President Milei's homophobic Davos speech spark protests across Argentina

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of the capital Buenos Aires and other major cities to protest President Javier Milei’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland last week.

In it he sharply criticised “sick wokeism,” social welfare, feminism, identity politics and the fight against climate change, adding that “in its most extreme versions gender ideology constitutes plain and simple child abuse.”

Milei also compared homosexuality to paedophilia, and he announced plans to remove the concept of femicide from the penal code.

Soon after assuming office, Milei's government dismantled the Ministry of Women's Affairs, leaving many victims of gender-based violence without institutional support and leaving about 500 workers unemployed.

He also cut funding for historical memory initiatives, a move that will likely delay trials for crimes against humanity committed during Argentina’s military dictatorship.

Protesters in Buenos Aires were clad in rainbow-coloured flags and bore banners that read “rights are not negotiable.” Dubbed the “Federal March of Anti-Fascist and Anti-Racist Pride,” the LGBTQ+ community called the protest after the speech on Jan. 23 to combat “the economic violence, political persecution and sexual repression of Javier Milei’s government.”

Rights’ groups, unions and political parties also joined the protest.

Protester Germán Paladino, an industrial engineer, said Milei’s government was not taking care of public issues such as healthcare and education and was instead lashing out at people’s private life.

“I don’t know if this march can change anything, but if it could put a break on Javier Milei’s remarks which were rather aggressive,” Paladino said.

“I am here to defend our rights, those which we have won and those that are currently under attack,” said Milagros, a 33-year-old visual artist.

In recent decades, Argentina has enshrined progressive laws consecrating sexual diversity and equal marriage rights, among others.