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*Homosexual Liberation Front (1973)*
Once, one of us dreamt about a place.
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It was open and full of space.
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There was an avenue called Libertad.
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Instead of exploiting one another, people loved each other.
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No-one attacked anyone
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because everyone made love with whomever they felt like.
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Adults behaved like children
and they caressed each other.
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Everyone dreams of a place like this, without oppression.
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A life worth being lived.
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With love, with true love; crazy, full love.
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Without exploitation.
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However, that dream has nothing to do with real life.
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It’s a society of oppressors and oppressed people.
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The capitalist oppresses the worker.
The father oppresses the son.
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The male oppresses the woman.
The straight oppresses the gay.
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Exploitation is perfect,
it’s perfect that women are inferior beings
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and that homosexuals have no right to exist.
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Otherwise they will be sent to jail,
to a psychiatric institution or to be shot.
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Marginalisation and silence.
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Sex and Revolution
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I was born dead.
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Doctors at that time recommended smoking
to open the lungs.
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My mom smoked a lot.
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My mom went to childbirth smoking.
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She had a problem in childbirth.
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The doctors couldn’t get me breathing.
I had no vital signs whatsoever.
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I was considered dead.
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I don’t know how long I was left like this
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but I do know that an aunt,
who was doing her residency at that clinic
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walked into the room and started slapping me
again and again until I began to cry.
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When I was nine, mum and dad split up.
I was the only child at school whose parents had separated.
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Everyone stared at me as if I had done something weird.
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And my dad, even weirder,
three months after the separation, committed suicide.
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We found out later he had kept his bipolar condition a secret.
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He acted like a teenager who would never grow up.
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I had just turned nine and my brother seven.
And my brother kind of lost it.
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From then on, his life was troubled
because he had been my father’s favourite.
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For as long as I can remember,
I have always liked men.
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I found the male body wonderful, beautiful.
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I liked boys, even grown-up men.
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There was a man who used to wear a suit to the office,
and once I grabbed his leg and started stroking it.
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I was four or five years old.
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I was taken away from him,
and I yelled: I want to hold that man’s leg!
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No-one ever explained things to me back then.
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I started to realise I shouldn’t do it,
but no-one explained to me why not.
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And the growing up process was tough because,
from childhood, I had to learn to hide my feelings.
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I remember the family scandal
when I played with a doll.
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The first memories I have with a degree
of eroticism, of desiring someone else
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of being with someone,
were always with a boy.
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So it was as natural for me as breathing.
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As children play, the teacher watches and may become
concerned about a particular child’s behaviour.
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From then on, it’s a daily task
to explore the root of this problem.
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I never considered it weird,
but from a certain time, in second grade
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being somehow effeminate,
not taking part in boys’ sports
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not being violent,
having clear gay characteristics
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made me realise it was
wrong to be like that.
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And my dad would look at me,
thinking: ‘What have I done wrong to get this?’
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But he never said anything.
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Somehow, by trial and error
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I began to realise that the way I was
wasn’t the way others wanted me to be.
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I was teased because of
my effeminate behaviour.
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I was too much of a girl and I was told
to ‘be more manly’. I didn’t fit in.
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My mum used to beat me up to make
me different, change my attitude.
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But I didn’t change. I was too much of a girl.
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I was already a girl.
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In secondary school one of my brother’s friends
squeezed my back hard
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and called me fag, fag, fag”..
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The pain made me cry.
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00:07:24,945 --> 00:07:30,492
We were the three secondary school gays,
bullied by everyone.
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"To be a fag is shit, cause
to be a faggot is horrible.”
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"Men were born to bang women,
women need to be fucked.”
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Sex as violence was publicly accepted at that time
for the sexuality of both men and women.
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Chauvinism was a type of culture,
and women participated as much as men
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saying, "that man is not manly enough”,
“that man is kind of limp. ”
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I was in secondary school when
I remember waking up in tears
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and calling my brother
to tell him "I like boys."
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My godfather recommended
me to go to therapy.
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My relationship with sexuality
started at an early age.
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As a young boy I used to have those
kinds of games with my friends.
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Playing doctor and that sort of thing.
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I was born this way.
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The thing is, as a young boy,
I wasn't aware that it wasn't totally ok.
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In my teenage years,
there was always some inner torture
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and it was more difficult to conceal it.
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It was my best kept secret,
even though it was no use to me.
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I knew inwardly
I had been born defective.
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I used to have nightmares
of being chased.
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I lived with huge guilt for
what I was going through.
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I knew there was something wrong
with me and I had to change.
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I had a powerful will to do something,
but will has nothing to do with it
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on the contrary, it's counterproductive.
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I even ended up with a
duodenal ulcer as a result of all
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the stress, since I didn't know what to do with my life.
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I had suicidal fantasies every day.
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Not everyone has suicidal thoughts every day.
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I found it very hard because I didn't understand anything,
I had no information.
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If I had known then what we know today
it would have been reassuring.
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I'd had an incident.
When I was 15, I was caught in a situation
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and because of it I ended up visiting a shrink.
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It was a dreadful experience.
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I think he believed that men are made the hard way.
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Once, after the session,
we left his office, walked down the street
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and into a large sports shop
where he bought me a punching ball.
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Obedient as ever,
I set up the punching ball at home and I hit it
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because I believed it would heal me.
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The thing was that I was completely rejecting
what was happening to me.
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I wanted to get rid of it.
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When I was 20,
I fell in love with a younger boy
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who never knew about my feelings.
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It was devastating for me.
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It meant I had taken the last missing step.
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Being just a purely sexual matter is one thing
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but if love is at stake, an unattainable love…
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This was hell because of the suffering involved.
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Sex and Revolution Manifest,
Homosexual Liberation Front, 1973.
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00:12:15,861 --> 00:12:22,659
Child sexuality is explicitly denied
by the ideology of the system.
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Even when this sexuality objectively exists,
it is mutilated.
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Child sexuality shows the sex object
and the variety of impulses
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which encompass the human libido.
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From that perspective,
it is the most authentic side of life.
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00:12:48,185 --> 00:12:52,439
And this huge flow of potential libido energy
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has to be sidetracked towards
the social goals of insane jobs.
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00:13:02,241 --> 00:13:08,831
Dominant classes transform free sexual energy
into insane jobs
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because they need it
for exploitation and insane production.
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00:13:15,003 --> 00:13:20,717
Libido domination and sexual repression
during childhood
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00:13:20,717 --> 00:13:26,974
ends with its reduction to specific body parts:
genitals.
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00:13:34,606 --> 00:13:39,027
Actually, the whole body is capable of contributing
to sexual pleasure
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00:13:39,027 --> 00:13:46,702
but the domination society
needs the most number of body areas
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to be assigned to work.
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00:13:50,956 --> 00:13:58,255
Genitalization is destined to remove from
the body its pleasure generator function
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in order to turn it into an
instrument of deranged production
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leaving sexuality with only
the essential reproductive role.
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That's why the system severely condemns
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all forms of sexual activity
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that aren't the penis-vagina type
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regarding them as pathological deviations
or perversions.
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00:14:30,746 --> 00:14:34,041
In order to chain human beings into deranged work
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it is necessary to cripple them
by reducing their sexuality to the genitals.
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00:14:43,926 --> 00:14:48,680
The castration of sexuality
aims at introducing
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the typical system of domination into the minds,
within its thoughts.
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A human being who makes
the object of domination their own sex drive
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will be regarded as a repressed and
controlled individual in social scenarios.
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A human being who makes
the object of domination their sex drive
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is undoubtedly ready to take
the role of the controller
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and/or the controlled.
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I would prefer you were a
murderer than a homosexual!
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Psychiatric Hospital
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00:15:48,740 --> 00:15:56,123
Until 1973, homosexuality was diagnosed
as a psychiatric disease
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Gays and lesbians were locked up in
psychiatric hospitals and underwent surgery
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to remove the 'evil' from them.
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Lobotomy,
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uterus extraction,
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egg extraction, clitoris extraction.
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Castration, vasectomy
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and pudenal nerve surgery
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to remove all pleasurable feelings
connected to orgasm.
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00:16:37,539 --> 00:16:42,878
Electroshocks, hormonal treatments,
chemical treatments
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to cancel the sex drive or induce vomiting.
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Aversion and repulsion therapies.
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No-one was cured.
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00:16:58,936 --> 00:17:06,652
Most patients fell into depression,
self-harming or suicide.
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The luckiest ones only
went through hypnosis therapies
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group therapies or psychoanalysis.
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00:17:22,251 --> 00:17:27,589
The Catholic Church and its 285 million devotees
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still believe homosexuality is a disease
that needs to be cured through psychiatry.
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00:17:40,143 --> 00:17:43,522
In Argentina,
lobotomies have been carried out
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namely the removal of brain parts
to heal homosexuality.
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00:17:50,404 --> 00:17:56,577
It seems that a person incapable of thinking
can't be gay.
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00:17:56,994 --> 00:18:01,248
These surgeries,
worthy of Nazi concentration camps
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were overseen by both Dr. Márquez,
University of Buenos Aires temporary dean
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and psychiatrist of the Military Hospital
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and Dr. Lionet, current University
of BA dean and neurosurgeon.
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The former diagnosed and the latter operated.
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00:18:25,814 --> 00:18:29,026
Onganía Dictatorship 1966/70
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00:18:29,234 --> 00:18:34,823
Dictator Onganía
was an active Catholic
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who had appointed
inspector Margaride.
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He was in charge of controlling the sex life of citizens
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their habits, and anything that
deviated from public morality.
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00:18:54,927 --> 00:19:02,518
Police would suddenly break into motels
to check if couples were married or not.
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00:19:02,726 --> 00:19:06,355
Catholic Church hunt tradition.
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00:19:08,357 --> 00:19:13,237
Obsessive surveillance over dress code.
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00:19:13,237 --> 00:19:17,491
Cary Grant's haircut was considered the
only one suitable for the true male.
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00:19:17,741 --> 00:19:22,329
Cary Grant and his partner Randolph Scott.
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00:19:35,259 --> 00:19:38,428
Dictator Onganía was incensed when he saw
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the Opera Bomarzo at the Colon Opera House,
and banned it immediately.
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He was outraged because the bulge of the
male dancer's genitals could easily be seen.
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In this chauvinist oppressive system
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those individuals who do not fulfill
the established sexual role: the homosexual
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Are a danger to this sistem
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Not only because they defy it,
but because they reveal its oppressive role.
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00:20:12,838 --> 00:20:17,718
The desexualisation of the human body
is a result of culture.
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00:20:18,385 --> 00:20:24,850
On this attempt to legitimise the ideology
of the repressive exploitation system
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00:20:25,184 --> 00:20:28,145
we see the disease of culture
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*Leonardo Castellani, Catholic Priest *
Dear brothers and sisters
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*Leonardo Castellani, Catholic Priest *
If there is so much feith in the world
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why there are so many calamities,
so many atrocities
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00:20:48,207 --> 00:20:54,338
so much degeneration, so much disgrace
and so many physical catastrophes?
