In 2012, a pioneering law was passed in Argentina that allows people to choose their gender by filling out a form and “without the need to undergo a medical procedure.” This law also made access to hormonal treatments and gender reassignment surgery available through the public health system. Such a legal shift paved the way for Argentina to emerge as a regional leader of progress on  elevating gender issues in public life.

One of the most popular high schools in Buenos Aires, the Mariano Acosta, has approved the use of gender-neutral language, as has the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires. The city is also home to Mocha Celis, the first high school in the world specifically for transgender people, which opened in 2012. The Argentine Congress is debating a bill to make gender-neutral language mandatory in parliamentary proceedings. Also, major hospitals are creating separate wards for trans people.

Lizy Tagliani and Florencia Trinidad, two prominent TV anchors in Argentina, are transgender. And in 2018, Argentina’s most popular soap, “100 días para enamorarse” (“100 Days to Fall in Love”), focused on the storyline of a transgender teenager going through their transition.

Though statistics for the overall population aren’t available, official figures show that, since 2012, approximately 16 minors in Argentina change their gender every year. In 2013, a 6-year-old called Lourdes became the first minor in the world whose gender change was accepted formally on her national identification card without her having to undergo a surgical procedure. But the gains for Argentina’s trans community extend beyond those who have changed their gender.

Only Belgium, Ireland, Malta, Norway and Portugal have trans identity laws as far-reaching as Argentina’s. Since 2012, Bolivia, Uruguay and Venezuela have allowed persons to change their gender after physical and psychological assessments. In Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, adults are now eligible for a gender change. In 2018 Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court ruled that a transgender person has the right to change their official name and sex without the need of surgery or professional evaluation, just by self-declaration of their psychosocial identity.

Discrimination is still present: At least 17 trans people were killed in Argentina in 2018, according to the Observatorio Nacional de Crímenes de Odio LGBT, an organization that documents abuses against the LGBTQ community. Deep-seated discrimination also translates into limited employment opportunities, with most trans people surviving by sex work.

At one of Buenos Aires’ largest public hospitals, eight women sit in a circle. With the sound of birds in the background announcing the arrival of summer, each woman reads a short essay out loud. Masilla goes first, emphasizing key words as she looks around the circle, as if assessing the others’ reactions. When she finishes, the other women applaud and congratulate her. She then goes back to the hospital room she shares with a dozen patients, all trans women.

Before the 2012 law was passed, hospitalized trans women were forced to share rooms with men. Many say they were abused and discriminated against by other patients and by health professionals who called them by their birth names rather than their chosen names. In a 2014 study, 40% of trans Argentines surveyed said they avoided seeking health care because of fears of mistreatment.

Just before the crucial 2012 law was passed, Jesica Gómez and other trans women who had faced similar problems in hospitals decided to change things. They visited trans patients, bathed them and brought them clothes, makeup and magazines. They also trained doctors and nurses on how to treat trans patients.

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Masilla dropped out of high school because she was abused and bullied by her classmates and teachers. But today she sees change happening all around her. “I see that there are more trans women working in areas that before were unthinkable — assistants, teachers, nurses,” Masilla says. “This world is becoming more and more like the one I’ve always imagined [it] should be.” She feels there’s less discrimination on the streets today.

Masilla says the next battle is to tackle entrenched biases in the job market. “Today, a trans woman doesn’t have to be a sex worker or a stylist. Today, we can be anything,” she tells me, folding her handwritten essay. “We just need a chance.”

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