Argentina: New ID's for 1,720 transgender individuals since 2012 law; 5,839 same-sex marriages since 2010 law

In 2010 Argentina became the first Latin American nation to adopt a nation-wide marriage equality law.

This summer, Argentina continued its bid to become the most LGBT-friendly country in the world when it also passed what some call the most progressive gender identity law in the world.

The law requires the public health system to provide adequate health services for transgender individuals and grants them the right to change their name and gender designation on government ID's without having to show proof of gender reassignment surgery or a psychological diagnosis.

[In July I wrote about an extraordinary ceremony in which President Critsina Fernandez de Kirchner publicly and personally handed out the first new ID's processed under the law to a number of transgender leaders].

On Thursday the daily newspaper La Nación took a look at both laws and their impact since their passage and spoke to LGBT-rights advocates about what's next for the movement after these amazing victories.

Marriage equality: According to La Nación the latest government records indicate that 5,839 couples have gotten married in Argentina since the marriage equality law went into effect in July of 2010 with the bulk of them taking place in Buenos Aires and surrounding communities. When ranked per capita, other regions also stand out including Mendoza with 389 weddings (at 22.37 per 100,000 inhabitants), Santa Fé with 664 (20.79/100K) and Córdoba with 632 (19.10/100K).

The national number also includes five foreign couples who traveled to Argentina to get married after a March 2012 ruling by a Santa Fé court allowing foreign nationals to get married under Argentine law. The Argentine LGBT Federation says that they are aware of another 50 foreign couples who have registered to get married in 2013 and say that there is a waiting list for other tourists wishing to do the same.

In an article published earlier this month by UPI they put the numbers of same-sex couples married in Buenos Aires at 1,030 - which is lower than La Nacion's numbers by almost 400 couples - but that might just indicate that they were looking at earlier official estimates. Interestingly they note that of those 1,030 marriages only 191 took place in the first half of 2012 indicating a steep decrease in recent same-sex marriages in the nation's capital.

Gender identity law: As reflected by the graphic above 1,720 Argentine individuals have processed changes to their official identification records to reflect their current name and gender representation (there is an interactive version of the graphic on La Nación's webpage which also includes a separate graphic for same-sex marriages).

Those blue dots represent the per capita ranking of each region and what particularly striking is that there have been transgender individuals who have sought official recognition of their identity even in the most conservative areas of the nation.

La Nación also notes that there are only two hospitals in the entire nation accredited to perform gender reassignment surgeries which has resulted in months-long waiting lines for individuals who want to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Indeed, one of the pending challenges LGBT-rights advocates express in the piece is to expand the number of medical centers and staff accredited to provide health care to transgender individuals.

UPDATE: On December 14, 2012, Argentina's Ministry of Interior and Transportation said that all transgender permanent resident immigrants and refugees would also be covered by the gender identity law.  Additional information on the immigrant-friendly aspect of the policy can be found here.

Pending challenges: Combating bullying in schools & lifting a blood donation ban on gay and bisexual men: As LGBT-rights advocates turn their sights on 2013, they tell La Nación that there are two short-term goals.

First, they would like to work with legislators to develop and present an anti-bullying law that would penalize persecution and harassment of students based on their sexual identity and, second, they would like to put an end to discriminatory policies that bar gay and bisexual men from donating blood.

Second, in November of this year the the lower chamber of congress voted to lift a ban on blood donations by gay and bisexual men by an overwhelming vote of 158 in favor, 2 against and 4 abstentions.  A priority for LGBT-rights advocates will be to secure enough votes for a Senate vote expected to take place in March or April of 2013.

If passed and signed into law, Argentina would follow Mexico as the second country in the American continent to lift blood donor restrictions on gay and bisexual men.  The Mexican restrictions were lifted just last week.

Related:

• J Lester Feder: Posts tagged 'Argentina' (After Marriage)
• Argentina stands out as global leader for LGBT rights (Purple Roofs)

Reactions:

• January 2, 2012 Morning Meme (After Elton)
• January 2, 2012 Morning Pride (Think Progress)

In emotional ceremony, Argentinian president hands out new ID cards to transgender individuals

Photo: Several transgender leaders from Argentina received brand new government ID's at a ceremony officiated by president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in celebration of passage of a groundbreaking gender identity law.  Among them, Kalym Adrian, holding the white and rainbow-colored flag of the Argentinean LGBT Federation (YouTube screen capture).

Last week I was talking to a reporter about the marriage equality and gender identity laws in Argentina when she asked about my coverage of those stories on this blog over the years.  I told her that when I began to write about them it was a way to share my excitement at the fact that these tremendous advances were taking place in Latin America and because there was so little coverage of them in English-language media.  But then I joked that there was no point in writing about them anymore because media powerhouses such as The Associated Press and Reuters had caught wind of what they were missing out on and were now on the Latin American LGBT beat on a regular basis.

I bring this up because there was an incredibly moving ceremony that took place yesterday at the Argentinean government palace in Buenos Aires, better known there as The Pink House, and I thought I'd have the English-language exclusive today.  Except those pesky upstarts at the AP were all over it overnight and beat me to it ("Argentine leader proudly delivers new identity cards to transsexuals, saying equality matters").

So, yes, as the AP reports, Argentinean president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner celebrated passage of the world's most progressive gender identity law by inviting a number of transgender leaders and personally handing them their new identity cards.  The law was adopted by the Argentinean congress in May by a vote of 55-0 and became law last month after getting the president's signature.  It allows transgender individuals to change their name and gender on government documents without having to prove that they have undergone gender reassignment surgery or need for court approval as had been the case before. It also grants government health coverage for transgender individuals who want to undergo a gender reassignment surgery.

Here is video of President Fernandez de Kirchner's comments at the event as posted on the government's YouTube page (in Spanish):

If you see lots of children in the room it's because the Argentinean president also signed a presidential decree yesterday which put an end to a legal loophole that kept same-sex parents who began raising children before the 2010 marriage equality law passed from registering as co-parents of those children.  If I understand correctly, the decree gives same-sex parents that weren't covered by the marriage equality law a full year to legally register their children as their own.

During her speech and before an image of Eva Perón, the president seemed to tear up a couple of times as she repeatedly invoked her husband Nestor Kirchner's name as having been key in securing passage of the marriage equality law.  Her husband, a former Argentinean president himself, died in October of 2010.