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00:20:56,548 --> 00:21:03,222
In a new magazine called Extra,
I read that in Buenos Aires there are
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00:21:03,263 --> 00:21:09,895
200,000 sexual degenerates or gays,
and I regret to say this word here.
200
00:21:11,021 --> 00:21:15,275
The only comfort is that this is happening
in every city around the world.
201
00:21:15,275 --> 00:21:19,321
In Rome, in St Paul's times,
the same thing happened.
202
00:21:19,321 --> 00:21:26,495
In his epistle to the Romans, St Paul refers to
it as God's punishment for the pagans' atheism.
203
00:21:26,495 --> 00:21:30,707
What's the link between atheism and homosexuality?
204
00:21:30,749 --> 00:21:36,630
St Paul says that this corporal degeneration
existed due to atheism
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00:21:36,630 --> 00:21:42,135
since atheism may be a psychiatric degeneration,
thus one thing corresponds to the other.
206
00:21:45,055 --> 00:21:49,101
What side has the Church always been on?
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00:21:49,101 --> 00:21:51,395
On this one:
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everything that is unnatural is sinful.
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00:21:56,692 --> 00:22:00,529
Since we don't rule nature,
we are just rulers of our will.
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00:22:00,529 --> 00:22:02,698
God rules nature.
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00:22:02,739 --> 00:22:06,660
Therefore, suicides against human nature
are a crime.
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00:22:06,660 --> 00:22:11,248
Homosexuality, which is unnatural, is a crime.
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00:22:11,790 --> 00:22:14,543
Despite being not harmful to anyone,
apparently.
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00:22:20,632 --> 00:22:29,016
Sex has the function to unite human beings
in constantly renewed and creative ways.
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00:22:29,224 --> 00:22:35,814
The opposite means to reduce sex
to only one of its possibilities:
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reproduction.
217
00:22:37,649 --> 00:22:44,698
That's why the chauvinist culture
thinks of gays as degenerates
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00:22:44,698 --> 00:22:48,660
sick, abnormal, or deviants.
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00:22:50,746 --> 00:22:56,543
Gays actually vindicate all the free sexuality
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00:22:56,543 --> 00:23:03,884
repressed from childhood
by the sexist domination system.
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00:23:04,468 --> 00:23:09,389
The same system that represses it
in order to channel the sex energy
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00:23:09,389 --> 00:23:11,934
in the deranged production
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00:23:11,934 --> 00:23:16,104
is the same system defines what's good or bad
224
00:23:16,104 --> 00:23:19,608
it generates guilt and bad conscience.
225
00:23:21,652 --> 00:23:27,115
Gays are the scapegoat of sexual repression.
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They get the most severe and immediate punishments.
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In Argentina,
attacking gays is a national sport.
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00:23:41,296 --> 00:23:43,715
To talk about homosexuality in Argentina
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is not only pleasure, but also terror.
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00:23:48,887 --> 00:23:52,850
Those kidnaps, tortures, robberies,
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00:23:53,225 --> 00:23:55,352
imprisonments, and derisions
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00:23:56,395 --> 00:24:00,732
that gays have been through
traditionally in Argentina,
233
00:24:03,485 --> 00:24:06,363
preceded and may help to explain
234
00:24:06,405 --> 00:24:09,241
the dictatorship genocide in 1976.
235
00:24:12,870 --> 00:24:16,790
It's unbelievable to think
that police attend special courses
236
00:24:16,832 --> 00:24:20,752
to recognise gays and lesbians
by the thickness of their ears.
237
00:24:21,837 --> 00:24:24,423
What's wrong with homosexuality,
238
00:24:24,464 --> 00:24:26,925
with sexuality in general in Argentina
239
00:24:26,925 --> 00:24:31,013
for such harmless actions as licking the penis
240
00:24:31,054 --> 00:24:35,934
or anus to cause such a scandal?
241
00:24:38,687 --> 00:24:42,941
More specifically,
the formation of the police,
242
00:24:42,941 --> 00:24:47,946
social and family structures
designed to persecute homosexuality.
243
00:24:53,911 --> 00:24:56,955
There are two suspicious people
prowling around that place.
244
00:24:57,581 --> 00:25:03,629
It was impossible for two gays
to meet up in the street on a pick-up plan,
245
00:25:03,712 --> 00:25:07,716
because they would be instantly
detected by this police set-up.
246
00:25:09,343 --> 00:25:16,141
If two just-met gays were spotted,
they would be separated.
247
00:25:16,892 --> 00:25:20,771
They would be interrogated separately
to find out if they had just met in the street
248
00:25:20,771 --> 00:25:24,733
or if they were friends walking together.
249
00:25:24,733 --> 00:25:30,447
It was outrageous,
it was like a permanent Gestapo for gays.
250
00:25:30,864 --> 00:25:34,827
Back then, the famous police edicts
251
00:25:34,827 --> 00:25:38,372
like the 2H and others were in force.
252
00:25:38,747 --> 00:25:45,462
These edicts were against disturbing the peace,
and sexual incitement.
253
00:25:46,004 --> 00:25:52,135
They hadn't been issued by a judge, though.
They were police edicts.
254
00:25:52,386 --> 00:25:59,476
Police were the ones deciding
who should go to jail.
255
00:26:02,104 --> 00:26:07,317
In 1969, a group of gays
256
00:26:07,317 --> 00:26:10,654
gathered in a tenement
on the outskirts of Buenos Aires
257
00:26:10,863 --> 00:26:15,659
inaugurated the first attempt at
a gay organisation in Argentina:
258
00:26:16,201 --> 00:26:18,579
'Our World' group.
259
00:26:19,746 --> 00:26:23,959
Its main goal was to eradicate the police edicts
260
00:26:23,959 --> 00:26:28,088
and the application of edict 2H
261
00:26:28,088 --> 00:26:33,594
that imprisoned gays in Devoto prison.
262
00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:36,513
Transvestites used to live in Devoto prison.
263
00:26:37,639 --> 00:26:42,102
All they wanted was to walk, live, exist, and be.
264
00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:49,151
Its members were mainly activists
of medium/low-class unions,
265
00:26:49,151 --> 00:26:53,113
who were led by Héctor Anabitarte.
266
00:26:54,031 --> 00:26:59,870
Héctor Anabitarte was also
a Communist Party activist
267
00:26:59,912 --> 00:27:02,998
who had been rejected by the Party
268
00:27:02,998 --> 00:27:09,463
after coming out of the closet.
269
00:27:09,505 --> 00:27:15,677
A gay in charge of young political school education
270
00:27:15,677 --> 00:27:18,180
was considered a menace.
271
00:27:18,555 --> 00:27:22,893
This situation diverted him from his main objective
272
00:27:22,893 --> 00:27:27,481
that of generating debate within the Communist Party
around sexual liberation
273
00:27:27,481 --> 00:27:34,154
around homosexuality as part of sexual liberation
274
00:27:34,154 --> 00:27:37,866
which needed to be part of the revolution.
275
00:27:41,703 --> 00:27:44,748
He had also travelled to Russia,
276
00:27:44,748 --> 00:27:50,879
where he asked how gays were treated there.
277
00:27:52,214 --> 00:27:55,133
He was told: No, there aren't any gays.
278
00:27:55,133 --> 00:27:59,805
-How come?
-No, we force them to get married.
279
00:28:01,139 --> 00:28:08,897
Those who couldn't get married
were given degrading psychiatric treatment.
280
00:28:09,731 --> 00:28:13,861
He had returned in shock from that trip
281
00:28:13,861 --> 00:28:18,949
after realising that Russia
wasn't the land of freedom he had imagined.
282
00:28:22,411 --> 00:28:29,334
Laws against gay relationships
also existed in the Soviet Union.
283
00:28:29,334 --> 00:28:34,047
All this repressive apparatus
was backed up by scientific concepts.
284
00:28:34,047 --> 00:28:40,304
Psychiatric treatment
was a kind of a torment.
285
00:28:41,221 --> 00:28:44,183
Homosexuality was considered
a bourgeois deviation,
286
00:28:44,183 --> 00:28:48,645
an intrinsic degeneration of the capitalism
that had to be fought against.
287
00:28:48,645 --> 00:28:55,444
It was a degeneration
caused by the insanity of capitalism,
288
00:28:55,485 --> 00:28:59,948
therefore gays were insane.
289
00:29:04,745 --> 00:29:09,958
Moscow, 24th of May, 1974.
290
00:29:10,501 --> 00:29:17,299
The Soviet film director, Sergei Parajanov,
has been sent to a work camp
291
00:29:17,341 --> 00:29:22,387
for six years after being found guilty
of homosexuality
292
00:29:22,387 --> 00:29:26,975
and incitement to suicide,
reliable sources said today.
293
00:29:26,975 --> 00:29:35,234
The Russian director recently stood trial in Kiev
accused of such crimes.
294
00:29:35,234 --> 00:29:38,570
Homosexuality is a crime
in the Soviet Union.
295
00:29:39,613 --> 00:29:45,327
Sayat-Nova by Parajanov was censored.
296
00:29:45,786 --> 00:29:51,959
Sometimes I wonder: Have I invented this or is it the truth?
297
00:29:53,126 --> 00:29:57,297
It's simply the truth, but as I perceive it.
298
00:29:58,590 --> 00:30:02,302
WANTED
299
00:30:02,511 --> 00:30:12,145
Argentina in shock after first appearance of urban guerrilla.
FAL kidnapped and liberated Paraguayan Consul.
300
00:30:12,312 --> 00:30:16,191
I became an activist at FAL,
Liberation Army Forces.
301
00:30:17,734 --> 00:30:23,490
I was chosen as a general delegate
in secondary schools.
302
00:30:23,490 --> 00:30:28,787
I was only 16 when I was coordinating
all the secondary schools
303
00:30:28,787 --> 00:30:32,249
I organised a 50,000 student protest,
304
00:30:32,249 --> 00:30:39,256
when streets were blocked
and the whole city was paralysed.
305
00:30:41,049 --> 00:30:49,975
One day, we were
at a 17-year-old friend's birthday party.
306
00:30:49,975 --> 00:30:56,648
One boy takes me away and asks me:
Are you gay?
307
00:30:57,524 --> 00:31:01,486
And I say: ´Yes, I'm gay, I like men.´
308
00:31:01,486 --> 00:31:02,738
And he says: ´Why didn't you say anything?´
309
00:31:02,738 --> 00:31:06,074
I say: ´I am treated badly when I admit it.´
310
00:31:06,074 --> 00:31:11,955
And he says: ´In the political struggle gays
are looked down on because they are traitors.
311
00:31:11,955 --> 00:31:17,336
You are very valuable,
but I doubt you'll make it.'
312
00:31:20,672 --> 00:31:23,675
From then on they had me isolated,
caught, cut-off.
313
00:31:23,675 --> 00:31:31,308
I felt I was being held back because
I couldn't participate in the same way the others did.
314
00:31:38,190 --> 00:31:40,734
New York. Manhattan.
