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.

Continuing debate over transvestite prostitution in Buenos Aires

About two years ago the city government made a regulation that prohibited prostitutes from offering their services within 200 metres of a school, church or residential building. This prohibition covered just about every street in the city so the prostitutes (nearly all transvestites) moved their business to a part of Palermo Woods called Rosedal. (I have read in the press that every night Rosedal receives around 3000 potential clients in cars or taxis looking to do business with the 200 or so "girls" offering their services there - not all at the same time of course.) Then two weeks ago, as a result of complaints by nearby residents and park users, the government extended the prohibition to this location also.

The transvestites were so incensed that they not only refused to leave the area but on the following Monday held a protest outside the city government offices and the following day the order was rescinded. The government offered to organise a meeting to include all interested parties to try and resolve the situation.

Accordingly last Monday (6th August) a meeting was held in the unlikely venue of the the Palermo Golf Club. The two principal parties (transvestites and residents) ended up agreeing to disagree - a suggestion that the business be moved to the area near the Planetarium was rejected by the transvestites. The government is now going to meet each group individually to try and find a way of resolving the issues.


For more up-to-date information on gay places in Buenos Aires visit Guide to Gay Buenos Aires