"Today is a day of tremendous reparation," the president said at the start of her speech, "today we do not shout for liberation but instead we shout for equality, which is just as important as freedom."

Referring to Kalym Adrian, who was sitting in the front row holding the flag of the Argentinean LGBT Federation (FALGBT), the president then stated that Mr. Adrian had known he was a man as early as when he was four years of age and said that it was only now at 42 years of age that he was finally being recognized for who he was. "He has waited all his life!" someone shouted from the audience which the president acknowledged by repeating "All his life".

Noting that the average age at which transgender individuals die in Argentina is 32, the president argued that part of it was due to the stress of being repressed and ignored and being denied legal rights. She said she hoped this law would change all that.

"I do not want to use a word that bothers me greatly: Tolerance. No. I do not believe in 'tolerance'. To tolerate is to say I'll allow you to be because I have no other choice", she said, "I want to talk about equality and I want to talk about all of you who will now have the same rights I have enjoyed from the moment I was born and the rights that so many millions of Argentinians have enjoyed from the moment they were born.  This is the society we want."

She later added "There is nothing new under the sun and let's see if we all can agree on that.  All these issues we are acknowledging today in a legal way are nothing new. They stem from the history of humanity and it's time for us to accept that reality is not how we'd like to be if I think in a certain way or someone else wants it to be but that reality is what it is."

The President then alluded to the days of the dictatorship when children were taken away from families and the Mothers of the Plaza began their silent protests to get their children back and championed a history of peaceful protests in Argentina in demand of human rights.  She compared it to the history of non-violent demonstrations by the Argentinian LGBT community and began thanking the LGBT activists and organizations present in the room until Alex Freyre shouted out "And those who are missing as well!"

Alex and José Maria Di Bello, who became the first same-sex couple to marry in all of Latin America when a court in Tierra del Fuego granted them a license in December of 2009, were sitting in the audience wearing their trademark red-ribbon sashes in memory of all those lost to HIV and AIDS.

The president took note and recognized that the fight for human rights sometimes left people feeling worn out but said that she was grateful for the altruistic efforts by some to not only fight for their rights but also the rights of others.

"It's better to have lived a worn out life than to always live like a flower or a butterfly without having achieved a thing," she said.

She finally closed by apologizing to people like Mr. Adrian for having had to wait for almost forty years to finally be recognized.

In the room, along with Alex and José, Kalym and members of the FALGBT were also Marcela Romero, Coordinator of the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Trans People (RED LACTRANS), Alejandro Iglesias, who revolutionized how people in Argentine felt about transgender individuals through his participation in the hugely popular Argentinean edition of "Big Brother", members of the Argentinean Association of Travesti, Transsexual and Transgender Individuals (ATTTA), Husbands César Cigliutti and Marcelo Suntheim who lead Comunidad Homosexual Argentina (CHA) who laid some of the groundwork for the gender identity law in the during the last decade, Diana Sacayan who leads the Anti-discrimination Movement for Liberation (MAL) and who was a recipient of one of the ID's handed out by the president, Maria Rachid, Esteban Paulón, María José Lubertino and so many other individuals who have played such integral parts in getting these laws passed.

The Argentinean fight for LGBT equality has not come without internal community tensions and ongoing differences between organizational leaders but it was a beautiful thing to see so many women and men I so admire sitting in that room at yesterday's event. I have covered their awesome work from afar and even met some of them during the past few years and I cannot tell you how much pride I have for them right at this moment.  Bravo!

Side-note: During her speech, president Fernandez de Kirchner held a puppet version of herself which she dubbed "Cristinita". She joked that some of her critics had called a witch in the past and that perhaps the puppet should carry a broom.

The puppet was one of many created one of the lesbian couples who received a co-parenting certificate - including puppet versions of Nestor Kirchner and Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. The president said they would be offered for sale at government chambers.

Shamefully, in their coverage of the event, Spain's EFE treated the reason for the ceremony as a side note and focused mostly on the president's joke about the puppet ("Argentine president presents her doll 'Cristinita'").

Extra: Video of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner handing out new ID's to transgender leaders as well as co-parent certificates to a number of lesbian couples.

Previously:

• Argentina on the verge of adopting far-reaching transgender rights law (April 23, 2012)
• Stunning LGBT campaign ads from Argentina (November 21, 2011)

Reaction:

• Argentina passes progressive gender ID law; will Australia follow? (Xtra)
• Argentine president: Equality as important as liberty (Michael-In-Norfolk)
• Quote of the Day - Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (JoeMyGod)

Chile: "Why do you want a gender identity law?"

Photo: Jimena stands up for her transgender son Mitchell in a newly launched campaign urging passage of a progressive gender identity law in Chile (screen capture).

Transgender rights activists in Chile are taking a page from activists in Argentina in launching an effort to pass a comprehensive gender identity law along the lines of the one that just went into effect in the neighboring country.

The successful efforts in Argentina included a number of brilliant transgender rights ads that sought to change public perception about transgender individuals and highlight the discrimination they face on a daily basis (see this, this and this).

The Chilean Transexual Organiztion for the Dignity of Diversity (OTD) has already produced a couple of ads confronting discrimination against transgender individuals but yesterday they launched a specific campaign advocating for a nationwide gender identity law.

It has its own theme - "For the Dignity of Identity" - and its own webpage leydeidentidaddegenero.cl.  They also want the campaign to be interactive and are urging transgender rights advocates and allies to join them and upload their own videos on YouTube answering a simple question: "Why do you want a gender identity law?" and tagging them with the title "Suma-T" (a play on the word 'súmate' which means 'join us').

You can check the first two submissions here and here.

You can follow the campaign on Facebook here.

Here is the inaugural campaign video launched yesterday by the OTD (turn annotations on for translated subtitles)... 

Argentina on the verge of adopting a far-reaching transgender rights law

Photo: Claudia Pia Baudracco, founding member of the Argentinean Travesti, Transexual and Transgender Association.

Taking the next step in becoming the most progressive Latin American nation on LGBT issues, Argentina is poised to adopt a far-reaching gender identity law that would grant transgender individuals the right to change their name and gender on their official identification records.  From ABS-CBN:

Pending in Congress since 2007, the bill hurdled Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies in December last year, with majority (167-17) voting in favor of it. It is now being debated in the Senate. If it becomes law, the bill is seen to benefit not only Argentina’s transsexuals or those who have had sex reassignment surgery.