315
00:31:46,949 --> 00:31:50,118
Gay bar ´Stonewall Inn.´
316
00:31:50,786 --> 00:31:55,624
The night of the 27th of June, 1969,
317
00:31:55,624 --> 00:32:01,755
the regulars became fed-up of police raids
and decided to resist.
318
00:32:01,755 --> 00:32:04,299
It had never happened before.
319
00:32:17,521 --> 00:32:24,695
Astonished policemen called
for more back-up units
320
00:32:25,237 --> 00:32:33,579
after seeing gays from all over the city
gathering at the bar door.
321
00:32:33,662 --> 00:32:39,042
They were destroying police cars
and assault vehicles.
322
00:32:40,627 --> 00:32:44,089
Barricades and litter-bins
were being set alight.
323
00:32:45,174 --> 00:32:48,468
Continuous confrontations with the police.
324
00:32:49,011 --> 00:32:53,765
There were shouts of ´Gay Power´
and everything was being smashed.
325
00:32:55,100 --> 00:32:59,396
It took four days for things
to calm down.
326
00:33:01,148 --> 00:33:06,320
It was the first time in the world
that gays rebelled
327
00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:12,451
against a police and moral system
that pursued gays.
328
00:33:13,202 --> 00:33:17,414
The Stonewall riot gave rise
to the first
329
00:33:17,414 --> 00:33:19,875
gay liberation groups in the USA.
330
00:33:19,875 --> 00:33:25,714
The Gay Liberation Front,
which fought for a thorough social transformation,
331
00:33:25,797 --> 00:33:29,051
organised, a year after the riot,
332
00:33:29,051 --> 00:33:34,389
the first and largest
Gay Pride march in history.
333
00:34:00,457 --> 00:34:01,959
In Argentina,
334
00:34:03,877 --> 00:34:06,630
in August 1971,
335
00:34:09,424 --> 00:34:15,973
the union of Our World and a group of gay intellectuals
inspired in the American Gay Power,
336
00:34:16,390 --> 00:34:21,019
inaugurated the official
Homosexual Liberation Front,
337
00:34:21,019 --> 00:34:25,774
known by its acronym FLH.
338
00:34:28,735 --> 00:34:34,199
FLH historic landmark
of immense relevance
339
00:34:34,616 --> 00:34:40,581
*Homosexual Liberation Front (1973)*
Our movement emerges as a gay organisation
340
00:34:41,165 --> 00:34:46,378
of both genres who are not willing
341
00:34:46,378 --> 00:34:51,341
to be marginalised and pursued
342
00:34:51,341 --> 00:34:58,515
just because one sexual orientation
is practised.
343
00:34:59,766 --> 00:35:05,647
This pursuit has a clear political root.
344
00:35:06,773 --> 00:35:10,944
Sex itself is a political matter.
345
00:35:12,070 --> 00:35:18,452
To this extent,
the liberation we believe in cannot exist
346
00:35:18,452 --> 00:35:23,123
in a system of economical domination,
347
00:35:23,123 --> 00:35:28,795
such as the dependent Argentine capitalism.
348
00:35:30,047 --> 00:35:37,679
The Homosexual Liberation Front
is an anti-capitalist,
349
00:35:38,013 --> 00:35:42,142
anti-imperialist and anti-authoritarian movement,
350
00:35:42,142 --> 00:35:50,400
which wants women's and men's liberation,
oppressed by the patriarchy.
351
00:36:01,203 --> 00:36:08,293
Debates start around the meaning
of patriarchy domination within capitalism.
352
00:36:10,671 --> 00:36:16,218
The document 'Sex and Revolution' by FLH
is foundational.
353
00:36:17,177 --> 00:36:20,180
It describes what the patriarchy is
and explains
354
00:36:20,180 --> 00:36:26,812
what this fourth feminist wave
is proposing 50 years later.
355
00:36:28,438 --> 00:36:34,695
*Sex and Revolution Manifesto*
All private and public acts
356
00:36:34,695 --> 00:36:39,616
end up being acts that fulfil
a political function.
357
00:36:40,409 --> 00:36:45,581
Every human being faces,
from the day of his birth, a primary group:
358
00:36:45,581 --> 00:36:52,504
the family, with the responsibility to educate
and produce system-conditioned human beings.
359
00:36:52,754 --> 00:36:57,467
In the family, the male has the absolute
360
00:36:57,467 --> 00:37:00,345
economical, political and social power.
361
00:37:00,679 --> 00:37:05,684
His objects of domination are first,
the woman,
362
00:37:05,684 --> 00:37:08,604
and secondly, the children.
363
00:37:09,646 --> 00:37:13,942
The latter are the product-goods
of the family factory.
364
00:37:15,694 --> 00:37:20,866
In the family,
similarly to other facets of social life,
365
00:37:20,866 --> 00:37:25,120
the dichotomy is replicated:
oppressors and oppressed.
366
00:37:28,707 --> 00:37:33,128
This domination presides over each daily act.
367
00:37:34,087 --> 00:37:38,550
Its essence is revealed
in the male sexual power
368
00:37:38,550 --> 00:37:41,220
over the female during intercourse.
369
00:37:41,428 --> 00:37:48,477
Intercourse is a culturally structured
institution for male satisfaction.
370
00:37:48,977 --> 00:37:54,900
He has the legitimate right to enjoy sex
whenever he feels like it.
371
00:37:55,943 --> 00:38:00,906
The dominant male scenario in intercourse
372
00:38:00,906 --> 00:38:08,580
is mirrored in everyday life.
373
00:38:09,331 --> 00:38:14,920
Thus, the woman is reduced to an object
of pleasure and reproduction.
374
00:38:15,629 --> 00:38:21,718
For its part, the system imposes
the obligation of doing the household chores
375
00:38:21,718 --> 00:38:29,893
without any type of compensation,
which unmasks the true situation:
376
00:38:30,227 --> 00:38:32,479
domestic slavery.
377
00:38:35,065 --> 00:38:43,031
In everyday life, the individual takes on
the same roles found in the family.
378
00:38:43,240 --> 00:38:46,660
He'll be the oppressive father, if male,
379
00:38:46,702 --> 00:38:49,496
or the submissive mother, if female.
380
00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:59,256
The father's authoritative figure is replicated
in the policeman's figure,
381
00:38:59,256 --> 00:39:03,886
the boss', the employer's, the State's:
382
00:39:04,887 --> 00:39:07,806
System-bearing figures
383
00:39:08,682 --> 00:39:12,895
that individuals will bow to,
as they do to the father.
384
00:39:13,687 --> 00:39:19,860
Therefore, the domination idea is passed
on to each individual
385
00:39:19,860 --> 00:39:21,778
within the family.
386
00:39:27,910 --> 00:39:32,789
We, the gays and the women,
are oppressed by sexism
387
00:39:32,789 --> 00:39:36,418
in the heart of this capitalist society.
388
00:39:36,835 --> 00:39:41,381
And the straight males are
the oppressive group.
389
00:39:43,300 --> 00:39:46,720
I'm still amazed at the political bravery and boldness,
390
00:39:46,720 --> 00:39:53,602
as well as the conceptual certainty of that document.
391
00:39:54,311 --> 00:39:57,272
Today being anti-patriarchal is mainstream,
392
00:40:00,150 --> 00:40:03,445
being gay is mainstream.
393
00:40:05,572 --> 00:40:08,617
However, at that time
394
00:40:08,826 --> 00:40:12,079
it was very different.
395
00:40:14,039 --> 00:40:17,292
The FLH, was the group I belonged to.
396
00:40:17,751 --> 00:40:19,962
Homosexual Liberation Front
397
00:40:20,504 --> 00:40:26,260
Being a front, it attracted many groups.
398
00:40:29,221 --> 00:40:35,519
I used to be a well-behaved,
but withdrawn and geeky boy.
399
00:40:36,061 --> 00:40:40,482
One day I came across 'The Gay Liberation Book',
400
00:40:40,732 --> 00:40:44,528
which made me realise
that out of all the gay people I knew,
401
00:40:44,528 --> 00:40:48,615
the most interesting were the ones
who turned it into activism.
402
00:40:49,616 --> 00:40:53,412
That was when I began my quest
to find FLH,
403
00:40:55,914 --> 00:40:58,834
which wasn't easy.
404
00:40:59,543 --> 00:41:02,880
I was given a phone number.
I called right away,
405
00:41:04,298 --> 00:41:10,179
and was called to an interview.
406
00:41:11,305 --> 00:41:12,931
It was a Saturday afternoon.
407
00:41:12,931 --> 00:41:15,309
That night, they were going clubbing.
408
00:41:15,309 --> 00:41:19,688
They invited me and I said yes.
409
00:41:20,230 --> 00:41:26,361
That's how I ended up in a club
in Lanús named Monali.
410
00:41:26,361 --> 00:41:33,035
What an amazing thing.
I'd never seen two guys dancing together.
411
00:41:33,076 --> 00:41:38,332
Suddenly there were hundreds there
and it was such a diverse range of people.
412
00:41:38,499 --> 00:41:51,345
One of the great things about homosexuality
is that it covers all ages, social classes, religions.
413
00:41:51,345 --> 00:41:56,517
All types were there,
from both rich and poor neighbourhoods.
414
00:41:57,226 --> 00:42:04,983
It was always organised clandestinely
in Greater Buenos Aires,
415
00:42:05,484 --> 00:42:17,663
since police there were easier to bribe
than Buenos Aires City police.
416
00:42:18,914 --> 00:42:24,169
There were police raids every day.
417
00:42:24,169 --> 00:42:29,132
Up to 400 people might be
taken away in police buses.
418
00:42:29,132 --> 00:42:31,343
Just horrible.
419
00:42:31,343 --> 00:42:44,022
Our struggle was to do away
with these police edicts
420
00:42:45,315 --> 00:42:54,324
but they weren't abolished until 1996.
421
00:42:54,324 --> 00:42:57,619
My story is set in 1973.
422
00:43:00,455 --> 00:43:04,835
The Eros group, led by Néstor Perlongher,
423
00:43:05,210 --> 00:43:12,926
was the largest within the FLH
and I was involved with that.
424
00:43:14,052 --> 00:43:20,392
Perlongher believed that when
the time came to take power
425
00:43:20,392 --> 00:43:27,232
and the revolution was
manifested in all its glory,
426
00:43:27,232 --> 00:43:33,238
gays would take part in a smaller
revolt within the greater revolution.
427
00:43:34,531 --> 00:43:39,077
The Eros group carried out
the most revolutionary,
428
00:43:39,077 --> 00:43:43,123
most explicit and
most streetwise actions,
429
00:43:43,123 --> 00:43:46,460
such as spraying messages
on walls or walking into bars
430
00:43:46,460 --> 00:43:50,130
and handing out leaflets
before running away.
431
00:43:51,089 --> 00:43:56,678
*Eros Group*
Every week hundreds of gay imprisonments take place.
432
00:44:04,937 --> 00:44:07,022
Why is that?
