Argentina is known as a very religious country, but that didn’t stop Iñanki Regueiro De Giacomi from fighting for a gender identity law.

Regueiro, a graduate student in the Master of Laws in American Law program at the Syracuse University College of Law, spoke in the Tolley Humanities Building to discuss the innovative gender identity law passed in Argentina in 2012.

The law prohibits the requirement of a court appeal when a person wants to legally change their gender identity, unless they are not legal adults, Regueiro said. Inmates in the prison system may now request to switch prisons according to their gender identity, he added.

The political science department and the Latino-Latin American studies program co-sponsored the event.

Regueiro, a legal activist in Argentina, said he was a part of the National Front for the Gender Identity Law. Regueiro advocates for sexual rights and disability issues because his sister has a disability and he identifies as gay. Regueiro said he helped draft the law, talked to senators on behalf of the law and participated in demonstrations for the law.

It is the first law to be de-pathologized for gender identity, meaning that a person does not have to provide any diagnosis or any medical expert approval to proceed for a gender identity change in his or her legal documents, Regueiro said.

“It’s really revolutionary,” he said.

Professor Roger Hallas, the director of SU’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies program, encouraged Regueiro to discuss the law and its significance after Hallas heard more about Regueiro’s campaigning for the passage of the law in Argentina in 2012.

“I thought this would be a perfect opportunity for the other people in the community on campus to hear about the cutting-edge law that was introduced in Argentina, which far surpasses the kinds of trans rights that have been won in the U.S.,” Hallas said.

Regueiro said the law also states that all insurance companies must provide coverage for hormones or sex-change procedures. However, some insurance companies still refuse to cover the most expensive procedures, he added.

“Gender identity is a less popular topic within the mainstream media,” Regueiro said.

The day the gender identity law passed, more media covered a “right-to-die” law that passed the same day, he added.

Regueiro said gender identity issues generate little political profit in Argentina, which is why they lack visibility in the media.

Despite the many achievements of the law’s passage, Regueiro said “the law didn’t change the reality” of institutionalized violence against the transgender community. He added that large numbers of transgender women are still involved in prostitution, due to poverty and the need to move to larger cities.

Regueiro said the next step for equality in Argentina is to legalize abortion and to advocate for intersex laws, which protect people born with sexual or reproductive anatomy that doesn’t fit the typical definition of male or female. The legal disassociation of the body and gender established in the gender identity law is extremely helpful for the intersex law movement, he said.

After the law passed, Regueiro said he and his colleagues created Double Sex, an organization of lawyers who advocate for sexual rights.

“We do legal activism, but we also provide assistance and get involved in other organizations’ struggles,” said Regueiro.

Monica Cabrera, a sophomore architecture student, said she was surprised to learn about the passage of a sexually progressive law in a religious country, such as Argentina.

Said Cabrera: “It was very interesting that it took place in a country where religion has such a strong influence, both globally and domestically, which is a difficult industry to challenge legally.”

Published on February 25, 2014 at 1:46 am

Contact Anna: almerod@syr.edu