“The situation is really chaotic, desperate,” said Florencia Guimares García, a travesti activist who is president of the House of Lohana and Diana Civil Association. “There is also a lot of fear among the trans and travestí community towards the government’s policies.”

Guimares’s group is named after Diana Sacayán, a prominent trans activist who was stabbed to death inside her Buenos Aires apartment in 2015, and Lohana Berkins, the founder of the Association for the Fight for Travesti and Transsexual Identity who died in 2016.

Guimares and three other trans activists — Julia Amore, Sasha Solano, and Daniela Ruíz — spoke with the Blade after they participated in a trans and travestí rights forum that took place at an LGBTQ cultural center in downtown Buenos Aires. Alba Rueda, the country’s former special envoy for LGBTQ rights, also took part.

“We are in a bad moment for the rights and quality of life of LGBTQ+ people,” Rueda told the Blade during a February 2024 interview.

Milei took office on Dec. 10, 2023, after he defeated then-Economy Minister Sergio Massa in the second round of that year’s presidential election. Rueda resigned before Milei assumed the presidency.

Milei, an economist and former congressman, shortly after he took office eliminated the country’s Women, Gender and Diversity Ministry.

Milei last year closed the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism, a government agency known by the acronym INADI that provided support and resources to people who suffered discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and other factors. Milei in 2024 also dismissed trans people who the government hired under the Trans Labor Quota Law, which set aside at least 1 percent of public sector jobs for trans people.

Argentina’s landmark Gender Identity Law that, among other things, allows trans people to legally change their gender without medical intervention, took effect in 2012 when Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was president. Milei on Feb. 5 issued a decree that restricts minors’ access to gender-affirming surgeries and hormone treatments.

Gay Congressman Esteban Paulón, a long-time LGBTQ activist, filed a criminal complaint against Milei after he linked the LGBTQ community to pedophilia and made other homophobic and transphobic comments during a Jan. 23 speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Millions of people in Buenos Aires and across Argentina participated in marches against Milei that took place less than two weeks later.

Milei is among the heads of state who attended President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Milei also spoke at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md.

“Violence is more explicit, more common,” Guimares told the Blade, noting police violence has become more common against sex workers who are trans or travestí since Milei took office. Guimares added this situation is worse outside of Buenos Aires.

“The situation is different, depending on the location, and even more so in other provinces,” she said. “Even living in the province of Buenos Aires isn’t the same as living in Salta, or in Jujuy, or in Corrientes, or in provinces where the population is more conservative, where the discourse from the churches is much stronger, where all of this has a much crueler impact.”

“Milei’s discourse has legitimatized all of this,” added Guimares.

Amore said Argentina before Milei “had been a beacon” for human rights around the world.

“We’ve been building these laws with a lot of struggle, a lot of effort, with allies, and it wasn’t enough because we didn’t reach our goal,” she said. “These are very young. Our democracy is very young; we have a 40-year-old democracy and we are talking about a Gender Identity Law that is 12-years-old.

Amore added Milei is trying to erase trans and travestí people. Ruiz, an activist and actress who founded Siete Colores Diversidad, an advocacy group, agreed.

“It is a cultural battle for us,” Ruiz told the Blade, referring for the continued struggle for trans and travestí rights in Argentina.

“It marks a cultural paradigm shift that we were carrying out day after day, making ourselves visible,” she added. “We carried it out by making ourselves politically visible, by presenting our travestí and trans Latin American visibility as a beacon to the world.”

The activists spoke with the Blade less than three months after Trump took office.

The American president, like Milei, has targeted the trans community with executive orders and policy directives. These include banning the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers and prohibiting trans adults and young people from sports teams that correspond with their gender identity.

Solana, a trans woman from Peru who advocates on behalf of migrants, noted one of the first executive orders that Trump signed directed the federal government to only recognize two genders: Male and female.

“Man and woman. Period,” she said.

Guimares added Milei’s anti-LGBTQ discourse isn’t even his “original speech, but rather a line drawn from the U.S. government of Donald Trump and its agenda, which he established from the beginning and which he campaigned on as well.”

“This also follows in line with parties like Vox in Spain and other European countries, where we see how in Hungary, where an LGBTI Pride march (in Budapest) is now banned, and in other countries around the world where the population is having a really hard time,” said Guimares. “So, it’s not something original from Milei, but rather he’s taking part in those political agendas to generate strategies and alliances to be able to access economic resources.”

Amore, for her part, urged her American counterparts to continue the fight.

“Don’t let down your guard,” said Amore. “Organize. Come together. Speak out. Become visible in community. Respect the diversity of voices and put your own voices first and make yourselves more visible.”