433
00:44:07,022 --> 00:44:12,945
Because the bloody system of exploitation
and domination is based,
434
00:44:12,945 --> 00:44:20,202
ultimately, upon repressing
the erotic potential of people.
435
00:44:20,202 --> 00:44:23,539
Namely, if people loved each other,
436
00:44:23,539 --> 00:44:28,043
they wouldn't exploit,
take over, or kill.
437
00:44:28,043 --> 00:44:32,548
Neither would they allow others
to be exploited, taken over or killed.
438
00:44:32,923 --> 00:44:37,886
The homosexuals, by showing through
our sexual practice the actual
439
00:44:37,886 --> 00:44:45,561
and concrete possibility of erotic pleasure
not related to reproductive functions,
440
00:44:45,561 --> 00:44:49,982
nor to the hierarchical vertical
structure of marriage,
441
00:44:49,982 --> 00:44:52,776
nor to the patriarchal family,
442
00:44:52,776 --> 00:44:59,241
we gays pose a threat to unleash
the wave of love upon a society
443
00:44:59,241 --> 00:45:03,787
precisely based on repressing love.
444
00:45:03,787 --> 00:45:10,752
That's why we gays are persecuted
and humiliated outcasts.
445
00:45:10,752 --> 00:45:17,050
Chauvinists can't bear our presence
without sending us to prison,
446
00:45:17,050 --> 00:45:21,805
killing, attacking or insulting us.
447
00:45:21,805 --> 00:45:23,974
They are afraid of us.
448
00:45:23,974 --> 00:45:30,439
They are afraid of our unlawful sexuality,
of their own repressed,
449
00:45:30,439 --> 00:45:33,901
denied and forgotten sexuality.
450
00:45:33,901 --> 00:45:39,490
By making love, we gays,
the disgrace to the family,
451
00:45:39,490 --> 00:45:45,078
come out of hiding and
start being ourselves,
452
00:45:45,078 --> 00:45:50,459
questioning not only the mere foundations
of the system that oppress us
453
00:45:50,459 --> 00:45:53,170
but all kinds of oppression.
454
00:45:54,838 --> 00:46:04,598
This struggle is about the recognition of
our right to love the way we feel,
455
00:46:04,598 --> 00:46:08,352
and about the end of police repression.
456
00:46:08,727 --> 00:46:14,817
Grouped together in the FLH,
we Argentine gays claim:
457
00:46:14,817 --> 00:46:22,699
abolition of anti-gay police edicts;
freedom to imprisoned gays;
458
00:46:22,699 --> 00:46:27,913
a halt to political and sexual repression.
That is Group Eros.
459
00:46:30,207 --> 00:46:35,128
We didn't have access to
the same gay community,
460
00:46:35,712 --> 00:46:42,678
since people didn't agree
with an explicit struggle.
461
00:46:42,928 --> 00:46:48,642
The mindset was 'Behave well".
462
00:46:48,642 --> 00:46:52,479
"If we don't offend,
we'll be tolerated".
463
00:47:00,195 --> 00:47:06,910
Many great gay intellectuals find
no benefit in being part of a group.
464
00:47:07,119 --> 00:47:10,622
Why become public if they are okay?
465
00:47:24,303 --> 00:47:27,181
U.S.A. Feminists.
466
00:47:32,144 --> 00:47:35,189
At that time the argentine left parties
didn't take part in the debates
467
00:47:35,647 --> 00:47:41,236
about sexual liberation,
patriarchy and feminism.
468
00:47:42,654 --> 00:47:45,199
A more basic debate about proletariat
469
00:47:45,407 --> 00:47:49,411
and the revolutionary movement was happening.
470
00:47:53,582 --> 00:47:56,960
The Homosexual Liberation Front began conversations
471
00:47:56,960 --> 00:47:58,754
with the revolutionary Left movement.
472
00:47:59,129 --> 00:48:05,511
However, the Left leaders weren't
interested in sexual liberation.
473
00:48:05,511 --> 00:48:13,435
They were aware of the repercussions
of Fidel Castro's regime towards gays in Cuba.
474
00:48:14,645 --> 00:48:19,358
The idea about gays
needing re-education centres.
475
00:48:20,818 --> 00:48:23,237
I guess they didn't know about
476
00:48:23,237 --> 00:48:28,325
Fidel Castro's conception
of those centres as prisons.
477
00:48:28,408 --> 00:48:33,205
Gays would commit suicide;
they would be raped by prison guards.
478
00:48:36,583 --> 00:48:41,338
In 1965, Raúl Castro created
479
00:48:41,630 --> 00:48:47,886
Military Units to Aid Production,
which was aimed at those who
480
00:48:47,886 --> 00:48:54,059
had taken the wrong path away
from society to help them get back on track.
481
00:48:55,811 --> 00:48:58,063
They were concentration camps,
482
00:48:58,564 --> 00:49:07,531
to where most gays, lesbians, activists
of the Cuban Revolution were sent.
483
00:49:08,657 --> 00:49:11,493
Great writers such as Reynaldo Arenas,
484
00:49:11,618 --> 00:49:14,079
who ended up hating the revolution
485
00:49:14,246 --> 00:49:19,960
that not only sent all of them to
prison but destroyed them physically.
486
00:49:20,169 --> 00:49:22,171
In the Cuban Revolution!
487
00:49:34,433 --> 00:49:40,439
Left-wing parties claim that homosexuality
is a product of decaying capitalism.
488
00:49:40,439 --> 00:49:44,401
*Sex and Revolution Manifesto*
489
00:49:44,693 --> 00:49:49,490
Homosexuality existed long before capitalism,
490
00:49:49,490 --> 00:49:55,954
since the original human libido
doesn't scorn any of its possibilities.
491
00:49:56,872 --> 00:50:00,167
Behind this left-wing parties' proposal,
492
00:50:00,250 --> 00:50:09,176
lies the inability to formulate a new order,
a truly new revolutionary routine.
493
00:50:10,135 --> 00:50:15,432
The Homosexual Liberation Front
proposes to start a revolution
494
00:50:15,432 --> 00:50:20,395
that simultaneously annihilates
not only the economic and political
495
00:50:20,938 --> 00:50:26,443
system foundations but also
its sexist ideological grounds.
496
00:50:26,693 --> 00:50:34,451
Otherwise, the system of oppression
will replicate automatically
497
00:50:34,451 --> 00:50:42,668
after a revolutionary process that would only
shake the political and economic spheres.
498
00:50:45,420 --> 00:50:51,385
The official rhetoric was absolutely
heteronormative and hero-worshipping.
499
00:50:51,718 --> 00:50:56,390
In the '70s, guerrilla heroism
500
00:50:56,557 --> 00:51:01,812
was a completely chauvinistic
and heterosexual heroism
501
00:51:02,062 --> 00:51:07,317
And that rhetoric permeated all.
502
00:51:09,528 --> 00:51:14,491
It was prohibited to express yourself
in a particular way,
503
00:51:14,950 --> 00:51:20,080
to wear specific trousers,
i.e. freedom of expression.
504
00:51:23,625 --> 00:51:25,961
I was an activist in a political party.
505
00:51:25,961 --> 00:51:29,673
I was a member of the
Students' Union at my university.
506
00:51:29,673 --> 00:51:34,178
Guillermo is an activist in the
Socialist Party of Workers, with Trotskyist ideas
507
00:51:34,469 --> 00:51:38,015
You censored yourself because
you wanted to belong,
508
00:51:38,015 --> 00:51:39,391
you wanted to be there.
509
00:51:39,391 --> 00:51:45,439
Revolution was important, activism,
the building of the Party.
510
00:51:45,856 --> 00:51:49,651
And within the Party, this did exist.
511
00:51:50,527 --> 00:51:56,492
One grows up fighting against a desire.
512
00:51:56,492 --> 00:51:58,577
And there is a word for that.
513
00:51:59,161 --> 00:52:01,955
The first homophobic,
the greatest homophobic,
514
00:52:01,955 --> 00:52:05,959
against the gay, is the gay themselves.
515
00:52:06,543 --> 00:52:10,380
In the whole process of
denying your sexuality,
516
00:52:10,380 --> 00:52:14,510
you begin consolidating your own homophobia.
517
00:52:15,177 --> 00:52:21,725
So, this is a filter
for social relationships,
518
00:52:21,808 --> 00:52:24,978
for your place in the world.
519
00:52:32,569 --> 00:52:37,491
There were two books we consumed
as junior party members,
520
00:52:37,533 --> 00:52:43,205
both by Wilhelm Reich,
a German Communist activist.
521
00:52:43,622 --> 00:52:48,585
He wrote The Function of the Orgasm
and The Sexual Struggle of Youth.
522
00:52:54,716 --> 00:52:58,846
Man is the only biological species
523
00:52:58,846 --> 00:53:05,185
that has destroyed
his own natural sexual function.
524
00:53:06,061 --> 00:53:09,523
That is what's wrong.
525
00:53:10,607 --> 00:53:15,737
*The Function of the Orgasm by Wilhelm Reich*
526
00:53:15,737 --> 00:53:21,869
It turns man into a source of hatred,
generating terrible disasters for humanity.
527
00:53:29,960 --> 00:53:35,007
From the beginning of the
patriarchal authoritarian culture
528
00:53:35,007 --> 00:53:38,093
more than 4,000 years ago,
529
00:53:38,468 --> 00:53:43,932
human beings have adopted
a hostile attitude
530
00:53:44,016 --> 00:53:47,352
towards what's alive
within themselves.
531
00:53:47,895 --> 00:53:51,231
They've stepped away from pleasure.
532
00:53:53,025 --> 00:53:58,697
Duty has replaced the
natural enjoyment of work,
533
00:53:59,114 --> 00:54:02,910
and guilt has replaced
the enjoyment of orgasm.
534
00:54:03,744 --> 00:54:09,458
Sexually frustrated men
and women define
535
00:54:10,042 --> 00:54:16,590
the moral and social parameters
of human sexuality.
536
00:54:17,508 --> 00:54:26,391
This way is condemned to darkness;
to a dirty, unhealthy life.
537
00:54:26,767 --> 00:54:31,980
It is opposed to culture and development.
538
00:54:32,689 --> 00:54:41,698
Sexual dissatisfaction and restrained
sexual energy lead to neurosis.
539
00:54:42,407 --> 00:54:55,295
Sexual repression serves the purpose of
subduing human beings more easily.
540
00:54:55,504 --> 00:55:06,265
The same way foal and bull castration
subdues beasts of burden.
541
00:55:06,473 --> 00:55:10,561
However, no one has thought about
542
00:55:10,561 --> 00:55:17,025
the devastating results of that mental castration.
543
00:55:17,484 --> 00:55:24,825
And no one can foresee
what human society will face.
544
00:55:25,534 --> 00:55:32,624
Among the hundreds of patients
I treated and observed over many years,
545
00:55:33,542 --> 00:55:44,178
not one single woman
had experienced a vaginal orgasm.