Under the proposed measure, anyone who wants to change his or her gender and name no longer has to get a court order and comply with stringent requirements. He or she just has to go the Registro Naciona de las Personas (National Registry of Persons) with a request. Those below 18 have to get the consent of legal representatives, like parents and guardians.

The new gender and name will be used in one’s birth certificate, national identity card, and other government records.

The bill also requires government to subsidize the cost of surgery, hormone treatment, and other medical procedures for those who wish to have physical sex change.

As the article indicates, after passing the Chamber of Deputies by an overwhelming margin back in December, the bill was set to be introduced in the Senate last week.  Instead, it was side-tracked by emergency legislative action stemming from President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's decision last week to nationalize the YFP oil company from Spain.

AG Magazine says that they now expect the bill to reach the Argentinean Senate floor on May 2nd.

[Update (4/24/12): A Senate committee approved a draft of the bill that is identical to the one passed by the Chamber of Deputies.  The bill is expected to reach the Senate floor on May 9th and there are sufficient votes to insure its pasage, according to Parliamento. President Kirchner is expected to sign the bill into law once it reaches her desk.]

In the meantime, the team that produced this amazing transgender rights public service announcement for the Argentinean LGBT Federation (FALGBT) and the Argentinean Travesti, Transexual and Transgender Association (ATTTA) are back!  Director Juan Pablo Félix and Producer Matías Romero have launched this 2:30 minute spot featuring some of the leading advocates behind the push for the law.

Poignantly, it includes some of the last images captured of Claudia Pía Baudracco, a founding member of the Argentinean transgender rights movement who died of natural causes on March 18th at 42 years of age.

Baudracco always told her friends she dreamed to become the first transgender president of Argentina. She passed away before being able to see her ID reflect who she really was and before passage of a law in which she had such an integral part of making it a reality.

She leaves an impressive legacy and her spirit will undoubtedly be celebrated when the bill is signed into law.

Argentina became the first nation in Latin America to pass a comprehensive marriage equality law in 2010.

Related: Last week by a vote of 203 in favor, 0 against and 1 abstention the Argentinean Chamber of Deputies also approved a bill that would increase penalties for hate crimes committed based on “gender or sexual orientation, gender identity or its expression".  The bill now goes to the Senate as well.

Chile: "We are all women, we are all different, we are all equal, we are all transsexual"

I have already introduced you to some great transgender rights spots that have been produced recently in Argentina.

Now comes this brand new ad produced by the Transsexual Organization for the Dignity of Diversity and funded by the Chilean government with the theme of equality for transgender women.

Very much like this groundbreaking ad, I love the fact that, image-wise, the vibe is a positive one and not a gloomy one. The one reservation I have about it is that while one of the persons in the ad says that she does not want to be treated as if she has an illness, another woman calls being transgender a "condition".  It probably stems from transgender women being told all their lives that their identity is a condition, specially in countries where you have to get diagnosed as such before being allowed gender-reassignment surgery.

Here is the full ad. Turn 'annotations' on for my on-screen translation:

Stunning LGBT campaign ads from Argentina

A year ago, Argentina became the first country in Latin America to grant same-sex couples full marriage rights. Before this year is over, the Argentinean congress might very well pass a groundbreaking transgender-rights law extending health care protections to transgender individuals and making it easier for trans folk to change their ID's to better reflect their gender identity without requiring proof of gender reassignment surgery.

Getting to this point has certainly taken years of work by Argentinean LGBT organizations, activists, advocates and allies.  It has also inspired some pretty amazing television and online video ads.

The following two ads come from the Observatory for the Promotion of Sexual Diversity Rights in Salta or Obs.Salta for short and were made possible through grants from the United Nations (turn "annotations" on for my on-screen translation).

The second ad takes a similar take in a different setting...

The ads have actually been out for more than a year but somehow I missed them. You might also have missed a couple of really amazing ads I featured earlier.

The first one came as the ultimately successful marriage equality campaign was about to begin its final phase...

The most recent ad I featured is also a stunner and comes as advocates push for the transgender rights bill...

These are truly amazing ads.  When I try to think of any LGBT advocacy ads from the United States that are similar to these I am at a loss.  True, attitudes towards these issues might be different in Argentina than in the United States but does anyone know of any related ads produced in the U.S. that seem as immediate and vibrant as these ads?

Reaction:

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Warning: This banner might induce transgender threesomes (UPDATED)

• UPDATE: La Prensa reports that a number of unknown individuals identified themselves as members of the Free Expression Foundation to get past security and removed the banner overnight on August 22nd of 2011. The matter is under investigation by university authorities.

In January of this year United States president Barack Obama took the highly unusual step of publicly calling on the Honduran government to step up its investigations of a series of brutal murders committed in recent months against the LGBT community - and particularly against transgender women.  The statement was quickly followed by Honduran press reports that the U.S. Department of State, under Hillary Clinton, had committed to send trained personnel to investigate the murders.

I am not aware of additional information on efforts by the United States to assist Honduras in the investigate these crimes but a week ago members of the Honduran LGBT community staged a protest outside the Honduran Congress in Tegucigalpa once again calling for justice.

In such an environment you might think a campaign calling for respect for diverse communities might be welcome with open arms. Instead, a pro-diversity campaign organized by students at the National Autonomous University of Honduras has drawn the ire of some parents and faculty members who allege that a prominently placed banner promotes immoral behavior.

"I want the authorities in charge of making the banner visible to university youth to remove it for the sake of the mental health of the students - it does nothing more than to promote homosexuality among students" said María Antonia Cruz, identified by La Tribuna as the mother of two students attending their first semester at the university.

Editors at La Prensa, covering the story in yesterday's paper, stated rather matter-of-factly "This banner invites men to have relations with men, women with women and there is even an image of a threesome, which shows a man dressed like a woman grabbing the hands of two men."

Responding to the outrage and irresponsible press coverage, a representative of the non-profit student organization that developed the campaign said it only was meant to promote tolerance and that, while the focus of attention had been placed on a banner that alluded to sexual diversity, it was one of five different banners, including one promoting racial tolerance and another promoting and end to violence in sport events.