The updated policy came into force on April 1 and continues the practice of allowing transgender women to play in amateur women’s competitions if they have had reduced testosterone levels for at least a year.

Campaigners had wanted football to follow sports such as rugby union and hockey by restricting women’s matches to those who were born female, with an open category for all other players.

Instead, about 20 transgender women registered to play amateur football in England can continue to do so if their testosterone levels are below 5nmol per litre for at least 12 months. However, a change to the regulations means the FA can step in if it has any concerns and ask its Transgender and Non-Binary Eligibility Committee to make a decision.

 

The new FA rules state: “Where there is an issue about a player’s eligibility, efforts will always be made to resolve it through dialogue between the player, the county FA and the FA.

“In any case where (1) the FA does not approve a player’s application to participate in matches in the women’s game following a match observation, or (2) the FA reasonably considers on the ground of (A) safety to competitors and/or (B) fairness of competition that it might be necessary to withdraw a player’s eligibility to participate in matches in the women’s game having previously granted such eligibility under this policy, the player or the FA may refer the matter to the FA’s Transgender and Non-Binary Eligibility Committee for determination.”

Players’ medical records of hormone therapy have to be verified at least annually, before the start of each season, “and more often at the FA’s discretion”, according to the rules.

There are no transgender women playing in or even close to the elite level in England. It is understood that if this changes, the FA would seek advice from Fifa — however the policy of world football’s governing body is also around reduced testosterone levels, rather than a full ban.

In September Sutton United women’s team postponed their fixture against Ebbsfleet United after the club were criticised for signing a transgender goalkeeper, Blair Hamilton. Sutton’s manager, Lucy Clark, was the first openly trans referee before her appointment by the club in January 2024.

There have been no cases to date of transgender women wishing to play in professional or international women’s football.

The new FA policy follows a lengthy review and has been drawn up with input from two KCs. The FA is understood to wish to promote inclusion as a priority but to be able to intervene when there are concerns.

In November there was a protest against the FA’s transgender policy outside Wembley before the England men’s match against Ireland in response to a 17-year-old girl being banned for two matches over remarks she made to a transgender opponent in a grassroots match. She was sanctioned after she was found to have repeatedly asked a transgender opponent during a match: “Are you a man?”

Last month the FA’s chief executive, Mark Bullingham, said the governing body was “in the right place” with its transgender eligibility policy. “We do continue to look at areas that we might refine,” he added.

— The bill — H.R. 734 (118), the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023 — was introduced by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) several times, but was taken up by the House Education and Workforce Committee for the first time last week in a 16-hour markup. It would amend Title IX, the federal education law that bars sex-based discrimination, to define sex as based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.

— The measure was recommended by the committee in a vote on party lines and is now primed for a vote on the House floor. While H.R. 5 (118), the Parents Bill of Rights Act, cleared the committee the same day and is slated for a vote in two weeks, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s office said they haven’t made any announcements on when they will take up the sports bill for a vote. House Republicans are expected to pass the bill with their slim majority, but it’s not likely that the Democrat-controlled Senate will allow the bill to move.

— The legislation will be a way for the GOP to force Democrats to go on record with their support for transgender students to play sports, a key part of the GOP’s 2022 midterm policy agenda. It is also a direct rebuke of the Biden administration’s proposed Title IX rule, which seeks to codify protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Education Department is expected to unveil its final rule in May, though it said it would make a separate rule for sports.

— Meanwhile, West Virginia has decided to appeal a stay on its transgender sports law to the Supreme Court, marking the first opportunity for the high court to weigh in on the issue. “West Virginians and the American people are animated,” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said at a Thursday press conference. “They know this is a matter of basic, common sense and basic fairness. We believe we’re absolutely correct on the merits. And I know that there’s always a debate as to when you go up to the high court, but … we think it’s justified to make sure that the law that was put in place by the legislature, reflecting the will of the voters, gets back in place very, very quickly.”

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BONAMICI’S BILL OF RIGHTS — Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) introduced her Bill of Rights for Students and Parents, a Democratic response to the GOP’s Parents Bill of Rights, which is headed to the House floor for a vote in two weeks. “Parental involvement is critical to developing and sustaining high-quality public schools, and we must do all we can to involve parents and break down barriers that prevent or discourage participation,” Bonamici said in a statement.

— The bill, which is supported by dozens of education groups including the National PTA, outlines that a student “should be able to receive a well-rounded education,” and parents and families “should be able to collaborate effectively” with their children’s teachers. Additionally, it dictates that public schools should be “responsive and inclusive,” students should be able to learn in environments “free from all forms of discrimination,” and all students should “receive an education that is historically accurate, reflects the diversity of our nation, and prepares students to think critically and participate actively in a representative democracy.”