546
00:55:44,970 --> 00:55:53,604
Among men, 70% showed severe genital disorders.
547
00:55:59,193 --> 00:56:03,071
We had two alternatives:
548
00:56:03,363 --> 00:56:06,074
one was turning
into the Sleeping Beauty
549
00:56:06,158 --> 00:56:10,537
waiting for Prince Charming
to wake us up.
550
00:56:12,206 --> 00:56:14,958
*Homosexual Liberation Front*
551
00:56:22,799 --> 00:56:26,929
The other was rebelling.
552
00:56:28,764 --> 00:56:33,977
Rebelling is the only chance left
for people to start living.
553
00:56:34,645 --> 00:56:39,316
Protesting, claiming, vindicating our rights.
554
00:56:39,942 --> 00:56:42,152
Making our dreams come true.
555
00:56:43,737 --> 00:56:47,074
We recalled a Mario Benedetti quote:
556
00:56:47,950 --> 00:56:53,205
'Prohibition is wonderful, permission is dire'.
557
00:56:54,665 --> 00:56:58,210
We weren't the first ones,
nor the only ones.
558
00:56:58,293 --> 00:57:05,676
There were many people,
most of the people were rebelling.
559
00:57:06,134 --> 00:57:13,225
They were fighting for liberation and
many of us were there, fighting.
560
00:57:13,350 --> 00:57:21,400
We understood that sexual liberation
was a vindication worth fighting for,
561
00:57:21,400 --> 00:57:28,198
not forgetting that one can't be free while
there are slaves around,
562
00:57:28,991 --> 00:57:30,868
or in bed.
563
00:57:32,452 --> 00:57:37,583
I was already an activist in Quilmes,
south of Buenos Aires, in Berazategui.
564
00:57:37,875 --> 00:57:44,214
I remember a group of comrades talking about
the reason for the revolution.
565
00:57:44,965 --> 00:57:50,012
We always concluded
that it was art and sexuality.
566
00:57:50,095 --> 00:58:00,439
To dedicate yourself to art
and to lead a full and pleasurable sex life.
567
00:58:06,862 --> 00:58:14,119
What I liked most about the FLH was the political
involvement we were searching for.
568
00:58:14,203 --> 00:58:20,876
We not only sought to liberate ourselves
in order to live life without being attacked,
569
00:58:22,252 --> 00:58:27,424
but also for the freedom of a whole society.
570
00:58:28,800 --> 00:58:35,766
One of the slogans we had was living and
loving freely in a liberated country.
571
00:58:36,183 --> 00:58:38,393
We were struggling for that reason.
572
00:58:43,690 --> 00:58:46,318
1973 was a really busy year.
573
00:58:46,693 --> 00:58:55,160
Peronism proscription had ended after
an 18-year ban of uttering the name Perón.
574
00:58:56,328 --> 00:59:03,085
It was a huge move that meant Peronists could
now participate in national elections.
575
00:59:06,338 --> 00:59:12,678
In a meeting between Campora lawyers and
the Homosexual Liberation Front,
576
00:59:12,678 --> 00:59:20,602
it was proposed to create psychiatric hospitals
to treat homosexuality.
577
00:59:21,478 --> 00:59:24,314
It was the left-wing Peronism,
they didn't understand each other.
578
00:59:24,398 --> 00:59:32,281
However, the Homosexual Liberation Front
knew the only possible alliance in politics
579
00:59:32,364 --> 00:59:33,824
was to be found in Peronism,
580
00:59:34,158 --> 00:59:37,995
since the other groups
didn't have the same access.
581
00:59:42,124 --> 00:59:48,672
So Peronism achieved a crushing
victory with the slogan
582
00:59:49,047 --> 00:59:52,801
'Campora to office, Perón to power'.
583
00:59:58,932 --> 01:00:03,854
We were living Campora's springtime,
and that was a really good time.
584
01:00:04,021 --> 01:00:08,775
With springtime we mean that
something really cool is going on.
585
01:00:08,942 --> 01:00:19,953
There was a libertarian atmosphere and the
Homosexual Liberation Front was a part of that.
586
01:00:20,078 --> 01:00:25,918
By then, I was flourishing,
587
01:00:25,918 --> 01:00:33,717
having figured out my sexuality and
being able to start living well.
588
01:00:35,928 --> 01:00:42,559
When Campora takes over,
the most logical thing for us was to be there.
589
01:00:43,310 --> 01:00:45,729
We have to come out and make
ourselves noticeable -
590
01:00:45,729 --> 01:00:49,316
it's the only way to get out
from underground.
591
01:00:49,942 --> 01:00:53,695
We have to get organised and
take to the streets.
592
01:00:54,196 --> 01:01:01,662
We arrived in Plaza de Mayo,
a group of 15 bareheaded people.
593
01:01:04,081 --> 01:01:12,756
We were isolated, because no one
wanted to be around us.
594
01:01:12,756 --> 01:01:13,882
An enclosed area.
595
01:01:13,966 --> 01:01:20,013
Like a void around the
Homosexual Liberation Front.
596
01:01:21,682 --> 01:01:24,351
Suddenly no one wanted to get contaminated.
597
01:01:27,813 --> 01:01:37,322
Our flag not only said Homosexual Liberation
Front, but also May love and equality prevail.
598
01:01:37,364 --> 01:01:39,783
And these are verses
from the Peronist march.
599
01:01:40,576 --> 01:01:44,204
The thing is that no one had
vindicated them in that way.
600
01:01:46,415 --> 01:01:50,794
It was the first time in
the whole of Latin America
601
01:01:51,503 --> 01:01:57,301
that a gang of homosexuals, like us,
602
01:01:57,676 --> 01:02:04,099
took part in aclear political act
such as the takeover of a president.
603
01:02:06,059 --> 01:02:12,483
Our fight was actually to be accepted
as political actors.
604
01:02:13,275 --> 01:02:17,362
The national mindset was that
a homosexual with social awareness
605
01:02:17,362 --> 01:02:19,907
wasn't influential.
606
01:02:21,408 --> 01:02:25,621
I always remember an act
in the School of Law.
607
01:02:26,413 --> 01:02:29,958
All the support organisations
were read out,
608
01:02:30,375 --> 01:02:34,379
and when the Homosexual
Liberation Front was mentioned,
609
01:02:34,379 --> 01:02:36,006
what happened?
610
01:02:36,507 --> 01:02:39,343
Everyone burst out laughing.
611
01:02:41,595 --> 01:02:44,723
Right-wing and left-wing parties,
612
01:02:44,723 --> 01:02:47,893
including the most progressive left-wing party,
613
01:02:47,935 --> 01:02:52,147
were actively anti-gay,
posing different arguments.
614
01:02:52,272 --> 01:02:57,611
Back then, a d ocument is issued by ERP
called Morals and Proletarianisation.
615
01:02:57,986 --> 01:03:01,532
Monogamy allowed,
infidelity was punished.
616
01:03:01,615 --> 01:03:06,745
Homosexuality was a bourgeois monstrosity
that had to be fought.
617
01:03:09,331 --> 01:03:12,835
Campora allows Perón to return from exile.
618
01:03:13,168 --> 01:03:18,048
That's June 20, 1973.
He landed at Ezeiza.
619
01:03:22,177 --> 01:03:27,057
We welcomed him.
We went there to welcome him
620
01:03:27,099 --> 01:03:30,811
All roads were blocked, all closed,
621
01:03:31,562 --> 01:03:36,900
the only way to get there was on foot,
miles and miles.
622
01:03:38,443 --> 01:03:42,322
We lined up on that road,
623
01:03:42,614 --> 01:03:47,035
which got us noticed.
624
01:03:48,036 --> 01:03:55,502
The people in front of us
walked way up ahead,
625
01:03:55,627 --> 01:03:58,881
and the ones behind us,
knowing who we were,
626
01:03:58,881 --> 01:04:03,760
walked way behind,
so as not to merge into our group.
627
01:04:06,638 --> 01:04:08,098
That was shocking.
628
01:04:08,098 --> 01:04:16,315
Suddenly, instead of being the FLH,
we looked like a group of lepers
629
01:04:17,107 --> 01:04:18,817
nobody wanted to have contact with.
630
01:04:20,277 --> 01:04:24,865
Instead of carrying banners,
we should've got bells,
631
01:04:24,865 --> 01:04:28,911
the same ones lepers used in the Middle Ages
to announce their presence.
632
01:04:29,995 --> 01:04:33,832
That was very hard,
633
01:04:33,874 --> 01:04:42,216
I've just come out of the closet,
just joined the FLH
634
01:04:42,257 --> 01:04:47,846
and had no experience of
that kind of treatment
635
01:04:49,848 --> 01:04:55,646
I couldn't handle it,
636
01:04:56,021 --> 01:04:57,773
and I didn't make it to Ezeiza.
637
01:04:58,273 --> 01:05:01,443
I left the march because
it was unbearable.
638
01:05:01,610 --> 01:05:05,656
I've never been through
something like that.
639
01:05:07,032 --> 01:05:10,452
When they get to Ezeiza
the massacre breaks out.
640
01:05:15,707 --> 01:05:21,296
Right-wing Peronism against
left-wing Peronism.
641
01:05:23,465 --> 01:05:28,220
No casualties of the FLH in Ezeiza.
642
01:05:31,723 --> 01:05:34,726
USA fosters the violent advance of fascism
643
01:05:35,102 --> 01:05:38,355
and state terrorism in Latin America
644
01:05:38,397 --> 01:05:40,232
to stop the left development.
645
01:05:41,567 --> 01:05:50,617
All suppression of sexual reward
brings about rage due to frustration.
646
01:05:52,411 --> 01:06:04,423
It materialises in hatred, sadism,
aggressiveness, and destructive tendencies.
647
01:06:10,554 --> 01:06:17,269
The sadistic destructiveness of our times
648
01:06:17,269 --> 01:06:25,194
is the result of the inhibition
of natural loving life.
649
01:06:37,247 --> 01:06:46,798
The orgasmically unsatisfied individual
experiences anguish due to pleasure,
650
01:06:46,840 --> 01:06:57,559
which is actually fear of pleasurable arousal
and fear of a free and independent life.
651
01:06:58,393 --> 01:07:02,481
They develop a fake character and
652
01:07:02,731 --> 01:07:10,823
dread all kinds of spontaneous
and excitable behaviour.
653
01:07:11,698 --> 01:07:15,619
Driven by hatred and envy,
654
01:07:15,619 --> 01:07:22,334
they become fierce enemies of progress.
655
01:07:23,919 --> 01:07:33,470
That’s why the anguish due to pleasure is the
foundation where the self-repressed individual
656
01:07:33,470 --> 01:07:43,605
will recreate the denying ideologies of life:
basis of dictatorships.
657
01:07:43,689 --> 01:07:51,989
Or they lead to mass killings
in the form of wars.
658
01:07:53,991 --> 01:07:58,871
Military Coup D'etat In Chile,
11 September 1973
659
01:08:00,455 --> 01:08:10,841
Anguish due to pleasure becomes
a powerful source from which politicians
660
01:08:10,924 --> 01:08:14,595
and conservative political parties
extract their energy.
