Argentine LGBTQ march targets Milei’s ‘discriminatory’ laws

BUENOS AIRES – Members of Argentina’s LGBTQ community hold their annual Pride march Saturday afternoon, with speeches, banners and floats targeting what the group sees as discriminatory policies by President Javier Milei.
Under the slogan “There is no freedom without rights,” marchers will be demanding passage of a comprehensive anti-discrimination law.
Milei, a far-right libertarian who has been compared to Donald Trump, angered the community by dissolving the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity, as well as the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism in his first year in office.
He also trimmed funding for reproductive health programs as part of his “chainsaw” cost-cutting plan.
Speaking ahead of the march, LGBTQ activist Lucas Gutierrez charged that Milei’s government “repeatedly insults people of diversity without any hesitation.”
In August, Justice Minister Mariano Cuneo Libarona told lawmakers that his government rejected “the diversity of sexual identities that do not align with the biological” — a statement criticized by a wide range of politicians.
The Argentine LGBT Federation rejected the comment, saying the minister’s job should be to protect fundamental human rights, “not violate them.”
And a group representing people with HIV, hepatitis and tuberculosis said the government has proposed a 2025 budget, now being debated in Congress, that calls for a 76 percent cut in funding for treatment of those and related diseases.
It said public spending cuts had already resulted in shortages of tests, condoms and medications.
“We exist, we resist, we are and we will be,” Gutierrez told AFP.
The march begins at 4:00 pm (1900 GMT) at the Plaza de Mayo square.