In a context where discrimination and exclusion continue to be a reality for Bolivia’s LGBTQ community, Casa Trans Pamela Valenzuela stands as a refuge and comprehensive support center for transgender people.

Casa Trans since it opened in 2022 has provided essential services that go beyond simple housing, offering legal, medical, psychological, and food assistance.

Located in the San Pedro neighborhood of La Paz, the national capital, Casa Trans opens each day, offering a soup kitchen where clients can prepare their own food. Anyone in need of a meal is welcome, although its main objective is to assist trans women and men.

Luna Humérez, president of the Organización de Travestis, Transgéneros y Transexuales Femeninas (Otraf) in Bolivia and director of Casa Trans, told the Washington Blade the project began to address needs the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated. Many trans people found themselves homeless and without means to support themselves because of the loss of informal jobs or sex work.

Support from the Global Fund allowed Humérez and other activists to create a space that offers free food and shelter.

“What inspired the creation of the Casa Trans was post-COVID,” explained Humérez. “You know that in COVID there were many problems with the trans community, especially the Latino trans community, because they were doing sex work, they lived on a daily basis, they lived in rents, they could not go out to work. So, many suffered from housing and food issues. So, the creation of the Casa Trans was to mitigate a little and help the trans population with free food from Monday to Friday.”

The activist said the assistance that Casa Trans has been able to offer has expanded.

“The spaces have been expanded, a multidisciplinary care team has been expanded, from a social worker, a psychologist, an endocrinologist, a general practitioner, a legal advisor, a lawyer and the peer-to-peer work that we do,” said Humérez.

“The space has evolved too much and we are attending more and more cases and helping more and more people. And not only LGBT people, but also people in vulnerable situations,” she added.

LGBTQ people in Bolivia continue to face significant challenges in health, education, employment, and housing, despite some legal and social advances.

The First Virtual Survey of the country’s LGBTQ community, which the Ombudsman’s Office and the National Institute of Statistics conducted, found more than 60 percent of respondents said they have faced discrimination at some point in their lives. This mistreatment includes verbal and physical violence and exclusion in the workforce and the education system.

Thirty-three percent of respondents also said they do not have any type of health care; with sexual minorities and trans women the most vulnerable. Sixty-five percent of respondents said they do not know how to access Bolivia’s Unified Health System.

Humérez pointed out that “legislation in Bolivia and the rights of trans people have been improving over the years.”

“We have had a leftist government that, although it has done some things such as the Gender Identity Law and the Anti-discrimination Law, they have not been enough,” Humérez told the Blade. “At the moment the trans population in Bolivia does not have all the rights as the cisgender population. So, at this moment we are cut off from many things and we think it is important that we must keep fighting and fighting so that the state can recognize our full rights without any restrictions.”

Humérez said it is important for LGBTQ activists to participate in elections that will take place this year.

“I think it is important that we must be political actors in these new elections that are coming this year,” she said.

Casa Trans struggles to secure funding

Casa Trans not only offers a roof and food; but legal advice, specialized medical care in the transition process, psychological support, and job training opportunities. A multidisciplinary team — a lawyer, a social worker, a psychologist, and an endocrinologist — works to provide these services. Casa Trans also arranges scholarships for colleagues who wish to study at a university or technical institute.

“The challenges are complicated because we do not have direct funding,” said Humérez, who noted those who work with Casa Trans are volunteers.

She said U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze nearly all American foreign aid will make efforts to secure enough funding for Casa Trans even more difficult.

“Now with Donald Trump becoming president of the United States, I believe that many things will become more difficult, not only in the United States, but this will also affect the countries of the region, Latin America, among others,” said Humérez. “So, for us it is important that we have financial support so that our work can continue because the work we do is very important.”

The existence and work of the Pamela Valenzuela Trans House highlights the urgency of addressing the inequalities and discrimination faced by the LGBTQ community in Bolivia.

Argentine President Javier Milei on Feb. 5 issued a decree that restricts minors’ access to gender-affirming surgeries and hormone treatments.

Human rights organizations and LGBTQ groups have condemned the edict that modifies Argentina’s landmark Gender Identity Law.

The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association for Latin America and the Caribbean (ILGALAC) and ILGA World have condemned the decree, noting it “imposes severe restrictions on the right to gender identity of trans and non-binary people, particularly young people.” They further state the restriction “ignores scientific evidence and the recommendations of international bodies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).”

The Argentine Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans (FALGBT), meanwhile, has announced it will go to court to stop the modification of the Gender Identity Law and, if necessary, will turn to international organizations. Legal experts have argued the decree is illegal and unconstitutional, and Argentina’s Supreme Court should intervene.