661
01:08:14,595 --> 01:08:21,894
Their goal is to exert all possible kinds
of reactionary political practices
662
01:08:21,894 --> 01:08:27,608
to control the main working class.
663
01:08:29,109 --> 01:08:33,739
There can't be permanent
peace on Earth,
664
01:08:33,780 --> 01:08:41,955
and all our efforts to socialise huma
beings will be in vain,
665
01:08:41,955 --> 01:08:55,135
while politicians and dictators with no idea
of love continue controlling the masses
666
01:08:55,511 --> 01:09:04,728
who are endemically neurotic
and sexually sick.
667
01:09:05,270 --> 01:09:14,404
There will be annihilation of life,
whether through compulsive education,
668
01:09:14,404 --> 01:09:21,119
compulsive social institutions
or through wars.
669
01:09:32,798 --> 01:09:36,844
In order to eradicate neurosis
from the masses
670
01:09:36,844 --> 01:09:45,102
we need first of all to eliminate
the material needs of people
671
01:09:45,644 --> 01:09:55,821
and guarantee an obstacle-free development
of sexual happiness for each individual.
672
01:09:56,071 --> 01:10:03,370
In this way, we will achieve
an authentic democracy.
673
01:10:08,125 --> 01:10:15,340
Society wasn't ready for us,
for our vindications
674
01:10:15,340 --> 01:10:18,802
The homosexual battle in Argentina
675
01:10:19,386 --> 01:10:22,973
Activism wasn't ready at all.
676
01:10:24,057 --> 01:10:32,691
And the right-wing Peronism
accuses the left-wing Peronism
677
01:10:32,691 --> 01:10:38,489
of being infested with
drug heads and gays.
678
01:10:42,743 --> 01:10:46,079
March Against The Military Coup D'etat In Chile
679
01:10:46,788 --> 01:10:52,252
The first time I saw the Left speaking out
overtly against homosexuality
680
01:10:52,252 --> 01:10:54,129
was in the solidarity march with Chile,
681
01:10:54,213 --> 01:11:01,887
when the left-wing Peronism - about 200,000
youngsters occupying 10 blocks
682
01:11:01,887 --> 01:11:06,642
- were chanting ‘We aren’t fags, we aren’t junkies,
we are FAR soldiers and Montoneros’.
683
01:11:06,767 --> 01:11:10,229
Everyone sang and
believed in this slogan.
684
01:11:10,687 --> 01:11:13,148
Not surprisingly, they were the two
bourgeoise degenerations
685
01:11:13,148 --> 01:11:15,692
rejected by youngsters to make the revolution.
686
01:11:15,984 --> 01:11:18,779
Not to end up on drugs
and not to be gay.
687
01:11:22,491 --> 01:11:30,123
I felt that being gay
wasn't something I could choose;
688
01:11:30,123 --> 01:11:36,547
I couldn't have chosen to like
women instead of men.
689
01:11:36,547 --> 01:11:41,301
Then I realised I was wrong,
so I discussed it with my political organisation.
690
01:11:41,677 --> 01:11:46,640
I was sent to therapy to be
converted to a normal person.
691
01:11:49,643 --> 01:11:55,315
'We aren't fags, we aren't junkies,
we are FAR soldiers and Montoneros'.
692
01:11:55,691 --> 01:11:58,652
That killed us.
693
01:11:59,194 --> 01:12:09,454
Those words spoken by people with
whom we'd tried to be comrades-in-struggle,
694
01:12:10,247 --> 01:12:11,248
left us feeling isolated.
695
01:12:11,248 --> 01:12:12,958
Left us out completely.
696
01:12:12,958 --> 01:12:16,545
It slammed shut our fantasy
of having a political involvement
697
01:12:16,545 --> 01:12:18,881
within the current wave.
698
01:12:19,423 --> 01:12:23,135
That's when the FLH shut down.
699
01:12:23,135 --> 01:12:24,678
There was no other choice.
700
01:12:28,098 --> 01:12:33,061
The government's tolerance towards
right-wing para-police groups'
701
01:12:33,687 --> 01:12:36,857
operations strengthens
after the death of Juan Perón
702
01:12:36,857 --> 01:12:43,113
and the takeover of his wife Isabel,
surrounded by a fascist entourage.
703
01:12:45,282 --> 01:12:49,036
Left-wing activists were killed daily.
704
01:12:50,579 --> 01:12:55,417
The fascist magazine El Caudillo,
705
01:12:55,417 --> 01:12:59,796
reported the authorities' calls to terminate gays
and suggested lynching them,
706
01:13:00,547 --> 01:13:05,302
in an open reference to the
Homosexual Liberation Front.
707
01:13:07,137 --> 01:13:11,016
For the first time the threat
becomes a death threat.
708
01:13:11,975 --> 01:13:15,938
For this reason, the Homosexual
Liberation Front goes underground
709
01:13:15,938 --> 01:13:22,444
because they believe they could be
victims of the extermination plan.
710
01:13:24,112 --> 01:13:30,410
At that time, a group of
FLH activists step down
711
01:13:30,410 --> 01:13:33,872
and propose the dissolution
of the organisation.
712
01:13:34,122 --> 01:13:36,792
Panic starts to spread.
713
01:13:38,961 --> 01:13:42,965
Fascism has declared war on us.
714
01:13:42,965 --> 01:13:44,132
*Homosexual Liberation Front*
It poses the absolute annihilation of Argentine gays.
715
01:13:44,174 --> 01:13:50,097
*Homosexual Liberation Front*
It poses the absolute annihilation of Argentine gays.
716
01:13:50,180 --> 01:13:58,647
Can gays pretend nothing is going on?
717
01:13:59,606 --> 01:14:09,449
And allow ourselves to be taken peacefully
away from our homes and killed like animals?
718
01:14:10,659 --> 01:14:19,543
The Argentina Homosexual
Liberation Front's answer is NO.
719
01:14:20,085 --> 01:14:29,136
Only if we're united and use
our personal fears for the benefit of all
720
01:14:29,136 --> 01:14:38,520
will we manage to defeat the enemy
and regain the human dignity being denied to us.
721
01:14:38,562 --> 01:14:52,284
Only gay love and union
can stop the fascist death machine.
722
01:14:53,285 --> 01:14:59,708
Let's form control, organisation
and propaganda groups.
723
01:15:00,417 --> 01:15:09,551
Let's spray the FLH acronym
on every wall in the country.
724
01:15:10,052 --> 01:15:19,311
Those words and that bravery
they are heroes to me.
725
01:15:19,394 --> 01:15:21,939
Absolute heroes.
726
01:15:22,689 --> 01:15:26,735
Daniel joins the People Revolutionary Army (ERP),
a Marxist guerrilla organisation.
727
01:15:27,236 --> 01:15:31,031
He's jailed in 1974.
728
01:15:31,323 --> 01:15:38,664
I was kicked and beaten up
on my way into the barracks.
729
01:15:39,456 --> 01:15:40,999
I was hurled against the wall,
730
01:15:41,041 --> 01:15:43,085
five guys were beating
me up simultaneously
731
01:15:43,126 --> 01:15:46,880
with boots, with weapons,
with sticks, with everything.
732
01:15:47,256 --> 01:15:48,090
I reached the cell in a mess,
733
01:15:48,090 --> 01:15:52,386
but they kept torturing
and beating me up.
734
01:15:52,469 --> 01:15:56,515
I was forced to remain awake for 10 days,
which was the worst of all tortures.
735
01:15:56,598 --> 01:15:59,017
Three mock executions by shooting.
736
01:16:02,187 --> 01:16:10,487
I survived because I had been jailed by the army,
as opposed to Isabel Perón's Administration.
737
01:16:13,657 --> 01:16:18,495
I was tortured in the most
horrendous way for a month.
738
01:16:18,954 --> 01:16:25,210
I was still alive, so I was taken
to Magadalena Military Prison
739
01:16:25,377 --> 01:16:32,217
and kept in solitary confinement,
unable to see anyone, isolated.
740
01:16:33,177 --> 01:16:36,555
The next decade of my life,
from my 20s to 30s,
741
01:16:36,555 --> 01:16:38,223
I would be in jail.
742
01:16:38,223 --> 01:16:42,853
It was brutal.
Ten years felt like an eternity.
743
01:16:45,105 --> 01:16:47,691
You weren’t permitted to
speak with anyone,
744
01:16:47,691 --> 01:16:49,568
you weren’t permitted
to see the sunshine,
745
01:16:49,568 --> 01:16:52,863
you were punished for no reason
and you had no visitors.
746
01:16:53,155 --> 01:16:54,823
You had nothing,
747
01:16:55,282 --> 01:16:59,286
it was just you with your body
in an enclosed space with nothing else.
748
01:16:59,328 --> 01:17:03,582
If you wanted to use the toilet,
you had to shout for four hours
749
01:17:03,582 --> 01:17:06,168
until you were taken there.
750
01:17:06,460 --> 01:17:09,004
Ten years of your life.
751
01:17:09,421 --> 01:17:16,094
All you could do was try to survive,
not give up.
752
01:17:16,178 --> 01:17:20,140
I instantly resorted to humour.
I laughed at myself.
753
01:17:23,519 --> 01:17:28,607
In 1975, during the famous strike
in Villa Constitución,
754
01:17:28,899 --> 01:17:37,282
we as the PST, a political party,
launched a solidarity campaign and a strike.
755
01:17:37,950 --> 01:17:40,786
That's when we were arrested
and kidnapped.
756
01:17:41,286 --> 01:17:42,955
We were a group of seven comrades.
757
01:17:42,955 --> 01:17:46,124
We were robbed of everything.
758
01:17:46,625 --> 01:17:55,133
We were taken to a base
and tortured.
759
01:17:57,052 --> 01:18:11,608
What saved us was the fact that
we didn’t look like guerrilla members.
760
01:18:14,695 --> 01:18:21,034
That September, eight comrades were killed
in the La Plata massacre.
761
01:18:25,539 --> 01:18:28,667
We were brave and carefree.
762
01:18:29,042 --> 01:18:33,589
Merely handing out leaflets
could lead to being beaten up or disappeared.
763
01:18:34,631 --> 01:18:38,051
It was daily life,
764
01:18:38,427 --> 01:18:43,849
you were aware you
were living on the edge
765
01:18:43,849 --> 01:18:49,688
and your only concern was
how to hide any important data.
766
01:18:50,772 --> 01:18:54,943
During the kidnapping,
mock executions by shooting were performed.
767
01:18:54,985 --> 01:19:00,157
At this point in my life
I'm horrified to say
768
01:19:00,157 --> 01:19:04,495
that I don't remember
being distressed about it.
769
01:19:09,625 --> 01:19:16,340
The Videla military dictatorship unleashed
a systematic pursuit of every gay person.
770
01:19:16,381 --> 01:19:24,014
This prevented all forms of organisation
and forced us to focus on surviving.
