Argentina President Cristina Fernandez
on Monday personally delivered new identity cards to people who
transitioned their genders, saying equality matters.
Congress overwhelmingly approved the
nation's new gender identity law, which allows anyone to switch his
or her gender without first seeking the approval of a judge or a
doctor. The law took effect last month. It also extends government
health coverage to include gender reassignment surgery.
Fernandez celebrated passage of the law
with a ceremony held at The Pink House, gay blog Blabbeando
reported.
“Today is a day of tremendous
reparations,” she told the crowd. “Today we do not shout for
liberation but instead we shout for equality, which is just as
important as freedom.”
“I do not want to use a word that
bothers me greatly: Tolerance. No. I do not believe in 'tolerance.'
To tolerate is to say, 'I'll allow you to be because I have no
other choice.' I want to talk about equality and I want to talk
about all of you who will now have the same rights I have enjoyed
from the moment I was born and the rights that so many millions of
Argentinians have enjoyed from the moment they were born. This is
the society we want.”
Argentina legalized gay marriage in
2010.