— House Republicans unveiled their “Parents Bill of Rights” earlier this month. It would require mandates for school districts to offer teacher-parent meetings, publicly disclose budget materials and allow parents to address the school board — things that are already present in many schools across the country.

— “The previously introduced ‘Parent Bill of Rights’, HB5, completely misses the mark and has discriminatory undertones that distract us from the seriousness of this moment,” the National Parents Union said in a statement. “Pitting parents against parents, parents against teachers, and adults against students does nothing to move us forward.”

BIDEN BUDGET FALLS FLAT WITH CHARTERS — President Joe Biden has proposed a $440 million budget for federal charter school grants, irking advocates after consecutive years of flat funding, Juan reports. The flat funding is a problem for charter boosters concerned about rising inflation that cuts the buying power of nearly half a billion dollars and higher interest rates that swell borrowing costs to pay for facilities.

— The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is asking Congress to approve $500 million for the programs. “We are disappointed that President Biden is proposing flat funding [for] the vital Charter Schools Program, which has been level funded by Congress since FY2019,” said Nina Rees, the alliance’s president and CEO, in a statement on Friday.

— But charter supporters are also praising a renewed department proposal to bring “greater flexibility” to how the program’s funds are spent. The department’s budget pitch notes a request for flexibility to “adjust” federal charter spending “in response to demand across the program components.” Similar language has also appeared in prior year charter program budget proposals.

— “As in past years, this year’s budget will again include a request of Congress to provide greater flexibility to the Department in its allocation of funds under the multiple authorities provided in ESSA’s Charter School Program,” a department spokesperson told POLITICO in a statement. “The Department is interested in utilizing this flexibility to ensure it can efficiently respond to demand for federal funds from the charter school community.”

PROMISE IN DUAL ENROLLMENT — More high schoolers are taking dual enrollment courses, which allow them to take their classes and simultaneously apply the credits toward a diploma and an associate degree. And while Biden’s college affordability agenda has stalled on Capitol Hill, the two-for-one special could cut the cost of college for many teens as the programs grow in popularity.

— It’s also helping community colleges shore up their enrollment. The two-year institutions saw a 12 percent spike this academic year in these programs. The resulting uptick in dual enrollment students has spurred a small increase in overall community college attendees from the last academic year — a much needed boost after those institutions faced the worst enrollment plunges due to the pandemic.

— Governors in Arizona and Florida, and elsewhere, have been pushing to expand dual enrollment options as a way to streamline the path from high school to the workforce or quicken the path to a bachelor’s degree. Nearly all states have dual enrollment policies.

— Dual enrollment also provides access to courses in welding and other hands-on technical education to help high schoolers build skills that they can apply to a job or a certificate, a path Republicans in Congress have long touted as an alternative to a traditional college.

— Last week, Biden urged Congress to fund what his administration called the Career-Connected High Schools initiative, which would dole out $200 million for programs that align high school and college by expanding access to dual enrollment, work-based learning and college and career advising for students in high school.

CAL’S NOISE COMPLAINT — The People’s Park, a park near UC Berkeley that once hosted iconic protests against the Vietnam War, is now at the center of another public furor: loud parties, POLITICO’s Blake Jones and Matthew Brown report. The university, a state appellate court found, failed to account for “excessive noise” when it considered the environmental effects of building housing for 1,100 students in a park abutting a residential neighborhood.

— The neighborhood group that filed the lawsuit pointed to hundreds of complaints to the city about student parties and even hired a “noise expert” to describe the role of college partying in undergraduate life.

— UC Berkeley might still get the project at People’s Park built, but the legal challenge has set construction back months, if not years. The court ruling — based on a 1970 state environmental law meant to serve as a check on rampant development — has injected new uncertainty into housing plans at California’s public university campuses, many of which are in dire need of housing amid a yearslong expansion.

— Justice Teri L. Jackson worried aloud during oral arguments about a “great deal of social implications” that could stem from a broad reading of environmental rules on noise. But, she said, she was constrained by the law. “Noise is noise,” she said.

— School district sued over handling of student’s pledge of allegiance protest: The New York Times

— Arizona launches hotline for public to report ‘inappropriate’ school lessons: CNN

— WA college-going rate dropped sharply during pandemic: The Seattle Times

— Republicans race to outdo each other on education: The Hill

— Texas families would get $8,000 in tax dollars to send students to private school in sweeping ‘parental rights’ bill backed by Lt. Gov.: The Texas Tribune

The law banning gender affirming treatments prohibits doctors from providing any health care to minors in order “to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex,” that is, the minor’s sex assigned at birth. The law bans the use of puberty blockers and hormone treatments to treat gender dysphoria’s underlying cause, but does not ban the drugs’ use for other treatments.