771
01:19:27,559 --> 01:19:31,605
The same day of the Coup D’etat
I happened to pop by the Mail Office
772
01:19:31,605 --> 01:19:34,441
to pick up a letter from my mother.
773
01:19:34,525 --> 01:19:38,779
She told me the police
had been in my hometown,
774
01:19:38,779 --> 01:19:45,661
broken into her house,
and had taken her to the station.
775
01:19:45,661 --> 01:19:50,332
My mum was a school principal,
it was a complete scandal.
776
01:19:50,582 --> 01:19:59,007
To force my mum to give them
my address,
777
01:19:59,007 --> 01:20:07,724
my 12-year-old brother was given
a mock execution by shooting squad.
778
01:20:09,601 --> 01:20:15,232
So I had to leave my home
in Berazategui.
779
01:20:18,193 --> 01:20:22,781
We gays didn't know what would
happen to us if arrested,
780
01:20:22,823 --> 01:20:27,786
either we could be taken to
the station or end up being shot.
781
01:20:30,789 --> 01:20:36,170
Due to the general atmosphere
and the fear,
782
01:20:36,545 --> 01:20:41,508
gays were confined to private places.
783
01:20:43,260 --> 01:20:47,097
In such a deadly atmosphere,
784
01:20:47,473 --> 01:20:52,978
we gays needed to keep on fucking,
785
01:20:52,978 --> 01:20:58,317
so we sought places we could go.
786
01:20:59,276 --> 01:21:04,531
I think continuing to have sex
was a way to fight against this deadly order.
787
01:21:04,531 --> 01:21:09,703
That's why we continued
looking for places away
788
01:21:09,703 --> 01:21:13,707
from surveillance
and morality brigades.
789
01:21:13,999 --> 01:21:16,627
That's how we found public toilets.
790
01:21:16,627 --> 01:21:22,007
We called the sexually-active
public toilets Tea Rooms.
791
01:21:22,466 --> 01:21:27,554
Hidden camera of Ohio Police (1962).
792
01:21:28,055 --> 01:21:31,517
Utilised to condemn gays.
793
01:21:31,558 --> 01:21:37,272
It turned out to be an excellent
meeting spot for an initial sexual encounter,
794
01:21:37,272 --> 01:21:45,364
to meet people or
simply for satisfaction.
795
01:21:46,323 --> 01:21:50,410
Especially the public toilets
in train stations
796
01:21:50,452 --> 01:21:55,541
where there were many passers-by.
797
01:22:04,007 --> 01:22:12,766
It was like a theatre piece
were each person had a role.
798
01:22:12,808 --> 01:22:17,646
There was the morality policeman,
the crazy young queen,
799
01:22:17,646 --> 01:22:19,523
the fat queen, the ugly queen.
800
01:22:20,440 --> 01:22:24,444
Everyone moved as if
they were on a chessboard
801
01:22:24,444 --> 01:22:28,866
with positions constantly changing.
802
01:22:29,366 --> 01:22:32,911
During dictatorship years,
803
01:22:32,995 --> 01:22:40,961
Tea Rooms were regarded as sordid
or free places that had ceased to exist.
804
01:22:40,961 --> 01:22:43,130
Brotherhood places.
805
01:22:43,881 --> 01:22:51,138
Teenagers desperate to have
their first sexual experience went there,
806
01:22:51,138 --> 01:22:53,724
and so did I.
807
01:22:53,724 --> 01:22:56,560
I was at secondary school
and I remember seeing
808
01:22:56,560 --> 01:23:01,190
some kind of activity
at Belgrano R train station.
809
01:23:01,190 --> 01:23:03,442
I used to peep.
810
01:23:03,442 --> 01:23:08,780
I realised I could go there
for sexual satisfaction.
811
01:23:08,989 --> 01:23:14,453
You are really horny
in your teenage years
812
01:23:15,746 --> 01:23:21,043
and you don't know what to do.
813
01:23:21,251 --> 01:23:25,672
You’re gay and you think
you’re the only one on Earth.
814
01:23:26,381 --> 01:23:33,430
Picking up on the street was dangerous
from the activist point of view,
815
01:23:34,389 --> 01:23:38,811
since many gays had disappeared.
816
01:23:38,852 --> 01:23:44,983
Sexually attractive men were used
as kings to seduce gays on the streets
817
01:23:44,983 --> 01:23:47,611
and then kill them
818
01:23:47,903 --> 01:23:52,282
There were no social networks
nor gay clubs.
819
01:23:52,282 --> 01:23:54,618
We relied on the vibe,
820
01:23:54,618 --> 01:24:00,082
on our female intuition
through sightings and codes..
821
01:24:01,875 --> 01:24:08,590
You couldn’t just simply approach someone,
you had to take a long detour.
822
01:24:08,715 --> 01:24:11,176
So going after someone
or being pursued
823
01:24:11,176 --> 01:24:15,430
was dangerous due
to plainclothes police officers.
824
01:24:17,766 --> 01:24:20,978
There were other public places.
825
01:24:20,978 --> 01:24:28,861
Some cinemas recreated a sex atmosphere,
a place for making out.
826
01:24:29,945 --> 01:24:31,864
Isabel Sarli movies were shown,
827
01:24:31,864 --> 01:24:36,410
aimed at a lonely
and horny male audience.
828
01:24:38,120 --> 01:24:42,875
So queens would approach straight men.
829
01:24:45,043 --> 01:24:48,130
The gay looking for the king.
830
01:24:48,130 --> 01:24:51,675
There was a quest for the opposite.
831
01:24:52,968 --> 01:24:59,558
It was a time when gays
hadn't seized equality,
832
01:24:59,558 --> 01:25:04,563
there weren't fully gay couples,
833
01:25:05,731 --> 01:25:07,524
with gay domestication
834
01:25:07,524 --> 01:25:11,987
and assimilation into liberal societies
and democracies.
835
01:25:18,702 --> 01:25:24,500
When writing about his life in the pre-Castro Cuba,
Reinaldo Arenas says
836
01:25:24,500 --> 01:25:31,715
that he didn't fuck with peers, i.e. gays,
but he would fuck the father of a family.
837
01:25:32,549 --> 01:25:40,682
It was always a quest for a mystery,
a chance, a thing that was decoded.
838
01:25:40,682 --> 01:25:42,518
It wasn't predicted nor foreseen.
839
01:25:45,938 --> 01:25:52,778
At that time, during dictatorship years,
our badge was wearing tits.
840
01:25:53,028 --> 01:25:55,614
Taking to the streets
in dictatorship years .
841
01:25:55,614 --> 01:25:58,158
with inflatable tits
842
01:25:58,200 --> 01:26:03,247
You had to have the balls to do that!
843
01:26:03,872 --> 01:26:06,083
It was about surviving at that time.
844
01:26:06,083 --> 01:26:08,293
Because many transvestites
were found dead
845
01:26:08,293 --> 01:26:12,422
and we didn't know
how that happened.
846
01:26:12,923 --> 01:26:16,677
Valeria Del Mar was kidnapped in a clandestine jail,
847
01:26:16,677 --> 01:26:20,556
to be raped by policemen.
848
01:26:20,806 --> 01:26:23,475
We were pushed out of the car.
849
01:26:23,559 --> 01:26:26,311
There was a fat police officer
at a desk who said:
850
01:26:26,311 --> 01:26:29,523
'You brought the two
bunnies we'd asked for'.
851
01:26:29,523 --> 01:26:32,651
My friend Romina and I
looked at each other
852
01:26:32,651 --> 01:26:35,154
because we were only 20 years old.
853
01:26:38,157 --> 01:26:41,785
We were taken to the back cells
on the 2nd floor.
854
01:26:42,244 --> 01:26:46,582
Valeria Del Mar was the only witness
to report the robbery of a baby
855
01:26:46,665 --> 01:26:50,460
who was given birth to by an
arrested-disappeared in the dictatorship jail.
856
01:26:50,752 --> 01:26:58,177
I was having a shower
when I heard a woman shouting
857
01:26:58,677 --> 01:27:05,517
‘Bring a towel. The baby is coming’.
858
01:27:05,517 --> 01:27:12,274
I felt the birth, a baby was crying.
859
01:27:13,984 --> 01:27:17,571
After the labour, a police officer said,
860
01:27:17,571 --> 01:27:25,913
'Fill up this bucket
and clean up your crap.'
861
01:27:26,830 --> 01:27:36,381
And I saw a pale, dirty,
bloodied woman.
862
01:27:37,382 --> 01:27:42,638
I told her I'd help her fill the bucket.
863
01:27:42,679 --> 01:27:46,725
The policewoman overheard me,
came in, looked around
864
01:27:46,725 --> 01:27:48,185
and said to the other officer:
865
01:27:48,185 --> 01:27:52,314
'What is this fag doing here?
Why didn't you tell me?'
866
01:27:52,898 --> 01:27:55,359
The officer grabbed me by my hair,
and pushed me shouting
867
01:27:55,359 --> 01:27:57,861
'What are you doing here, you bloody faggot!'
868
01:27:58,487 --> 01:28:12,918
I slipped on the girl's blood
and was dragged back to the cell,
869
01:28:13,335 --> 01:28:18,799
where I was dumped on
the ground. I was dirty.
870
01:28:18,799 --> 01:28:20,217
As I was being dragged,
871
01:28:20,217 --> 01:28:23,887
I could see the other officer
holding a baby.
872
01:28:23,887 --> 01:28:30,936
The girl was there and I spent
the whole day naked in the cell.
873
01:28:31,395 --> 01:28:37,067
Valeria Del Mar survived. She was the only
transvestite in a trial against the dictatorship.
874
01:28:37,067 --> 01:28:39,736
The mother of the stolen baby
remains disappeared.
875
01:28:39,987 --> 01:28:44,867
Democracy returns in 1983,
876
01:28:44,867 --> 01:28:48,036
political prisoners are released.
877
01:28:48,287 --> 01:28:51,832
When I was released I felt like a
baby thrown onto the streets.
878
01:28:51,957 --> 01:28:56,086
We were given back the clothes
we had worn when jailed
879
01:28:56,128 --> 01:28:57,713
ten years before.
880
01:28:58,755 --> 01:29:02,384
Old trainers, bell-bottom trousers,
881
01:29:02,468 --> 01:29:05,095
which were the only ones I had
for six weeks after my release,
882
01:29:05,095 --> 01:29:08,932
and a t-shirt that still fits me
ten years later.
883
01:29:09,266 --> 01:29:10,976
I put those ridiculous clothes on
884
01:29:10,976 --> 01:29:16,064
and I looked like I was dressed
up for a Village People party.
885
01:29:16,231 --> 01:29:20,360
Also, the t-shirt was
completely psychedelic.
886
01:29:21,778 --> 01:29:26,366
When people saw me in the street,
they did like this…
887
01:29:27,701 --> 01:29:30,746
I had been jailed in a world
where everyone wore a suit.
888
01:29:32,706 --> 01:29:33,916
I couldn't get what was going on now.
