LGBTQ Migrations en Argentina: A Dialog Between Artists and Activists

Debanuj DasGupta

• Assistant Professor of Feminist Studies at UCSB. Debanuj’s research and teaching focuses on racialized regulation of space, immigration detention, queer migrations and the global governance of migration, sexuality, and HIV. Debanuj serves on the political geography editorial board of the Geography Compass and is Board-Co Chair of the Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies: CLAGS at the City University of New York.  He is the recipient of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) funded Junior Scholar Award in Transregional Studies: Inter Asian Contexts & Connections; Global Challenges Research Fund Networking Award, The British Department for International Development, Ford Foundation funded New Voices Fellowship, American Association of Geographers and National Science Foundation funded T. J. Reynolds National Award in Disability Studies, and the International AIDS Society’s Emerging Activist Award. Her scholarly work has been published in journals such as Human Geography, Women’s Studies in Communication, Disability Studies Quarterly, Contemporary South Asia, SEXUALITIES, Gender, Place & Culture, Emotions, Space, and Society, and the Scholar and the Feminist (S&F online). She is the co-editor of Friendship As Social Justice Activism: Critical Solidarities in Global Perspective (University of Chicago Press), and Queering Digital India: Activisms, Identities and Subjectivities (University of Edinburgh Press). Debanuj is presently working on two book projects. The first is tentatively titled as Trans/Detention: Politics of Trauma and Trans/Migrant Justice this monograph length project investigates how transgender detainees and asylum seekers are subjected to trauma within detention centers and asylum courts in the US, and how transgender immigrant rights activists are transforming trauma into creative political action that seeks to disrupt the national security state. The second monograph is tentatively titled as Sexing the Region: Cross Border Trans/Activisms in South Asia. This monograph opens up questions about how border conflicts between nation-states in South Asia is felt at the scale of the transgender body, and argues for a regional, inter-scalar understanding of transgender lives in South Asia. Debanuj self-identifies as Koti/Gender Queer. S/he loves traveling, spending quiet time by herself, and is an avid foodie.

Mariano Ruiz

• President and founder of Derechos Humanos y Diversidad Asociación Civil, Board Member and Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean for the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, and consultant on project writing for AFDA - Association of Diverse Families and AMMAR - Argentina's Sex Workers Union. He is also an external consultant for the World Bank on LGBTIQ issues. Mariano has extensive experience in managing and designing international cooperation projects and public policies that impact vulnerable populations, mainly focused on LGBTIQ+ people and LGBTIQ+ Asylum Seekers and Refugees. He has experience designing and implementing programs to assist asylum seekers and refugees in their settlement process. In August 2018, he participated in the International Leadership Visitors Program on Human and Civil Rights for Marginalized Communities, organized by the United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. From September 2018 to July 2019, he was awarded the RSFL (The Swedish Federation for Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Rights) Rainbow Advocacy Program scholarship. He is also a fellow with the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum since 2015, having attended sessions in Salzburg (Austria), Chiang Rai (Thailand), and Kathmandu (Nepal) from 2015 to 2019. In 2019, he was named one of Washington, DC's Human Rights Campaign Innovative Summit Fellows. He participated as an envoy during the OutRight International Advocacy Week in New York City. Mariano is an alumnus of the Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP) from Columbia University in the City of New York 2019 cohort. Since 2017, he has been working with Rainbow Railroad in relocating more than 40 LGBTIQ+ displaced individuals to Argentina, assisting them with integration and the asylum process. Mariano is also a Western Union Foundation Fellow 2023-2024.

Polina Salnikova 

• Restorator and artist. Polina loves traveling and painting during her travels. She is trained in art restoration and painting from the Moscow State Academy of Arts & Industry.

Eyad Jaabary 

• Translator, interpreter, teacher, and activist. Born in Latakia, Syria, in 1988 and relocated to Argentina in 2017 through a community sponsorship program, Eyad is actively involved in assisting and integrating refugees and asylum seekers in Argentina, with a special focus on individuals from the Middle East and members of the LGBTQ community. Part of UNHCR's Refugee Advisory Group and a panelist in the 2023 Global Refugee Forum. A proud participant in UCI's Crossing Pride in Stockholm and currently co-authoring a chapter in an upcoming book on queer geographies alongside Professor Dasgupta.

Zoya Pavlovna Matisova-Rosh

• I, Zoya Pavlovna Matisova-Rosh, was born on March 5, 1975, in Nizhny Novgorod, and lived there until the age of 29 when I moved to Moscow. I worked in the commercial sector as a specialist in advertising and promotion. At one point, I also taught at a university and conducted training sessions on sales, business negotiations, creative strategy development, conflict resolution, and more. Despite being a lesbian throughout my life and living in a same-sex partnership, I always kept my identity hidden at work. I never mentioned that I was heterosexual, but I also never openly discussed my homosexuality. At the age of 33, I decided to pursue a psychological education because working in advertising was no longer comfortable for me. The money was good, but there was too much deceit. In 2012, I obtained a diploma from the Higher School of Psychology, and in the fall of the same year, I enrolled in the Moscow School of Human Rights. In 2013, following the infamous law on "gay propaganda," I became a volunteer at the International LGBT Film Festival "Side by Side." In the same year, I resigned from my office job and became self-employed. Gradually, I became more involved in activism and stopped hiding my identity, becoming increasingly open. I volunteered for various human rights organizations and conducted various training sessions for activists, human rights defenders, and volunteers, covering topics from team-building to burnout prevention. I also delivered seminars and lectures on LGBT activism, gender theory, and human rights advocacy. Since 2014, I have been continuously working on the Hotline of the Russian LGBT Network, and in November 2017, I was elected to the Network's Council. A week after the 4th Family Psychological LGBTQIA+ Conference, I was attacked, beaten, and had my eyes burned by the assailants. The attackers were eventually found, and my case became the only one in Russia where the motive of hatred towards the LGBT community was indicated. In 2020, during the pandemic, my girlfriend and I, later my wife, decided to leave Russia, and in 2023, we relocated to Argentina. Unfortunately, our marriage, like many refugees, did not withstand the challenges of emigration, but we remained friends. Currently, I primarily work with immigrants and refugees as a psychologist, learn the language, and dream of focusing more on training and teaching in the future.