"Students are deeply engaged in their campaign because it's about tolerance, respect," said Angela Valladares of the Free Expression Foundation as quoted in Tiempo, "Young people have raised their voice [in favor of] tolerance, choice and respect".

The banner in the middle of the controversy shows a lesbian couple and a gay couple holding each other with a transgender woman in the middle holding the hands of a man and a woman.  A legend on the top of the banner reads "Freedom starts with the respect of differences; you decide if you want to free."  It hangs prominently from the side of a university building.

The banner promoting racial and religious tolerance shows five young women each holding a heart in their hands.  The legend reads "It's not the skin that makes you different, but what you hold inside; we are more than 7 ethnicities and 2 religions - we are what we can do with our minds."

Interviewed by La Tribuna on the decision to leave the banners up despite the protests, the university's director defended the student-led campaign.

"In this country I think we sometimes lack profundity in the analysis, and institutional functions are debated and misunderstood because the role of the church is one thing and that of the University is another" said Julieta Castellanos.

Castellanos said the University did not function as the church nor did it exist to preach the gospel.

Related:

• Free Expression Foundation Facebook page

Amazing transgender rights campaign ad from Argentina

On the early morning of July 15 of 2010, Argentina became the first country in Latin America to grant full marriage rights to same-sex couples. Such a tremendous human rights victory did not take place in a vacuum: It counted with the support of the government of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and it was the culmination of a long and effective marriage equality campaigned led by the Argentinean LGBT Federation (FALGBT), a coalition of LGBT organizations throughout the country.

Even then, as they pulled efforts and resources towards the marriage equality fight, the FALGBT never lost focus on what they said would be their next battle: The push for a law which would allow transgender individuals to change their name on their ID's and birth certificates.

Several bills have been introduced in the Argentinean legislature and the day has come for debate on the law. From xQsi Magazine:

On Thursday, August 18, 2011, the Argentinian Congress will begin the debate on a proposed gender identity law. If passed, this law would allow anyone to correct hir name, gender and image registration in all public records through a quick and simple procedure.

Currently, trans people who wish to obtain a government ID with their true gender and name must wait years for a judges ruling, often being denied and forced to go through a lengthy and costly appeals process.

In preparation, the Argentinian Federation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans people (FALGBT) and the ATTTA (Asociación de Trasvetis, Transexuales y Transgéneros de Argentina) launched earlier last week, the campaign “Identidad: Derecho a ser” (“Identity: The right to be” in English).

As part of the campaign, ATTTA and the  FALGBT contracted Director Juan Pablo Felix and producer Matías Romero to come up with the first video for the transgender rights campaign. It's amazing. Take a look:

If you recognize somebody from the video it's because you have seen him on this blog before.   On December of 2010, Alejandro Iglesias shocked viewers of the Argentinean version of the Big Brother reality show by disclosing he was a transgender man and had entered the house seeking funding for gender-reassignment surgery.  Once in the house, Alejandro found some allies and revealed his identity to his house-mates as well.  The revelation quickly became common knowledge around the house, bringing with it a subtle and not-so-subtle rejection from some of the male house members, and a few outright transphobic questionning of his identy - particularly from a gay house member.  Alejandro would eventually leave the house without making it to the final.

The most interesting part, for me, was watching Alejandro not only become a national sensation, but see his blossoming activist awareness.  Challenged by ATTTA and the FALGBT to help them raise awareness about the gender identity bills now in play, after leaving the house, Alejandro kept his promise and became a visible partner of both organizations.  In April, with their help, Alejandro became one of the few transgender individuals to receive a new ID card when he went to the courts to ask for it.  The new law, if passed, would facilitate the process without having to go through a court battle.

In the meantime, as an aside and going back to marriage equality: The banner above is what you see when you go to Argentinean President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's re-election campaign YouTube Site.  It includes a video that celebrates diversity and the moment she signed the marriage equality bill into law.

It's not hard to miss, but that's Alex Freyre kissing his husband José Maria Di Bello right to the left of the president --- and this is on President Kirchner's general re-election YouTube campaign page!

Alex and José are, of course, the first gay couple to marry in Latin America.  Alex tells me that it's not only the first time that a presidential campaign has used the image of a gay couple so prominently.

Related:

• Argentina's big step towards true sexual equality (The Guardian, Sept. 2, 2011)
• Same-sex marriage legal, Argentineans ready to fight for full equality (Global Post, Oct. 19, 2011)

Reactions:

• Latin America is leading the way on trans issues (TransGriot)
• Argentina to debate gender identity law (xQsi Magazine) 
• On the Matter of Identification (The Daily KOS) 
• Argentine legislature debates trans rights (The Bilerico Project)
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Argentina: A new government ID for Alejandro Iglesias as he becomes the poster boy for transgender rights

The end of "Gran Hermano 2011": This weekend brings the season finale of "Gran Hermano 2011" - the Argentinean version of the international "Big Brother" reality show franchise.  As you know, if you have been following this blog, the show started with a bang when it was revealed to viewers that one of the contestants - Aejandro Iglesias - was a transgender man.

Surprisingly viewers quickly warmed up to Alejandro and some media observers named him an early favorite to become the winner. That didn't happen: He was voted out in March after having spent three months as a contestant (pretty respectable, considering he outlasted two of the guys in this weekend's final only to see producers bring them back into the house).

Interviewed after leaving the house, Alejandro said he had no regrets about participating in the reality show and revealing his identity in such a public way.  His hope, he said, was that his visibility might have helped others going through the same struggles he experienced earlier in his life as he realized his true identity and that his participation in the show might have led to a national dialogue on transgender rights.

"What I'd like?," Alejandro said to an interviewer, "To have the law passed so it won't be as tough to get to where I am... because people like me might be fighting the same battles and when they realize there is so much they have to do, they become depressed, they shut down."

The law Alejandro mentions in the interview is a gender identity bill expected to be introduced for debate in the Argentinean legislature later this year. If approved, the law would make it easier and faster for transgender individuals to request a new government-issued national ID, or DNI, which better-reflects their current gender.

