By Luxx Marina |

For thirty-three years women, lesbians, travestis*, trans and non-binaries met again and again at the Encuentro Nacional de Mujeres (National Women’s Meeting). From the beginning in 1986, when 1000 women gathered at the San Martín Theater, the Encuentro has not stopped growing and never stopped its march. Tens of thousands of people organize their year based on the October trip. The host city is flooded by the presence of women and dissidence. Schools are transformed into collective homes. Machismo always reacts, however. Alarmist campaigns from the Catholic and evangelical churches, repression and intimidation from the police, attacks and aggressions on the part of male neighbors, are some of the usual responses. But solidarity always wins. We meet with joy and we participate with enthusiasm. For many, this is the most intense and rewarding moment of the year.
*Travesti is the political identity of some groups in Argentina, which appropriated this slur to remember and honor their fight for identity rights. They do not consider themselves tans women, but a different gender entirely.