in one week, there were 100 requests across the country for the new “X” document

The word “non-binary” has become something people search Google for since 2014. But for just over a week, Argentina has appeared among the top search results.

This is because this Wednesday the first non-binary DNIs were delivered and our country became the first in the region to adopt such legislation. As is the case in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. But nowhere else in the world.

Seven days after the act carried out by Alberto Fernández at the bicentennial museum of Casa Rosada – and which experienced its minute of “controversy” – a hundred people across the country have already started asking for the new DNI ” X “.

This letter adds a third option for those who do not perceive themselves with the “M” or the “F” of the masculine and feminine gender. As happens to Dyhzy, the president’s son, who has already treated him: he prefers that he is no longer called Estanislao.

Bugle spoke to Jamaica, Eve, Lau, Fer and Evelyn to learn more about the anonymous faces behind the “X”. Those that don’t appear in Google.

From a binary story that has stagnated for 15 months in Tucumán’s justice system to one that, with sufficient caution, will not deal with the new DNI until regulatory adjustments are met in cases where the laws themselves differentiate between men and women.

The latter, under the new decree, should take place within 120 days.

A court case

Jamaica Imán Ponce was born in Jujuy, lives in San Miguel de Tucumán and is the first person in that province to apply for the new non-binary DNI. But her “odyssey”, as her lawyer, Jimena Gómez Roselló describes it to this newspaper, did not start a week ago.

From the age of 5, he began to perceive that he did not identify with the group of boys at school. Since then, all of Jamaica’s life “on paper” has been locked down until the announcement of the new DNI arrived.

I couldn’t get a credit or debit card. He couldn’t sign up for prepaid. He was unable to get the coronavirus vaccine. He could not do anything that had to do with a benefit provided by the state itself. Unless, of course, you’re okay with your document saying it’s something you don’t want. And Jamaica is not a man. She is not a woman either.

“In 2019, we started the process before the National Register of Persons (Renaper) to recognize their right to a DNI based on their non-binary trans identity. They denied it on several occasions, ”Roselló explains. It was 15 months of repeated “no”. To feel “more than undocumented”.

On June 28 of this year, they presented an amparo with urgent precautionary measure before the federal justice of Tucumán, against the Renaper and the Ministry of the Interior of the Nation, the portfolio that 7 days ago the DNI “X “was placed on his shoulder.

“I had done it so that the State ceased with the arbitrary, negligent and lazy attitude, by not providing me with any kind of response on the granting of my DNI, infringing my rights as citizens, and by consequently causing my legal personality, and my own existence as a person and subject of law, they are not recognized by the Argentine State ”, recalls Jamaica.

Before talking to Bugle Through his lawyer, he specifies that “from now on” he will stop discussing his case “in the first person”, so that this story goes beyond the limits of the individual and serves the collective. Further north of the country, where diversity is faced with more apprehensions than in other parts of the country.

In a few days, maybe this week, Jamaica will receive its non-binary ID card in Tucumán. You won’t have to come to Buenos Aires to look for it in a political event.

Like Jamaica, Evelyn Menino (29) is a non-binary person who also lives in Tucumán. But “for now” it will not process the new DNI.

“I’m happy, but I’m not going to change the registration because I live in a province where diversity is strongly criminalized, as in the north in general. From hospitals to universities, the laws are not applied at the provincial level, despite a current state, ”he explains.

Its decision is due to the fact that “the institutions are not yet ready to take note of the new DNI”. And that raises a specific scenario: “What happens if the police stop me, ask me for my DNI and, with this binary logic, you don’t come in as a man or a woman? What happens to the violence that I would suffer at that time? “

“I never felt like a man or a woman”

WhatsApp does not require him to use its service. But, all the same, Eve Soto, 26, chooses to define herself there. “Rebel, agitator (a) and revolutionaryix”. He also wants to clarify his identity. Even with a letter X.

He is originally from Morón, in the western part of the Buenos Aires suburb, and he talks with Bugle while researching your birth certificate to start the process. Before, he had already changed his name. It did not reach him.

“I have two names that I don’t like. I’ve never felt comfortable being called that. ‘Eve’ is something that makes me feel a little better. Male or female. always thought it was a social construct. Something that others impose. As I got older, I met suburbanites who were fighting for diversity, with others. It was not unique. I saw which was not. It closed on me, “he says.