889
01:29:33,916 --> 01:29:37,002
Men were wearing shorts,
sleeveless shirts
890
01:29:37,002 --> 01:29:39,296
and they greeted everyone
with a kiss.
891
01:29:41,298 --> 01:29:44,301
The world has turned gay,
I thought.
892
01:29:46,178 --> 01:29:49,306
Shirtless guys in parks sunbathing.
893
01:29:49,306 --> 01:29:50,933
Today all these things
seem normal to us,
894
01:29:50,933 --> 01:29:52,518
but back in 1983,
895
01:29:52,518 --> 01:29:56,396
someone who had been in a cellar
for 10 years couldn’t believe his eyes.
896
01:29:57,981 --> 01:30:01,485
San Francisco, 1977. Harvey Milk is
897
01:30:01,485 --> 01:30:06,323
the first gay activist elected official.
898
01:30:06,740 --> 01:30:09,785
The world regime started to change,
899
01:30:09,785 --> 01:30:14,540
from the old suffering gay
to another gay regime.
900
01:30:14,540 --> 01:30:24,091
Though still not visible,
a new time of media exposure had begun.
901
01:30:26,135 --> 01:30:29,346
November 27, 1978 Harvey Milk
is assassinated
902
01:30:29,346 --> 01:30:33,392
by Dan White, his homophobic political rival
903
01:30:38,397 --> 01:30:43,360
When democracy started,
the police apparatus remained unchanged.
904
01:30:43,527 --> 01:30:46,071
It was still unpunished.
905
01:30:46,780 --> 01:30:49,658
The police were the same as
in the dictatorship years.
906
01:30:49,658 --> 01:30:52,327
The morality brigade was still working
907
01:30:52,327 --> 01:30:57,791
and there was a specific interest
in the pursuit of the gay community.
908
01:30:57,916 --> 01:31:01,712
To stop police abuse,
Carlos Jáuregui
909
01:31:01,712 --> 01:31:05,090
creates the Argentine
Gay Community (CHA).
910
01:31:05,507 --> 01:31:13,724
In 1984, the National Commission
for the Disappearance of People (CONADEP),
911
01:31:13,724 --> 01:31:16,018
documented and published
912
01:31:16,018 --> 01:31:21,815
the crimes in the dictatorship years
in the book Nunca Más.
913
01:31:22,107 --> 01:31:27,154
The President of the
Argentine Gay Community,
914
01:31:27,154 --> 01:31:29,531
Carlos Jáuregui,
915
01:31:29,531 --> 01:31:35,037
explained many years later
that the rabbi, Marshall Meyer,
916
01:31:35,037 --> 01:31:38,081
one of the heads of CONADEP,
917
01:31:38,081 --> 01:31:46,298
confirmed the existence of
a record of 400 gay prisoners,
918
01:31:46,298 --> 01:31:50,010
who were tortured, raped
and disappeared
919
01:31:50,010 --> 01:31:54,014
due to their sexual identity,
during the dictatorship.
920
01:31:54,014 --> 01:32:05,025
we were treated sadistically and violently
the disappeared Jewish prisoners.
921
01:32:05,192 --> 01:32:08,362
The rabbi also said
these cases weren't included
922
01:32:08,362 --> 01:32:10,739
in the Nunca Más book,
923
01:32:10,739 --> 01:32:13,826
due to pressure from
the Catholic Church.
924
01:32:15,452 --> 01:32:19,498
Carlos Jáuregui, the first president
of the Argentine Gay Community,
925
01:32:20,791 --> 01:32:26,630
states that the media must also
be central to our cause.
926
01:32:26,672 --> 01:32:29,925
Risks Of Being
Gay In Argentina
927
01:32:30,467 --> 01:32:35,305
We will be educating
through the media.
928
01:32:35,639 --> 01:32:39,434
Regarding a minority as dangerous
is the same approach
929
01:32:39,601 --> 01:32:45,274
to the laws proposed in
Nazi Germany in 1936.
930
01:32:45,649 --> 01:32:51,196
Little by little society will get used
to the images and the voice.
931
01:32:51,405 --> 01:32:58,412
That's the way to remove
the terror that surrounds us.
932
01:33:02,875 --> 01:33:05,627
The idea was the visible gay,
933
01:33:06,378 --> 01:33:10,424
the gay who could step out
from the dark, from the catacombs,
934
01:33:10,424 --> 01:33:13,594
make a place for himself -
and change from the gay
935
01:33:13,594 --> 01:33:18,682
who suffers due to his isolation
into a gay who lives normally.
936
01:33:34,281 --> 01:33:39,495
Rock Hudson laid the HIV issue
on the table worldwide.
937
01:33:44,958 --> 01:33:49,588
I began to panic because I
had already started living with my sexuality
938
01:33:49,588 --> 01:33:54,635
by the time Rock Hudson
came out of the closet
939
01:33:54,635 --> 01:33:58,847
in Hollywood to say
he had the gay plague.
940
01:33:59,181 --> 01:34:10,484
By 1985 the first echoes were
coming from the USA and Europe.
941
01:34:11,443 --> 01:34:15,572
The issue hadn't appeared
in Argentina yet.
942
01:34:15,823 --> 01:34:23,664
Two years later, in 1987,
the first HIV tests were carried out
943
01:34:23,789 --> 01:34:26,792
in the Argentina Gay Community.
944
01:34:28,877 --> 01:34:36,760
From then on, we began living a time
of great dread and discrimination.
945
01:34:38,387 --> 01:34:43,934
Houses where someone with
HIV had lived in were burnt down.
946
01:34:44,309 --> 01:34:47,020
We used to live in terror because
947
01:34:47,020 --> 01:34:53,485
it was considered a death sentence.
948
01:34:55,654 --> 01:34:59,825
A form of termination through the bodies.
949
01:35:01,869 --> 01:35:06,874
HIV epidemy is a hole in a generation,
950
01:35:06,874 --> 01:35:13,380
and the gay struggle was
a huge backward step.
951
01:35:13,380 --> 01:35:16,341
Many things had been achieved,
952
01:35:16,341 --> 01:35:29,521
but overnight we turned into
the representatives of a world epidemic.
953
01:35:29,521 --> 01:35:33,108
The pandemic that was immediately
regarded as the gay plague.
954
01:35:34,318 --> 01:35:37,905
Another casualty of the gay plague in Argentina
955
01:35:39,364 --> 01:35:43,410
Discrimination at first was brutal.
956
01:35:46,079 --> 01:35:52,836
It had hurt. I’d felt humiliation
and an overwhelming grief
957
01:35:53,170 --> 01:35:59,009
when I heard my friend’s brother,
who’s a doctor, saying ‘Let them die alone.’
958
01:36:03,305 --> 01:36:09,478
My friends began to die too.
959
01:36:09,478 --> 01:36:11,480
One funeral after the other.
960
01:36:13,524 --> 01:36:23,826
The whole support system stemmed
from the organised gay groups.
961
01:36:23,826 --> 01:36:26,787
Argentina included.
962
01:36:27,162 --> 01:36:33,836
The Argentine Gay Community (CHA)
was first to start work on it.
963
01:36:34,253 --> 01:36:39,424
The first Spanish leaflet I remember,
964
01:36:39,424 --> 01:36:43,679
explaining how to put on a condom,
was published by the CHA.
965
01:36:46,598 --> 01:36:52,563
We created a foundation called
HIV Alternative Vision.
966
01:36:54,398 --> 01:37:00,362
The first thing we did with donations
967
01:37:00,362 --> 01:37:07,244
was to remodel Room 17
from Muñiz Hospital,
968
01:37:07,244 --> 01:37:12,875
which is where at that time
all the HIV-infected patients were taken.
969
01:37:16,670 --> 01:37:23,218
In the main San Francisco paper,
The San Francisco Chronicle,
970
01:37:23,218 --> 01:37:27,681
there was a front page
article saying
971
01:37:28,348 --> 01:37:33,770
"Those who have been rejected...
972
01:37:39,902 --> 01:37:45,491
...by the way they love...
973
01:37:50,496 --> 01:37:56,543
...were showing the world
the true meaning of love."
974
01:37:56,877 --> 01:38:01,673
That was in relation to all
the social work and service
975
01:38:01,673 --> 01:38:08,680
given to the community
by the gay organisations.
976
01:38:08,722 --> 01:38:10,557
Here it was the same.
977
01:38:10,599 --> 01:38:14,436
The CHA was the first one to act.
978
01:38:14,937 --> 01:38:22,694
Our work was based on making
people feel fine with themselves.
979
01:38:23,237 --> 01:38:27,825
By doing so, their body
would react better,
980
01:38:27,825 --> 01:38:31,036
the immune system would be stronger.
981
01:38:32,246 --> 01:38:42,756
The key was the preliminary work
so the disease wouldn't explode.
982
01:38:43,966 --> 01:38:48,804
The HIV virus takes the life of
Carlos Jáuregui in 1996.
983
01:38:51,348 --> 01:38:57,646
In 1992, Nestor Perlongher had died of HIV,
a model of the Homosexual Liberation Front.
984
01:39:01,775 --> 01:39:06,196
Every Thursday, the Mothers
of Plaza de Mayo march.
985
01:39:12,536 --> 01:39:19,084
The FLH survivors were
contacted by them.
986
01:39:19,501 --> 01:39:25,883
We marched with
the Mothers in Plaza de Mayo
987
01:39:25,883 --> 01:39:34,308
and we finally arrived at
the same place
988
01:39:34,516 --> 01:39:38,687
we had been 40 years earlier.
989
01:39:41,148 --> 01:39:45,736
We walked in their footsteps.
990
01:40:14,640 --> 01:40:19,269
One last pep talk:
We don't want to be persecuted,
991
01:40:22,356 --> 01:40:24,107
nor caught,
992
01:40:26,360 --> 01:40:28,445
nor discriminated,
993
01:40:29,238 --> 01:40:31,657
nor killed,
994
01:40:31,949 --> 01:40:33,116
nor cured,
995
01:40:33,784 --> 01:40:35,786
nor analysed,
996
01:40:36,119 --> 01:40:37,955
nor explained,
997
01:40:38,705 --> 01:40:42,000
nor tolerated, nor understood.
998
01:40:43,377 --> 01:40:47,047
We just want to be acknowledged.
999
01:42:04,333 --> 01:42:08,837
In 2010 same-sex marriage bill is passed in Argentina.
1000
01:42:08,837 --> 01:42:11,632
It was the first Latin American country to do so.
1001
01:42:11,632 --> 01:42:15,803
In 2012, was recognises the right to have
1002
01:42:15,803 --> 01:42:18,889
a self-perceived sexual identity in the national ID.
1003
01:42:18,889 --> 01:42:21,850
Currently, millions of women fight against
1004
01:42:21,850 --> 01:42:25,437
chauvinist violence, gender equality and legal abortion.
1005
01:43:40,053 --> 01:43:45,017
Translated by Cesar E. Pretelli & edited by Gay Hollister
caesartranslations@gmail.com
90855
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