As of last June over a dozen states were implementing or considering such laws, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The World Health Organization, American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and American Psychiatric Association all endorse gender-affirming care as an effective treatment for gender dysphoria among minors. There isn’t any scientific basis for the attack on gender-affirming care, only a religious one, which is entirely unconstitutional.

The ban will force children who take the medication to stop doing so by March 31, 2024.

The bill was mostly approved along party lines, with the exception of the Tennessee House, where three right-wing Democrats voted for the legislation, including Representative Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis). Parkinson attempted to put the blame on voters, claiming, “My constituents didn’t want it. It’s pretty simple, pretty straightforward. My constituents were like, ‘let these children be children.’ Let them grow up and make that adult decision when they become adults.”

The ban on drag is part and parcel of the demonization of trans people, with the law aiming at legitimizing the far-right claim that drag queens are “grooming” children. At least seven other states are considering similar bans on drag performances, according to PEN America.

Both pieces of legislation followed right-wing propaganda revolving around Vanderbilt Medical Center, where far-right commentators falsely claimed that doctors were performing genital surgeries on minors.

A group of U.S. lawmakers last month met with a prominent transgender activist in Japan while they were in the country.

U.S. Reps. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and French Hill (R-Ark.) met with Fumino Sugiyama, a former member of Japan’s female fencing team who is now fighting for legal recognition of trans people in Japan. The D.C.-based Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, which organized the congressional delegation that also included a trip to South Korea, arranged the meeting.

“Members of the delegation were very, very impressed with Fumino,” Takano told the Washington Blade last week during a telephone interview.

Frost, who is the first Gen Z’er elected to Congress, on Feb. 24 in a series of tweets praised Fumino and his advocacy efforts.

“One of my favorite meetings in Tokyo was meeting with trans organizer and activist, Fumino Sugiyama,” tweeted Frost. “Japan is still working through passing real anti-discrimination laws to protect LGBTQ+ folks and I felt incredibly inspired by Fumino and his fight.”

“He laid out the struggle and how the community is battling both legal and cultural roadblocks to even be recognized,” said Frost. “I spoke with him about the current fight in Florida and how Gov. DeSantis is targeting LGBTQ+ kids.”

Frost also said he is “working on setting up a virtual meeting between Fumino and a student activists in Florida.”

“I think his story can provide some inspiration for the struggle here,” he said.

He laid out the struggle & how the community is battling both legal & cultural roadblocks to even be recognized. I spoke with him about the current fight in Florida & how Gov. DeSantis is targeting LGBTQ+ kids. pic.twitter.com/vl2Oxb9vEm

— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@MaxwellFrostFL) February 25, 2023

The trip began on Feb. 20 and ended on Feb. 26.

Takano arrived in Japan before the trip began.

The openly gay man of Japanese descent visited Pride House Tokyo, the country’s first permanent LGBTQ and intersex community center that opened ahead of the 2021 Summer Olympics that took place in Tokyo. 

Takano participated in a “fireside chat” with LGBTQ and intersex Japanese people and expatriots, and met with a Goldman Sachs executive who he said is one of the few prominent people in the country who is out.

“Japan is still, pretty much I would say a ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ society, but unlike the United States, Japan as a whole does not have violent homophobia where people are beat up or gay bashed or that kind of thing,” said Takano. “There is harassment and bullying in the schools. People face discomfort in the workplace and … until now it’s not like a coming out kind of society, but it’s not a place where (homosexuality is) criminalized and people suffer violence.”

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel also invited Takano to attend a reception with members of the Japanese Diet (legislature)’s LGBT Caucus. (Takano noted to the Blade that none of them are openly LGBTQ or intersex.)

“I got a great sense of where things were, the state of play of this question of nondiscrimination language,” said Takano.

警察官、教師、議員などの公職者。LGBTQI+コミュニティーは多彩であり、みな家族です。そして頼れる存在です。日本は世界的にインクルージョンを擁護しています。連邦議会の議員平等幹部会で共同議長を務めるマーク・タカノ下院議員と共に、日本の国会が民意を反映し、差別に反対すると信じています。 https://t.co/tVDblU0OV1

— ラーム・エマニュエル駐日米国大使 (@USAmbJapan) February 17, 2023

The trip began less than a month after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s top aide, Masayoshi Arai, told reporters that he would “not want to live next door” to a same-sex couple and he does “not even want to look at them.” Arai also said marriage equality in Japan would “change the way society is” and “quite a few people would abandon this country.”