Is this sufficient with the X? “It’s part of the fight won. I know the rest of the identities have yet to be recognized. Take out the ‘X’ and put all the names. Crossdressers, trans, queers, cakes. These non-binary identities deserve to be recognized. This also appears in the DNI, but we were listened to, ”continues Eve.

Pride of a document

“After the announcement of the non-binary DNI, the question quickly arose: ‘Are you going to treat it?’ I realized that I hadn’t thought about it, but I had already decided, “says Laura Capellano. She is 30 years old, lives in Lanús and is an actress. You don’t want August to pass without your ID” X “.

He has been campaigning for the gender identity law for years and sees this recognition in the Renaper as a new “flag”. But not complete.

“We have conquered a right that changes our lives forever and opens very deep debates in national and international society, as well as in our working-class neighborhoods, in the deep suburbs, in all corners of the country, where many people live. binary, this recognition contributes to visibility, the acquisition of rights and non-discrimination. This was a fundamental step so that one day all gender identities could be included in the documents, ”he notes.

Now, are you going to raise your DNI with pride? He responds with a cry: “Finally!” “When the document does not represent who we really are, everything becomes difficult: going to the doctors, doing a procedure or paying with a card. Soon I will no longer be attacked by fury, anger, every time I present my document. .. I will be proud to show my ID, my identity “.

While waiting for the DNI to get married

The north of the country is not the only point “far” from a much more experienced institutional diversity in Buenos Aires. So thinks Fer, who lives in Rawson.

They always questioned her with this “Why haven’t you changed your name?” or “Why haven’t you changed your gender?” Now they can’t tell you the same with your DNI.

“My response to previous claims was that it always seemed shocking to me to rape myself when I went from female to male on the DNI, when in reality I didn’t feel like that… I didn’t feel like a man. And as for the name, I have always used the protection of the law, where I can see myself as I want. In this case, ‘Iron’, which is neutral, ”he says.

He is 25 years old and on Monday morning, he went to the registry to do the papers. “The director of the Chubut registry called me to tell me that she has the file in hand and that a few days she calls me to warn me,” he says. She has been in a relationship for 5 years and is waiting for the new ID to request a date to get married. Your non-binary identity will also appear in this notepad.

Map of Argentina non-binary

The Province of Buenos Aires is at the forefront of the steps taken, but there were also some in the north and south of the country. “The largest number of requests, in absolute terms, is in the province of Buenos Aires. About a hundred across the country,” he explains. Bugle Santiago Rodríguez, director of the National Register of Persons (Renaper).

Only in the territory of Buenos Aires, there are 300 people waiting for the decree to rectify their document. There is no website or app to ask for it. The process promises to take less than two weeks. But first you have to perform a series of steps which take more working days and which, as of now, are not express.

“First of all, the element must be rectified within the framework of the law on gender identity, in a civil status register or in Argentina’s legal representation abroad. you have the item rectified, you must present yourself, bringing your new item and a valid DNI, to any Renaper office or civil status delegation inside, to complete the procedure, ”explains Rodríguez.

The timeframe for issuance is similar to that of any DNI procedure. Within 14 days under regular procedure, or between 24 and 96 hours under urgent procedure.

“The DNU (the decree that formalized the ‘X’ document) what it did was adapt the DNI to reflect this non-binary human reality. Non-binary people have always existed, they are not one.” new “identity. I explain this because they fight to make exist and be recognized. We believe that the nomenclatures of a DNI do not reflect or express the totality of non-binary experience, nor do they F or M do not necessarily express masculine or feminine identities at all, but it is a very important and quite daring step, ”puts in context Ricardo Vallarino, spokesperson for 100% Diversidad y Derechos.

What you should know, beyond an “X” document, is that NB (non-binary) people do not necessarily use the neutral pronoun. They can use the masculine or the feminine. Or even rock it. Pronouns are important and must be respected by law, but they are not absolutes of identity for these groups.

The same thing happens with gender expressions. “Usually it is possible to overcome something like an ‘androgynous’ or ‘neutral’ representation, but it can vary. What is happening is that these realities are often invisible or are forced to fit in because common sense is still very binary. to change thanks to the resistance and the power of the people of NB, ”says Vallarino.

Here is the part of society that even with the “X” does not feel represented. They are the ones who in the act of presenting the non-binary DNI said “We are not an X” and demand that the gender in the document not be completed. The so-called “open field”.

GL