Every year in the beginning of November, Buenos Aires brings you our LGBT Pride Parade. This annual event, Marcha del Orgullo, will take place this Saturday November 9 at Plaza de Mayo. It is an occasion not only for the LGBT community but for everyone who embraces diversity and equality in civil rights no matter your sexual orientation.
On this front, we really have something to celebrate about. Just 3 years ago, Argentina became the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage. It didn’t just stop there either. The Ley de Identidad de Genero (Gender Identity Law) was also passed in 2012, which is a big step forward in granting transgender rights. Under this law, not only sex-change surgery and therapy are now covered by both public and private health care plans, but most importantly, anyone who identifies oneself to be of a certain gender but born in the ‘wrong’ body, can now request to change his or her gender, image and birth name officially without doctors’ or judges’ approval, and also not having to go through physical changes. The recent case of a 6 years old girl, Luana, who was born physically a boy, has successfully changed her identity officially and received her new ID documents under this law.
This Saturday thousands of people from every corner of Argentina and the world will be in town to participate in this celebration. The event will kick off at 3pm at Plaza de Mayo with ceremony and music, and then the highly anticipated parade will begin at 6pm, moving from Plaza de Mayo towards Congreso. If you’d like to join in the fun, I’d highly recommend you to go early in order find yourself a good spot for the festivities.
Casey
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