Kishida fired Arai.

The prime minister on Feb. 17 apologized for Arai’s comments during a meeting with Pride House Tokyo President Gon Matsunaka and other LGBTQ and intersex activists. Kishida on Feb. 28 nevertheless said he does not feel the lack of marriage rights for same-sex couples in Japan is discriminatory.

Members of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party this week introduced a marriage equality bill in the Diet lower house. 

Takano noted 20 members of the “hardline” Abe faction of Kishida’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe led before his 2022 assassination remain the main stumbling block to marriage equality and efforts to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Takano stressed, however, the activists with whom he spoke in Japan welcome the increased attention around these issues.

“The fact that he’s having to comment on marriage equality is indicative of the Japanese media focusing attention on LGBT issues,” he said, referring to Kishida. “The sense among Japanese queer activists is that keeping the LGBT issue, or LGBT issues on the front page is very much something that works to their advantage.”

Takano further acknowledged Arai’s comments and reaction to them has sparked a renewed debate about LGBTQ and intersex rights in the country.

“He (Arai) really hasn’t suffered a huge consequence for those remarks,” said Takano, noting Arai remains in his post with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. “The question in Japan right now is will they just enact a law that is symbolic and checks the box, or will they advance substantive LGBT nondiscrimination protections.”

Takano referenced a Kyodo News poll that indicates 65 percent of people in Japan support legal protections for LGBTQ and intersex people. This figure increases to 80 percent among young people.

“It’s no wonder the activists are saying keep this in the news,” he said.

Takano was with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) when she led a congressional delegation to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore last summer. Takano led a congressional delegation to Japan in November 2021.

“Japan plays such a key role in the Indo-Pacific as America’s most vital ally,” he said. “Japan moving forward in this area of LGBT rights and equality, I believe, will be highly consequential to progress in Asia as a whole.” 

The recent controversy related to transgender policies in Virginia schools made its way into a congressional race in Northern Virginia as the two candidates weighed in with their thoughts on the issue Sunday night.

“That right belongs to the parents,” said Republican Hung Cao.

Cao is challenging Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton in next month’s election in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, which includes Loudoun County and parts of Fairfax and Prince William counties.

---

---

Cao said he agreed with Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed policy changes for the treatment of transgender students, which would require parental signoff on the use of any name or pronoun other than what’s in a student’s official record.

“A school can’t even give a kid an aspirin, but you’re saying that school can decide what sex your child is?” Cao said.

During a debate Sunday, Wexton told Cao that she believed Youngkin was using transgender students as “political pawns.”

“This is an extremely vulnerable population,” Wexton said. “Those kids could be vilified even further.”

Youngkin’s proposed changes say that student participation in certain school programming and use of school facilities, such as bathrooms or locker rooms, should be based on their biological sex, with modifications offered only to the extent required under federal law.

The proposal, which is currently open for public comment, marks a sharp departure to guidance that was first issued in 2021 during Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration.

Those guidelines said that schools should let students use names and gender pronouns that reflect their gender identity without “any substantiating evidence.”

Youngkin’s proposal led to protests last week, with student activists holding a number of school walkouts.

Aerial footage from a news helicopter showed hundreds of students protesting outside two Prince William County high schools.

Protests involving hundreds of students took place elsewhere across Northern Virginia and in the Richmond and Hampton Roads regions.

At McLean High School, more than 300 students walked out of classes, chanting, “Trans rights are human rights,” and, “D-O-E (Department of Education), leave us be!”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the president of the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party, was reprimanded on Wednesday by the parliamentary ethics committee for statements he made about transgender people.

During a PiS rally in the central town of Wloclawek in June, Kaczynski said transgender identity is absurd from the point of view of traditional values and common sense.

In particular he argued that according to the left-wing “it is possible to say ‘now, until half-past five, I used to be a man, and now I’m a woman’ and ask your boss or workmates to now address you with female pronouns, which is weird and they should have treatment.”

On Wednesday, the chairwoman of the parliamentary ethics committee, Monika Falej from the New Left party, told PAP that “MP Jaroslaw Kaczynski was reprimanded… for the shameful mockery of transgender people. He violated the good name of the Sejm (the lower house – PAP).”

“It is a disgrace for the chairman of the ruling party to behave scandalously and mock Polish women and men,” she added.

A reprimand is the highest form of penalty the ethics committee can impose on an MP.