FALGBT President María Rachid, told the Washington Blade that “from the Argentine LGBT Federation we are filing a declaration of unconstitutionality for this DNU (the Spanish acronym for Necessary and Urgent Decree), because we consider that the president is begging for legislative powers that do not correspond to him. That law was approved by a wide majority in both chambers, where specialists of medicine, of law went to expose concrete research on these issues.”

“On the other hand, we are also going to file injunctions, both collective and individual, to defend the rights of trans children and adolescents, mainly,” said Rachid. “It is not true what he (Milei) says to justify this absolute intrusion to legislative powers, saying that 5-year-old children are mutilated. This is not true. Genital reassignment operations are performed after the age of 18, even by medical indication.”

This decree is in addition to other measures of Milei’s government that affect the LGBTQ community, such as the prohibition of gender-affirming treatments and surgeries for minors and limits on housing transgender women in female prisons.These actions have generated controversy and concern among human rights advocates and international organizations.

“President Javier Milei, since he took office, has been carrying out a series of measures that directly affect the vast majority of formal and informal workers in Argentina, and the LGBTIQNB population is no exception,” said Ornella Infante, a trans woman who is a national leader of the leftist Evita Movement. “In addition to the hate speeches that multiply violence; it is a class hatred to sectors with organizational and mobilization capacity such as women, unions, social movements, and sexual diversity.”

“It is exposed with the dismissals of LGBT people from national agencies, the definition of gender policies, the closure of INADI, a state agency that worked to eradicate discrimination in the country,” added Infante. “All of this directly affects vulnerable populations and painfully shows that it is part of their government’s ideals to end human rights policies.”

ILGA World has urged the international community, human rights organizations and democratic institutions to speak out against these measures and to demand the repeal of the decree, calling it “an abuse of executive power and a blow to democratic institutionality.”

Millions of people in Buenos Aires and across Argentina participated in marches against President Javier Milei in response to his controversial comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The Buenos Aires march, led by LGBTQ, women’s and human rights organizations in Argentina, shaped up to be one of the largest demonstrations against Milei since he became president in December 2023. The mobilization is a direct response to Milei’s disparaging comments about feminism, LGBTQ rights, and other progressive movements.

Milei called “wokism” and “gender ideology” harmful during his Jan. 23 speech at the World Economic Forum, even comparing them to pedophilia. These statements sparked outrage across Argentina with protesters demanding the defense of human rights and equality.

María Rachid, president of the Argentine LGBT+ Federation, told the Washington Blade on Sunday “the march was massive, a strong message to President Milei putting a limit to hatred, discrimination and violence.”

“Argentine society built the values of respect for diversity, equality, and true freedom and yesterday it came out to defend them with massive demonstrations throughout the country and in many cities around the world,” said Rachid. “We are proud of what we were able to build because although they want to destroy it, it is already part of the heart of Argentine society.”

The Buenos Aires march began at the National Congress and ended at the Casa Rosada, the seat of the country’s presidency. Thousands of demonstrators, many with rainbow flags and banners that read “rights are not negotiable,” expressed their strong rejection of Milei’s policies.

Gay Congressman Esteban Paulón highlighted to the Blade “the call for the march was impressive.” 

“I think it exceeded any forecast, not only because of the massiveness in the City of Buenos Aires, where it is estimated more than a million people, but also because of the massiveness in the 150 cities in which it was held throughout the country,” he said. “The truth is that it was a very, very big march in Rosario, in Córdoba, in Santa Fe, in Mar del Plata, in Bariloche, in the north, in Salta.” 

“There was no expectation that it would be so, so massive, beyond the one in Buenos Aires, which had had an important call, an important visibility, which had added several actors,” added Paulón.

Sofía Díaz, a transgender woman who worked as a civil servant before Milei’s administration fired her, marched in Corrientes, a city in Chaco province.

“After President Milei’s speeches in Davos, the next day we started texting each other on WhatsApp,” she said, referring to public employees at the national level. “We were really afraid of what he had said.” 

Activists around the world expressed solidarity with their Argentine counterparts.

Marches took place in cities around the world — including in Santiago, Chile; Montevideo, Uruguay; Rio de Janeiro; São Paulo; Mexico City; London; Madrid; Amsterdam; Berlin; Geneva; Paris; New York; Lisbon, Portugal; and the Spanish cities of Barcelona and Granada.

The Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation, a Chilean LGBTQ rights group, on Feb. 1 organized a march to the Argentine Embassy. Activists delivered a letter that expressed solidarity with the LGBTQ community and repudiated Milei’s policies against it.