The political mediation of Argentina's gender identity law: LGBT activism and rights innovation

Abstract

In 2012, Argentina enacted the most progressive gender identity rights law in the world, permitting trans people to change their legal name and gender marker without medical or judicial scrutiny and mandating full coverage of related medical procedures. Using the political mediation framework to illuminate the role of domestic activists in forging new rights, I trace the path of the bill through the policymaking process as two different LGBT coalitions pushed for its passage. I show that, in a favorable political context, the more institutionalized group played a major role in getting the issue on the agenda, while a more radical challenger coalition was crucial in developing and advancing the ground-breaking content. United together, the movement strategically dampened media coverage to have an outsize impact on passage. This case study sheds light on the emergence of LGBT rights norms and suggests ways to adapt the political mediation framework outside the United States context.