With Alejandro becoming a pop-culture phenomenon, the Argentinean LGBT Federation (FALGBT) and the Travesti, Transexual and Transgender Association of Argentina (ATTTA) realized Alejandro had also created a tremendous opportunity to educate the public on the bill and, after reaching the producers, they were given a chance to address "Big Brother" viewers back in March. Here is the 14-minute clip of their appearance on the show, which I've translated (turn annotations on).

It's quite an amazing clip, considering it was shown on mainstream Argentinean television as part of one of the top rated shows in the country.

The gender identity bill: In the clip, FALGBT President Esteban Paulón explains that the gender identity bill is now the top priority for the organization that led the successful push for marriage equality in the country (in 2010, Argentina became the first Latin American country to pass a law granting marriage rights to same-sex couples).  He explains that the bill would allow transgender individuals to request a change of name and gender on their government-issued ID without having to be diagnosed as suffering "gender dysphoria" and without being required to show proof of having undergone gender-reassignment surgery.

Paulón also says that there are similarities between the successful campaign the Federation mounted for marriage equality and the current campaign for the gender identity bill.

He says that the Federation worked with a number of same-sex couples who went to the courts to demand the right to marry on the basis of discrimination and that nine of those couples were granted the right to marry months before marriage equality became the law of the land.

Similarly, he says that the Federation is working with several transgender individuals who have gone to court to argue the current regulations for changing their ID's are discriminatory and places an unfair burden on them and the courts have ruled in favor of three transgender individuals since December (Paulón says that there are another 30 cases pending in the courts of Buenos Aires and 100 cases total pending in Argentinean courts).

Photo: "Gran Hermano 2011" contestants Luz Rios and Alejandro Iglesias (wearing red-ribbon sashes) meet gay Argentinean hubbies Alex Freyre and José Maria Di Bello, the first gay couple to marry in all of Latin America (photo courtesy of Alex).

"Gender Dysphoria": You might never have heard of the term "gender dysphoria" but, thanks to Alejandro, most people in Argentina probably have heard of it by now.  On his casting tape, he used the term "disforia de género" as an issue he wanted to highlight as a contestant in the show and, as he "came out" as a transgender man inside the house, he also explained to them that he had "gender dysphoria" (Search for "disforia de género" on Google News and you'll get hundreds of news articles that have followed Alejandro's lead and used the term when talking about him).

In my original blog post about Alejandro I alluded to the discontent that exists out there about the term "gender dysphoria" in certain segments of the transgender community.  I did this by linking up to a blog post by Alexandra Billings in which she reacted to the casting tape clip of Alejandro I posted on my blog ("Big Latin Brother", January 6, 2011).

Basically, the argument is that "gender dysphoria" is a medical term long used to designate being transgender as a pathology or illness.  The insidiousness of the term is that it is also a diagnosis that transgender individuals must seek if they want to have access to gender-reassignment surgery or a change in their government ID in many parts of the world, including most of the United States.

What's interesting about this clip is that Marcela Romero, Director of ATTTA, takes the term - as well as Alejandro's embrace of "gender dysphoria" - head on.

"Throughout the world the transgender community is fighting to remove 'gender dysphoria', it doesn't exist" Romero says at the 8:00 minute mark, "France already removed it from its health manuals, 'gender dysphoria' doesn't exist. What exists is the guideline for a court judge to say that you have 'gender dysphoria' in order to grant you a document and delay it for four years, ten years in my case".

She also speaks directly to Alejandro, who is in the audience, at the 13:50 minute mark and says "I wanted to tell you, Ale, that 'gender dysphoria' no longer exists, let's stop 'gender dysphoria', let's stop it" to which Alejandro meekly responds "Yes, of course" and defends himself by saying "It was the only concept I had."

Paulón also puts Alejandro on the spot by asking him to commit to working with the Federation and tells him that the Federation is committed to work with him not only to make sure Alejandro gets a new ID but also in assessing whether he wants to go to the courts and demand that the state respond to the need of transgender people who want to undergo gender-reassignment surgery as a health issue.  Paulón says that this is part of a second transgender rights bill that the Federation is working on which would require the government to respond to the integral health of all Argentineans, including transgender folk.

Alejandro, who is sitting next to Luz Rios - a lesbian contestant who was his closest ally during the current season of "Gran Hermano" - commits himself to working with the Federation and ATTTA just as Luz is seen to become overwhelmed with emotion and starts to cry.

It's really an amazing clip. Perhaps I'll get to translate it down the line.

Alejandro gets his new ID: Last week, Paulón came through on one of his two promises to Alejandro. Working with Maria Rachid, Vice President of the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI), Alejandro received his new government ID on Thursday morning.  He is now officially registered as "Alejandro Iván Iglesias" and as a male for all intents and purposes.  Here is a (translated) clip of the ceremony in which he was handed the new documents...

Imagine the marriage equality movement in the United States working as closely with transgender rights activists in this way?

Of course, the battle for the right of transgender folk to change the name and gender on their ID's is not unique to Argentina.

In the United States there are varying policies on changing one's ID documents, most requiring a transgender person to show they've had a psychiatric evaluation and show proof of having undergone gender-reassignment surgery.  Last month, three transgender individuals sued New York City arguing that the city's requirement for proof of surgery and a psychiatric evaluation made it extremely difficult for most transgender New Yorkers to get their ID's changed.

Pakistan was in the news earlier this week after their Supreme Court granted transgender individuals to register for a "third gender" category on their government ID's.

But I am am so glad I picked up Alejandro's story early on when he was introduced as part of the "Gran Hermano" contestants back in December. It's really been an incredibly moving story.

Related:

• Genderkid: Thoughts on gender by a queer Argentinean trans boy (Blog)

Big Brother Argentina: Trans man Alejandro has been voted out of the house

An update, if you have been following this blog...

After surviving for three months inside the video-monitored "Big Brother" house, luck ran out Sunday for transgender man Alejandro Iglesias as viewers voted to expel him from the Argentinean version of the reality show.

Alejandro, who was only identified as a "mystery guest" before the show was aired, shocked viewers when it was revealed he was a female-to-male transgender man seeking a chance to win the U$10,000 dollar reward which could help him cover the costs of gender reassignment-surgery ("Alejandro Iglesias shocks the viewers of 'Big Brother 2011'").

