Editor’s note: Washington Blade International News Editor Michael K. Lavers will be on assignment in Argentina through April 12.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — A group of Argentine transgender activists with whom the Blade spoke on April 4 said President Javier Milei’s policies have made their community even more vulnerable to violence, discrimination, and poverty.

“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.”

American far-right evangelical organizations fund African MPs and religious groups and support their advocacy efforts against homosexuality.

The support for the two influential groups on the continent has contributed to increased homophobic rhetoric for conservative family values through religious teachings and public policy. Open for Business, a coalition of leading global organizations that champion LGBTQ inclusion, revealed this trend in its latest report that surveyed the East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda.

“The anti-LGBTQ+ agenda driven by Christian groups in Kenya and Uganda has received significant funding and support from foreign anti-rights groups, particularly from U.S. far-right evangelical organizations,” the report states.

The two nations, along with Tanzania, have had heightened curtailing of queer rights in recent years through legislation and religious protests. Homosexuality remains criminalized in the three countries, with varied jail terms of not less than 10 years.

“There is much misinformation and disinformation being circulated in Kenya about LGBTQ+ issues — churches are behind much of this, and they leverage selective interpretations of religious teachings to stir up anti-rights sentiments,” the report reads.  

It adds religious groups have attained greater influence with their homophobic campaigns under President William Ruto, who is Kenya’s first evangelical Christian head of state.

The American far-right evangelical churches are part of the New York-based World Evangelical Alliance, whose global believers are considered “incredibly diverse and vibrant people of faith.”

“They are bound together by spiritual convictions that they consider ‘non-negotiable’ while acknowledging a wide variety of expressions in non-essential matters such as their style of worship,” the Rev. Leon Morris, the founder member and former chairman of Evangelical Alliance of Victoria, states on WEA’s website.  

The religious groups under the Kenya Christian Forum, in partnership with Linda Uhai Consortium (or Protect Life in Swahili) composed of pro-life organizations, late last month held their annual march in Nairobi, the country’s capital. Opposition to LGBTQ rights was among the agenda items.

Some anti-homosexuality placards that march participants held read, “Homosexuality is abnormal,” “Rainbow belongs to God,” “No to Western cultural imperialism, yes to family values,” and “In the beginning God made them; male and female.” The organizers also criticized the Kenyan courts over their recent rulings in favor of the queer community, such as allowing the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission to register as a non-governmental organization.

The African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Values and Sovereignty is a caucus of African MPs that American far-right evangelical organizations support to drive anti-LGBTQ policies in their countries.  

The group held its second conference in Entebbe, Uganda, last May. The definition of sex and sexuality and their impact on LGBTQ issues were among the topics that delegates from more than 20 countries discussed.

The three-day conference that Ugandan Parliament Speaker Anitah Among and Henk Jan Van Scothorst, director of the Christian Council International, sought to curb homosexuality. The delegates also resolved to have the African Caribbean Pacific and European Union Economic Partnership, also known as the Samoa agreement, reviewed for undermining the sovereignty of African governments over LGBTQ rights and related “human rights” issues.

The far-left government officials and queer lobby groups from the U.K. and other Western countries, meanwhile, are engaging with LGBTQ activists in Africa to counter American evangelical organizations’ anti-homosexuality campaigns.

British officials, led by Equalities Minister Nia Griffith, in February met with Sexual Minorities Uganda Executive Director Frank Mugisha and Erick Mundia, a senior policy advisor for Ipas Africa Alliance, a Kenya-based abortion rights advocacy group.

“As part of our Queering Atrocity Prevention program, which seeks to center LGBTQI+ rights and risks as part of atrocity prevention and wider peace and security, our team held a parliamentary roundtable exploring the implications of transnational far-right organizing for global LGBTQI+ rights and how the UK parliament can respond,” the statement reads.  

Klara Wertheim, head of global programs at Stonewall, and Farida Mostafa, queering atrocity prevention manager of Protection Approaches, were among the other representatives of queer rights organizations who participated in the roundtable with highlighted “the implications of transitional far-right activity for global LGBTQI+ rights.”

“Discussions with MPs, Lords, parliamentary staff and civil society representatives centered on tactics used by far-right actors to disrupt democratic rights-based systems,” reads the statement. “The impacts of these malign efforts on sexual and gender-based rights in the UK and abroad, and how parliamentary actors can contribute to stemming these trends in their parliamentary work.”  

Bandy Kiki, a Cameroonian LGBTQ activist and media personality who currently lives in the U.K., has married Jenny, her Nigerian partner.

Kiki, who came out as gay in 2017, said in a March 25 post that she had become “Ijaw by marriage.”

Ijaw is a tribe in Nigeria from where Jenny originates.

“For many people, celebrating love is expected, even assumed. But for those of us in the LGBTQ+ community, it is often questioned, as though our love needs justification,” Kiki told the Washington Blade in an exclusive interview.

And hers has been a journey of resilience, healing, and authenticity.

In this exclusive interview, Kiki shares her story as a gay person growing up in a Cameroonian society that considered, and still considers gay relationships as fundamentally flawed, and patently sinful.

