Argentina Bans Gender Change For Minors

JAKARTA - Argentina's Presidential Office on Wednesday said President Javier Milei decided to ban gender-changing treatments and operations for minors, as well as impose restrictions on trans women placed in women's prisons.

In a press conference, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said the ban would include hormone therapy and follow similar resistances to laws on trans-rights in countries such as Britain, Sweden, Finland, and the United States, seeking to protect children's mental health.

The announcement comes days after thousands of Argentine citizens protested LGBT+ rights after President Milei addressed Davos, Switzerland, questioning "feminism, diversity, inclusion, abortion, the environment, and gender ideology", calling progressive policies "cankers that must be eradicated."

"The president cannot change the law through fire. And if he tries, we will file him in court and an Inter-American Court if necessary," Argentina's Argentine LGBT+ Federation in X said, noting existing laws do not allow sex surgery for minors.

"The gender ideology brought to extreme points and applied to children with violence or psychological coercion is clearly child abuse," the office said in a statement.

Gender operations are very rare for children around the world. Transgender children generally have to be evaluated medically and diagnosed with gender dysphoria before starting from dietary inhibition or hormonal therapy.

President Milei, a right-wing libertarian, will also assign prisoners to be placed according to their gender registered at the time of the crime, his office said.

Apart from this, the office added that no transgender woman will be placed in a women's prison if she is convicted of sexual crimes, human trafficking, or crimes of violence against women.

"This decision will allow a much more plausible system that guarantees the safety of all female prisoners and ends the madness driven by the evil gender ideology," said Adorni.

President Milei's office did not provide details on how many trans women were placed in women's prisons or convicted of the crime, nor did it say how the changes would affect intersex people, who were born with non-binary biological characteristics.