Of course, this sort of stunt casting is nothing new when it comes to reality shows.  They always seem to drop a gay here, a lesbian there, and sometimes someone who is bisexual or transgender.  I assume they expect drama will ensue once their sexual identity is revealed.

What was amazing, in this case, was that - at least initially - Alejandro quickly became the viewers' favorite to win the game since he came off as sincere and down-to-earth compared to the other 18 players: A mix of showboat male assholes and big-boobed vedettes looking to make it in showbiz.

It didn't take long for Alejandro to 'come out' to the other housemates and the reaction was surprisingly great ("Alejandro tells his 'Big Brother' housemates he is a trans man").  Alejandro also bonded with a fierce ally, Luz, who also came out as a lesbian.  She later would sacrifice her stay in the house by giving immunity to Alejandro.

Turns out the one person who reacted the worst about the revelation was... a gay guy.

Emiliano Boscatto (the curly-locks guy in the image above) received some media attention in 2008 when he was elected "Mr. Gay Cordoba". And yet, in the house he tried to keep his sexual identity hidden for as long as he could.  Whether he used it as a strategy to rattle Alejandro out of the house or whether he was letting his transphobia fly, Boscatto initially insisted Alejandro was a lesbian and told him he simply was incapable of believing he was a transgender man - ultimately flipping around and questioning whether Alejandro was actually born a man and using the transgender story to move ahead in the game.

Two weeks later, Boscatto was the one who got the boot from the house.

But this is Argentina's "Gran Hermano" where contestants who get booted out apparently can be voted back in (what's the point in that?) And so, Aleandro, who outlasted Boscatto and the person considered to be the best player in the house, Cristian U., saw both of them come back.  And, on Sunday, viewers voted him out instead of voting Boscatto out for a second time (you can watch the moment he gets booted out in this clip - the image above is a photo capture of the clip).

A day after getting booted out, Alejandro sat down with a talk show host to talk about his experience in the house.  He is shown clips of the confrontations between Boscatto and him for the first time and is asked for a reaction.  I have translated the clip as follows (turn 'annotations' on).

To Boscatto's credit, he did try to make an alliance with Alejandro once he returned to the house. Alejanadro also didn't help himself by spending some of the last days in the house moping around and being miserable, particularly after Luz left.  He also proved to be a bad strategist and so picky about his tastes that the producers made fun of all the things he kept requesting from the outside - from music by Pimpinela, to foot odor deodorants, to a particular brand of menthol cigarettes.

But, this being a reality show and all, I was struck by the guts it took for this 26 year old guy to go on Argentina's top rated reality show and open up like that to millions of viewers.  He might have gone in saying he needed the money for his upcoming surgery, but - as this clip shows - he was also very aware of the potential positive impact his participation would have on others going through the same things he has gone through.

"Truthfully," he tells the talk show host, "I didn't care much about what was happening inside the house. It was all about the repercussions it might have outside... That's the only thing that mattered to me. [My participation] wasn't in vain... even if it's a single person who gives me thanks..."

Asked about what he would like to see in the future, Alejandro says "To have the [gender identity] law pass, that it won't be as hard to get to where I am, that it won't take as much time. Because persons like me might be fighting the same battle and when they see there's so much left do do, they become depressed, they shut down, they don't want to know anything else...".

Alejandro says that he received authorization for a gender-reassignment surgery last year after four years of dealing with tests and paperwork.  He expects the surgery to take place as planned.

As for Argentina, there IS a gender identity bill that has been making its way to the legislature which would guarantee the right to a legal name and gender change on official documents.

Colombia: Laisa in SoHo

"Guess who this is?" asks Colombia's SoHo magazine on it's fold-out triptych cover for it's February edition.  The cover images were unveiled today in advance of the magazine hitting the streets next week but they are already raising all sort of ruckus on Twitter where the relatred hashtag #laisaensoho has shot up to the number 1 spot on the trending topics for Colombia today.

A second cover shot, which unveils the woman behind the mystery but is racier than the one above, below the fold...

United States to assist in the investigation of transgender murders in Honduras

BREAKING NEWS: The lat 48 hours have brought tremendously sad news when it comes to international LGBT activism:

42 year-old David Kato, by all accounts a tremendous LGBT rights advocate from Uganda, was bludgeoned to death with a hammer on Wednesday, months after he was prominently featured in a local newspaper as a man who deserved to die for being gay.  This, of course, in a country whose legislature is considering a "kill-the-gays" bill drafted with the help of right-wing Evangelical preachers from the United States.

His death, understandably, has elicited worldwide repudiation in what seems to be a turning point for the global LGBT rights movement.  Sometimes it's difficult not to make facile assertions about a specific moment, but this moment certainly reminds me of the immediate outrage that followed the beating and death of Matthew Sheppard in the United States, if on a global scale.

Today, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a statement which reads, in part, as follows:

We are profoundly saddened by the loss of Ugandan human rights defender David Kato, who was brutally murdered in his home near Kampala yesterday. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and colleagues. We urge Ugandan authorities to quickly and thoroughly investigate and prosecute those responsible for this heinous act.

Hours later, U.S. President Barack Obama also released a statement. An excerpt:

At home and around the world, LGBT persons continue to be subjected to unconscionable bullying, discrimination, and hate.  In the weeks preceding David Kato’s murder in Uganda, five members of the LGBT community in Honduras were also murdered.  It is essential that the Governments of Uganda and Honduras investigate these killings and hold the perpetrators accountable.

Last week I posted my latest update on the horrible string of brutal murders that have been happening in Honduras involving, for the most part, victims who are transgender women.  In that post, I noted that the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras, Hugo Lllorens, had made the Honduran authorities responsible for the proper investigation of these crimes.

What I did not say in that post was that in my years covering LGBT rights in Latin America, I could not remember the last time an U.S. ambassador had spoken up specifically on the issue of human rights violations against a Latin American country's LGBT population.

Well, tonight, add the voice of a sitting United States president to that list. And words do matter.

Time will tell if the senseless brutal murder of David Kato will bring upon the sort national soul-searching and re-evaluation of common-held beliefs that needs to happen for Uganda to counter the virulent homophobia of its political leadership (it's too soon to tell but click here for a hopeful editorial from Uganda's The Monitor).

