throwing away once and for all the tremendous weight of shame and guilt that we have been made to feel.It additionally included a section on methods of treatment for sexually transmitted infections.

[32] Subsequent issues became less journalistic and more cultural, with articles telling stories of arrests and prison experiences in the first person, and included poetry and art.

[30] The sixth and final issue of Somos was published in January 1976, with its shorter number of pages reflecting the deterioration of the FLH under political repression.

A few months later, in March 1976, police officers were ordered to "scare the homosexuals off the streets"[h] as preparation began for the 1978 FIFA World Cup to be held in Argentina.