ARGENTINA-TRANSGENDER Outcry over the killing of three transgender women in Argentina

Record ID: 135094

  • Title: ARGENTINA-TRANSGENDER Outcry over the killing of three transgender women in Argentina
  • Date: 15th October 2015
  • Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MEMBERS OF ARGENTINA'S TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY HOLDING DISCUSSIONS PRIOR TO LAW THAT ALLOWS PEOPLE TO CHANGE THEIR GENDER ON THEIR OFFICIAL IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE FROM THE TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY DEMONSTRATING OUTSIDE CONGRESS WHILE THE BILL WAS BEING ADOPTED, AND SAYING, "WE ARE WOMEN, AND WE WANT TO BE T
  • Embargoed: 30th October 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAB718GF7JH3OAXXKQK8O97IJD3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A well-known Argentine activist for the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender people (LGBTI) was found dead in her Buenos Aires apartment on Tuesday (October 13), the third transgender woman to have died violently in the country over the last month.
    Rights group Amnesty International said on Wednesday (October 13) that the body of Diana Sacayan showed signs of violence.
    President Cristina Fernandez, who in 2012 personally gave Sacayan her national identity card recognising her as a woman, joined Amnesty in calling for justice for what she termed a "murder."
    "In honour of a woman, Diana Sacayan, who was the first woman to whom I bestowed identification documents, trans (transsexual woman), who was murdered in Flores (neighbourhood in Buenos Aires), I ask for cooperation between national security forces and metropolitan (police) to quickly get to the bottom of this terrible crime," Fernandez said during a public address.
    Argentina is one of the few countries that allows people to change their gender on official identification documents.
    Latin American countries have some of the world's highest murder rates for transgender people, according to rights groups.
    Sacayan's death followed the killings of Marcela Chocobar and Coty Olmos, two transgender women whose bodies were found over the last month in the provinces of Santa Fe and Santa Cruz.
    Dozens of people held a vigil outside Argentina's Supreme Court building in solidarity with the victims. Social media lit up with messages of support for the community.
    According to Transgender Europe, which advocates for transgender people worldwide, Latin America accounted for 78 percent of the 1,731 murders of transgender and gender-diverse people reported worldwide between January 2008 and December 2014.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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