As for Honduras: Following today's statement by United States President Barack Obama, the Honduran president Porfirio Lobo Sosa held a press conference today and announced that the United States Department of State had committed to send trained personnel to investigate the recent number of transgender murders, even as he took the opportunity to play down the number of transgender murders.

According to La Tribuna, Lobo said that the U.S. Department of State had committed to send an expert on police investigations and a legal adviser who would evaluate all internal investigations on these crimes so far.  The Honduran president said that the assistance would come at his request and added that they would help to investigate "the murder of journalists and what is alleged to be one or two gays who were murdered".

Unites States pressure on certain countries, when it comes to human rights violations, can be very effective. I am glad to see the Obama administration take these steps and hope that they show a new and open willingness to engage Latin America and, particularly, the LGBT rights movement in the region.

Previously:

• The U.S. Ambassador to Honduras addresses transgender murders (Jan. 22, 2011)
•  U.S. Embassy in Honduras expresses concern for recent killings of members of the LGBT community (Jan. 19, 2011)
• Ask authorities to put an end to transgender murders (Jan. 11, 2011)

Update: The United States Ambassador to Honduras addresses transgender murders

An update: As I wrote Wednesday, the United States Embassy in Honduras has taken the highly unusual step of releasing an official statement asking the Honduran government and it's authorities to investigate a number of recent murders committed against members of the LGBT community in Honduras.

Hugo Llorens (pictured), the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras, sat down to talk yesterday with La Prensa and was asked about the murders and the official statement from his office. Here is what he said:

"The gay community in many countries, including mine, is very vulnerable to discrimination and harassment. It's not an unique problem to Honduras, but it is worrisome that the five murders have occurred within a period of a little month than a month.  That's why we have asked the authorities in charge to apply the extent of the law [and] to see the situation as a threat to human rights."

I am so impressed that the ambassador doesn't shy away from admitting that gays in the United States are not immune to discrimination or persecution, nor from stepping up and firmly asking the Honduran government to take matters at hand.

This is the same guy who got into some WikiLeaks trouble when it was revealed he'd sent cables to the United States Department of Defense calling the 2009 ouster of left-wing president Manuel Zelaya "illegal" and "unconstitutional" (this from a Cuban-American guy appointed as ambassador to Honduras by President George W. Bush).

You might think that this might disqualify the Ambassador from being heard by the current right-wing administration of president Porfirio Lobo Sosa but you'd be wrong.

Combined with the pressure put upon the Honduras government by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), UNAIDS, the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Transgender People (REDLACTRANS), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States, and Honduran LGBT rights activists, there finally seems to be movement from authorities in resolving and preventing these crimes.

Yesterday, José Romero Luna, the Vice-Minister of the government's Security Commission, said the department was very well aware of the persecution against transgender people in Honduras and had launched investigations into these crimes, according to El Heraldo. He also said the department was ready to collaborate in developing preventive measures to protect the transgender community from these type of crimes.

Marco Palma, of the Honduran Criminal Investigation Division (DNIC), told the paper that their investigations had advanced and that they expected imminent arrests in at least three of the recent crimes.

The local, regional and international pressure on the Honduran government is definitely working.  If you haven't added your signature to a call for justice in these crimes, please do so by clicking here and completing the form.

Previously:

• U.S. Embassy in Honduras expresses concern for recent killings of members of the LGBT community (Jan. 19, 2011)
• Ask authorities to put and end to transgender murders (Jan. 11, 2011)

U.S. Embassy in Honduras expresses concern for recent killings of members of the LGBT community

 

Photo: LGBT rights advocates hold a press conference on the streets of Tegucigalpa on January 13th, 2011. The banner reads "No to hate crimes" and it highlights the brutality used in the recent murders of transgender women and gay men who have been stabbed, shot, strangled and incinerated (Source: La Prensa)

• Previously: Honduras: Ask authorities to put an end to transgender murders (Jan. 11, 2011)
• Related: Gay murder rates soar in Brazil, Honduras (Gay City News, Jan. 19, 2011)

Earlier today The United States Embassy in Honduras released the following statement (Spanish version here):

United States Embassy Notes Concern for Recent Killings of Members of the LGBT Community
January 19, 2011

Tegucigalpa - The U.S. Embassy notes with concern the five killings that have been committed against members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community since December 18, with the latest being in San Pedro Sula January 17.

The protection of Honduran law extends to all its citizens regardless of sexual orientation and the Lobo Administration has repeatedly expressed its commitment to defend the rights of all Honduran citizens.

It is in this regard that we call upon Honduran law enforcement authorities to vigorously investigate these crimes, bring to justice the perpetrators, and take all necessary steps to protect LGBT persons, who are among the most vulnerable to violence and abuse in Honduras.

It's the highest-profile official statement I have seen since Honduran media began profiling a series of gruesome murders, mostly against the transgender community, that have taken place since December 18th and since the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission launched an action alert demanding authorities investigate these crimes (Warning: Graphic images).

On Monday, the Geneva-based UNAIDS also released a statement condemning the murders:

UNAIDS condemns killings of transgender people in Honduras

17 January 2011

GENEVA, 17 January 2011—UNAIDS is concerned by the recent reported killings of transgender people in Honduras. Since late November 2010, five individuals from the transgender community have been reportedly killed in separate incidents in the country. The motive for these killings has not been determined.

“UNAIDS urges the Government of Honduras to take every step to investigate these killings thoroughly,” said Mr Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “All forms of discrimination, including transphobia, block access to HIV prevention programmes and impact the quality of care for people living with HIV.”

Honduras has committed to protecting the human rights of all individuals in various international and regional resolutions. “I urge all states to provide adequate protection to transgender people,” said Mr Sidibé.

UNAIDS expresses its full support for the community of transgender people in Honduras and for the Latin American Network of Transgender People (REDLACTRANS) in their efforts to stop intimidation and violence against transgender individuals.

On January 13th, a number of LGBT rights advocates protested outside the national Public Prosecutor's office demanding action.  Holding banners that called for an end to hate crimes and graphic images of murdered transgender women that had been featured on the cover of several local tabloids, activists argued that the government-sponsored institution had done little to stem the violence.

According to La Prensa, activists called attention to the killing of of well-known and respected LGBT rights activist Walter Trochez on December 13th of 2009 and the fact that his murder was still unresolved a year after his murder.

