Argentina

For over a decade, Argentina was viewed as a regional leader in terms of LGBTIQ equality and inclusion. Argentina was the first country in Latin America, in 2010, to legalize marriage equality. In 2012, it passed one of the most progressive gender identity laws in the world, allowing individuals to change their legal gender without requiring medical procedures or judicial approval. Antidiscrimination protections exist through national and provincial laws, and Argentina recognizes diverse gender identities, including nonbinary markers, in official documents. The country has also taken steps to address structural inequalities, including implementing employment quotas for trans individuals in the public sector.

However, since Javier Milei took office in December 2023, LGBTIQ organizations have documented concrete rollbacks, including the elimination of the Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity and the closure of the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism, framed within a broader surge of anti-gender rhetoric. These measures have produced an observable rollback of rights and protections and mark an official retreat from institutional commitments to equality and nondiscrimination. In February 2025, this regression deepened when Milei modified the Gender Identity Law by decree to prohibit minors from accessing gender-affirming health care, including hormone therapy and surgeries, and adopted a decree on the housing of transgender people in prisons, restricting the placement of trans women in women’s wards even after legal gender recognition. Both decrees have been denounced by human rights groups as unlawful setbacks in previously guaranteed rights.

LGBTIQ people, particularly transgender individuals, also continue to face discrimination, violence, and barriers to accessing employment, health care, and education. Civil society organizations remain vigilant, advocating for the preservation of hard-won rights and pushing for greater social acceptance and institutional support for LGBTIQ communities. There are no specific laws protecting intersex persons from infant intersex genital mutilation or other harmful medical practices. Conversion practices persist in the country, promoted by religious leaders, mental health professionals, and other public figures, and further legitimized by anti-gender groups that have been gaining ground under the current political climate.