Sexual identity and militant identity: models of political representation in the origins of Argentine GLTTB activism

Abstract

Both academic and activist actors have debated recently about different stages in the emergence of 'sexual politics' in contemporary Argentina, focusing particularly on the range of ideological affiliations among early homosexual militants. Based on the biographies of two militants regarded as emblems of GLTTB (gay, lesbian, transvestite, transsexual and bisexual) leadership, this article describes the types of resources - social, intellectual, militant, and professional - invested by those involved in the foundation of that movement. The ways homosexual identities were represented helps to understand how a homosexual subject was constituted as focus of demands of State guarantees, which eventually came to provide support to actors whose legitimating repertoire is fundamentally based on the defense of rights.