José Zembrano, one of the protesters, said that there was hate in Honduran society towards sexual diversity.  "Just in the last 45 days we have learned of the killing of five of our [transgender] friends", he said.

The activists said they knew of 31 transgender women who had been murdered since June 28th of 2009.

Later, La Tribuna reported that Sandra Ponce, the Public Prosecutor herself, had stepped out of her office and expressed concern about these crimes:

The Prosecutor's Office is giving priority to every case, independently of whether it's our responsibility to pursue state officials who commit human rights violations while on duty; nevertheless, taking note that there might be an element of discrimination and homophobia in these killings, we have put them under investigation.

On January 17th, as today's U.S. Embassy statement mentions, La Prensa reported yet another murder of a transgender woman. The sixth transgender woman found murdered, according to the paper.

Marcia Alejandra, the first transsexual woman in Latin America, has died

[NOTE: The image used for this post is that of legendary queer poet and provocateur Pedro Lemebel, who alerted media to the news, not that of Marcia Alejandra]

Friends of Marcia Alejandra - the first woman in Latin America to undergo gender reassignment surgery to change her anatomical gender from male to female - say she has died from a stroke.

"With her departure, this country loses - perhaps - a part of its memory," said queer activist and friend Pedro Lemebel to Chilean newspaper La Nación,

"Marcia was never acknowledged as the great mold-breaker of her era", he added.

Marcia Alejandra, who made a living as a hairdresser, underwent gender-reassignment surgery in Chile back in March of 1973 (that's almost 40 years ago!).

A report published by Chilean newspaper La Cuarta in 2004 says that news of the historic surgery didn't reach the public until a year after it happened when some newspapers finally caught wind of it.

At the time, Marcia Alejandra bravely stood up to reporters and said she was "a man with the soul of a woman" (remember, this were the early 1970's in Latin America).

Dr. Antonio Salas Vieyra, who performed the surgery, went on to worldwide acclaim and I still see his name pop up from time to time in reference to Latin American LGBT history.  He is currently the president of the Chilean Sexuality and Sexual Education Association.

Marcia Alejandra's name, by all accounts, has been mostly relegated to the sands of time, at least until now.

La Nación says that when they reached out to the leading Chilean LGBT rights organization, MOVILH, they didn't even recognize her name.  Pablo Lemebel, speaking to the paper, blamed it on institutional transphobia on their part (Lemebel has been a long time critic of the organization).

Lemebel also penned an ode to Marcia Alejandra published by El Nortero on January 10th in which he tries to rescue her name for historical posterity and highlights what it might have meant for someone in the early 1970's to have the courage to go under gender-reassignment surgery.

Of course, to call someone the first person in Latin America to undergo gender-reassignment surgery is highly subjective. In the comments section of the La Nación article, someone argues that someone else in Chile might have been the first transsexual woman in the country.  And maybe that's correct but, if it is, it wasn't anyone who went public then nor now.

Marcia Alejandra did go public, though, and did so at a time when it was absolutely heroic.

In the United States, Puerto Rican-born transgender idol Sylvia Rivera has always been held high on a pedestal when it comes to te origins of the current LGBT-rights movement and her role in the Stonewall riots of the late 1960's.

Please help me welcome Marcia Alejandra to the same pantheon as that of Sylvia Rivera's.

Honduras: Ask authorities to put an end to transgender murders

UPDATE #2: U.S. Embassy in Honduras expresses concern for recent killings of members of the LGBT community

UPDATE #1: There have been three more murders, including that of another transgender woman, since IGLHRC sent their original alert.  IGLHRC also says that 1,000 people have added their name to a statement condemning the murders and asking authorities to take action. You can ad your name by filling out this form]

From the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC):

Over the past two weeks, three travestis have been murdered in separate incidents in Honduras. In two of the incidents, the victims were set on fire either before or after their deaths. This means that in the past year and a half, there has been a total of now 31 the murders of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people in Honduras. Join the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and the Honduran LGBTI organization Red Cattrachas in calling for immediate investigations and demanding state action to prevent future killings on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

IGLHRC is using the Spanish word travesti which is more commonly used than transgénero (transgender) throughout Latin America. The details:

On December 22, 2010 in Comayagüela, a 23-year-old travesti named Lorenza Alexis Alvarado Hernández was found dead, her body visibly beaten and burned. Bloody stones near her corpse indicate that the bruises covering her body were caused by stoning. Her body was set on fire. Used condoms found nearby have led to the suspicion that she may also have been raped. After her death, the assailants threw her body into a ditch. News reports indicate that severe injuries to her face rendered her corpse virtually unrecognizable.

The same day, another travesti, Lady Oscar Martinez Salgado, age 45, was found burned to death in her home in Barrio El Rincón of Tegucigalpa. Her body showed multiple stab wounds. Neighbors report witnessing two suspicious individuals running from her house as the fire ignited.

Less than two weeks later, on January 2, 2011, a young travesti known only as Cheo was found murdered on the main street of Colonia Alameda in Tegucigalpa. Her body was left without legal documentation. She appears to have died from a severe stab wound to her chest.

These killings are not isolated incidents. Since the 2009 coup d'état in Honduras, there have been 31 murders of LGBTI people documented by Red Cattrachas. More deaths of LGBT people have likely gone unreported. At least one of those killed, Walter Trochez, was a prominent human rights defender. In the majority of the cases, there have been no investigation or prosecution of the crimes. Since the coup, all Hondurans, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, have been subjected to increased violence and have received little protection from authorities; however, LGBT people been particularly vulnerable to attack. Impunity nationwide has created this deadly spike in violence.

How to take action? Well, IGLHRC also has information on that as well.  Click here and, in a few seconds, you can ad your voice to those calling for justice in these killings:

In response to pressure from local human rights activists, the Honduran Minister of Human Rights and the Tegucigalpa Chief of Homicide have assigned two investigators to these murders. However, no one has yet been charged in the recent deaths, and there is little evidence that the investigations are underway.

Urge the Honduran authorities to conduct immediate investigations into each of the recent murders of travestis, to hold perpetrators accountable to the fullest extent of the law, and to prevent similar attacks in the future. Let officials know that the world mourns these tragic deaths and demands that LGBTI killings stop.

Those authorities include Honduran president Porfirio Lobo, from the center-right conservative political National Party, who has yet to say a word.