LGBTQ culture in Argentina

It is particularly difficult to find information on the incidence of homosexuality in societies from Hispanic America as a result of the anti-homosexual taboo derived from Christian morality, so most of the historical sources of its existence are found in acts of repression and punishment.

[1] One of the main conflicts encountered by LGBT history researchers is the use of modern concepts that were non-existent to people from the past, such as "homosexual", "transgender" and "travesti", falling into an anachronism.

[2] Non-heterosexuality was historically characterized as a public enemy: when power was exercised by the Catholic Church, it was regarded as a sin; during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when it was in the hands of positivist thought, it was viewed as a disease; and later, with the advent of civil society, it became a crime.

[9] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the first activist groups of the country appeared, most notably the leftist Frente de Liberación Homosexual (FLH), whose immediate forebear was Nuestro Mundo, the first gay rights organization in Latin America.

[10] The arrival of the last civic-military dictatorship in 1976—with its subsequent intensification of state terrorism—dissolved these activist efforts,[11] and the local movement often denounces that there were at least four hundred LGBT people among the desaparecidos.

[12] The end of military rule in 1983 was followed by a flourishing of lesbian and gay life in the country which, combined with the continued repression, resulted in a resurgence of activism, within which the role of Carlos Jáuregui and the Comunidad Homosexual Argentina (CHA) stood out.

During the decade, the travesti and transgender rights movement emerged, spearheaded by figures such as Mariela Muñoz, Karina Urbina, Lohana Berkins, María Belén Correa and Claudia Pía Baudracco.

In 2000, a civil union bill was introduced in the Buenos Aires legislature, and two years later the city was first in the region to have a law granting legal recognition to same-sex couples.

[18] In Buenos Aires, 65.1% of travestis and trans women live in rental rooms in hotels, private houses, pensions or apartments, whether authorized by the competent body or "taken" by those who manage them irregularly.

[21] According to a 2017 research published by the Ministry of Defense of Buenos Aires titled La revolución de las mariposas, 74.6% of trans women and travestis in the city said they had suffered some type of violence, a high number, although lower than that registered in 2005, which was 91.9%.

[19] Lohana Berkins reflected in 2015: "Reaching old age is for a travesti like belonging to an exclusive club, because the mishaps that accompany marginal life—which lead to a death that is always considered premature in terms of population statistics—are the perennial consequences of a persecuted identity.

"[19] In recent times, the concept of "travesticide" (Spanish: travesticidio)—along with "transfemicide" or "trans femicide"—[22][23] has been extended to refer to the hate crime understood as the murder of a travesti due to her gender condition.

"[26] In 2012, the legislature of the city of Buenos Aires established August 20 as the Day of Activism for Sexual Diversity in Argentina, in memory of activist Carlos Jauregui and his contributions to the LGBT community.

[42] After travestis and gay men began to be imprisoned during the 1946–1955 government of President Juan Domingo Perón, they developed their own argot known as carrilche, which was nourished by prison jargon.

[48] La Barby is a renowned drag queen and comedian influenced by Divine and Lady Bunny, who first rose to prominence in the Buenos Aires gay nightlife in the 1990s.

[49] La Queen is a drag performer from the lower-class neighborhood of Fuerte Apache in Ciudadela, who first rose to prominence as a singer in the trap music scene but has recently moved towards a pop style.

[51] In 1963, French transsexual entertainer Coccinelle caused a media sensation when performing in Buenos Aires and had a minor role in Enrique Carreras' film Los viciosos.

[65] The tango emerged at the end of the 19th century in the low-class neighborhoods of southern Buenos Aires, led by the emblematic figure of the compadritos, a subculture of young men that were accused of being faggots (Spanish: "maricas") for their mannered personas and careful personal grooming.

[69] Around 1964, travesti artists—at that time named lenci, in reference to a type of cloth, because they "were like little rag dolls"—met at an apartment on Avenida Callao, where they rehearsed musical acts and prepared to go out to theatre shows.

"[70] María Belén Correa argues that the emergence of travesti stage performers such Vanessa Show, Evelyn, Brigitte Gambini and Ana Lupe Chaparro in the 1960s and 1970s constituted "another way of activism".

[72] In the years immediately before and after the end of the dictatorship rule in 1983, a scene known as the "underground" or "counterculture" emerged in Buenos Aires, which housed alternative artistic proposals to the institutional or hegemonic ones.

[74] Through this cultural movement, a greater visibility of homosexual entertainers was seen, including the trio made up of Batato Barea, Humberto Tortonese and Alejandro Urdapilleta, who carried out several of their performances at the Parakultural.

[73][74] Barea's group works were part of the so-called nuevo teatro argentino (English: "new Argentine theatre") movement, characterized by the use of improvisation and a lack of specific authority roles.

[87] The publication was mainly in charge of Jorge Gumier Maier and Carlos Luis, with the close collaboration of Elena Napolitano and Néstor Perlongher from Sâo Paulo, Brazil, among other authors.

[94] Between 1992 and 1996, the magazine Ka-buum was published in New Jersey, U.S. by Sam Larson and distributed by mail to the Latino homosexual community residing in the United States and to activist groups in Latin America—especially Argentina, Chile and Uruguay—and Spain.

"[96] In November 2007, the first issue of El Teje, the first periodical written by travestis in Latin America, was published in a joint initiative between activists—led by Marlene Wayar—[45] and the Ricardo Rojas Cultural Center in Buenos Aires.

[73] Her 1988 photographic series S/T—made alongside Adriana Carrasco, Vanessa Ragone and Marisa Ramos—deal with lesbian desire and shows a couple of women painting their bodies with menstrual blood.

[102] It became an enduring gay anthem,[103][104] especially among the lesbian community,[105][106] released at a time when the secrecy of non-heterosexual relationships was a source of shared codes and interpretations of cultural products.

[112] In her 1984 live album Sandra en Shams, female members of the audience can be heard praising the singer's body and, in its autobiographical closing track "La historia de nunca acabar", she sings: "It is not difficult for me to start with men.

"[120] Modern lesbian musicians include Lucy Patané, Lu Martínez, Flopa, Ibiza Pareo, Juli Laso, Leda Torres, Viviana Scaliza, Larro Carballido, Paula Trama, Inés Copertino, Luciana Jury, Marcia Müller, Juana Chang, Flor Linyera, Juliana Isas, Cata Raybaud, Vale Cini and Cam Bezkin.