“Facing societal perceptions and expectations required both resilience and self-discovery,” she said.

“In the beginning, it felt like I was constantly being asked to justify my identity, my relationship, and even my joy. There were moments of doubt, isolation, and deep frustration,” Kiki told the Blade.

“Over time, I have grown more confident in who I am. I have found community, chosen family, and a sense of self that no longer depends on anyone else’s approval.”

Here are some excerpts of the conversation.

BLADE: What inspired you to take this step and celebrate your love openly, despite the prevalent social and cultural stigmas about gays in your country of origin, Cameroon?

KIKI: When I was asked why I chose to celebrate my love openly, I couldn’t help but wonder: Would I be asked that if I weren’t queer? For many people, celebrating love is expected, even assumed. But for those of us in the LGBTQ+ community, it is often questioned, as though our love needs justification.

Coming from a culture where being LGBTQ+ is still heavily stigmatized, I spent a long time feeling like I had to hide or shrink parts of myself just to be accepted. That is why marrying my partner is not just about legal rights. It is about joy, truth, and visibility. It is about showing that our love is just as real, just as deserving, and just as worth celebrating as anyone else’s. It is about healing and choosing courage over fear.

BLADE: What does this marriage mean to you personally and culturally?

KIKI: Marriage is a fundamental human right for everyone of marriageable age, regardless of their sexuality. It is not just a legal bond but the quiet vow to grow old with someone, not by the accident of time but by choice, every day. Culturally, I see marriage as the coming together of families or the beginning of one.

BLADE: How did your love story with your partner begin?

KIKI: Our love story began in the most modern way. We met online. I was not expecting much, but from our very first conversation, something just felt easy. She quickly picked up on one thing about me. I talk about food a lot. I mean, a lot. Especially about how much I had been craving Waakye, one of my favorite Ghanaian meals.

Immediately after our first date at a restaurant, which went incredibly well, she asked me to come to her house for a surprise. Naturally, my mind wandered to certain possibilities. But when I got there, she brought out a big bag filled with takeaway bowls of Waakye she had ordered, just because I had mentioned it in passing.

In that moment, I knew this was something special. This was not just about food. It was about being heard. It was about someone who listened to what I said and cared enough to remember it. That simple gesture told me everything. She paid attention. She took action. She showed love not just in words but in thoughtful details.

That was the moment she had my full attention. And honestly, she has had it ever since.

BLADE: Describe your life at home?

KIKI: We are both women, and our marriage does not operate on traditional gender roles. There is no “husband” or “wife” in lesbian relationships, regardless of how either partner presents herself in terms of fashion or style. In our marriage, we are equal partners who show up for each other in the ways that feel right for us. I love food and I am the better cook, so I do the cooking. My wife handles the cleaning, which works perfectly because I genuinely dislike it.

BLADE: At what point in your life did it occur to you that you were more inclined to same-sex relationships, and given Cameroon’s aversion to homosexuality, how did you manage to date fellow women in those early days, and can you speak to some of the experiences you had?

KIKI: In my teens, when friends were thinking about boys, I was thinking about girls. When I finally had the courage to seek love, it was all about “understanding and response.” I would do nice things for them, hoping they would see me as more than just a friend and maybe even feel the same way about me. That way, there was always deniability if they wanted to out me. It cost me a lot in time, energy, and emotion, but in an environment like Cameroon, queer people develop different tools to cope. For the safety of those back home, I will not go into more or other details.

BLADE: How has your journey been in navigating societal perceptions and expectations?

KIKI: Honestly, it was incredibly challenging, especially right after I came out. But it has also been completely worth it. Staying in the closet might have been easier, but it would have cost me my mental health and the chance to live my truth.

Facing societal perceptions and expectations required both resilience and self-discovery. In the beginning, it felt like I was constantly being asked to justify my identity, my relationship, and even my joy. There were moments of doubt, isolation, and deep frustration.

Over time, I have grown more confident in who I am. I have found community, chosen family, and a sense of self that no longer depends on anyone else’s approval. I now accept that not everyone will understand my path, and that is okay. What matters most is that I do.

BLADE: How do you hope your story will impact others in similar situations?

KIKI: I hope my story offers comfort to those who feel alone or unseen. I want others in similar situations to know that their feelings are valid and that they are not the only ones navigating this journey. Even in difficult environments, there is strength in quiet resilience and there is hope in knowing that being true to yourself, even in small ways, is powerful. If someone can see themselves in my story and feel a little more understood, then sharing it will have been worth it.

BLADE: What advice would you give to individuals who may be struggling with acceptance or self-expression?

KIKI: Take your time. Your safety and well-being matter just as much as your truth. Self-acceptance is not a race. It is a process, and it is okay to go at your own pace. Seek out safe spaces, even if they are few and far between, and surround yourself with people who see and respect you. When you are ready, express yourself in ways that feel right for you, no matter how small. There is no one way to be you, and there is no shame in surviving.

Killian Ngala is a freelance journalist in Yaoundé, Cameroon.