Diversity in Rosario

On the first wekend of August 2007 I visited the city of Rosario, which is in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. One of my aims while there was to see the monument and path dedicated to diversity inaugurated on 22nd August 2006 and which I had read about on a web site.


The monument is hardly known among the local people; I went on a city tour of Rosario and our guide had no knowledge of it, and despite questioning various people we were none the wiser at the end of the tour. Back at my hotel I had to dig around on the internet and finally found the information I was seeking at the web site of gay Rosario http://www.agmagazine.com.ar/. Armed with this I was able to visit the monument on a sunny but chilly Sunday morning.


The path extends for about 100m in the grassy park running along the top of the western bank of the Rio Paraná between Corrientes and Paraguay streets with the monument standing at the Corrientes end. The monument is a simple pyramid about 1.3m tall with a plaque set into the side facing southeast. The inscription on the plaque reads "Por el respeto a todo género, identidad y orientación sexual" - "With respect for all gender, identity and sexual orientation". The pyramid started life having a striking pink colour but after one year this has faded considerably. Also there are pieces chipped out of it apparently from being struck several times, and some graffiti is scrawled on the side opposite to the plaque. I hope the local people can find a way of maintaining the dignity of the monument with as much care and attention as that given to the enormous phallic monument to the national flag which dominates the river bank in Rosario.