Is this the world’s gayest Subway station?
Buenos Aires has dedicated its newest Subway station to an Argentinian gay icon.
On Monday (20 March) the new station, now called Santa Fe – Carlos Jaúregui, opened on the city metro system’s H-Line.
It’s considered to be the world’s first station to be named in the honor of an LGBTI icon and activist.
As the name suggests it is dedicated to Carlos Jaúregui, an LGBTI activists and the first president of the Comunidad Homosexual Argentina.
And it’s not just the name that’s dedicated to him.
Throughout the station, there is art to celebrate the LGBTI movement and one of its leading figures.
Él fue el primer presidente de la @CHAArgentina y un defensor de los derechos de las minorías, por eso es un orgullo poder homenajearlo así. pic.twitter.com/aHKiycjMOA
— H Rodríguez Larreta (@horaciorlarreta) March 20, 2017
Artist Daniel Arzola created a 12×4 meter mural paying homage to Jaúregui.
Screens show videos intended to increase awareness about sexual diversity, activists’ quotes as well as information on how to report discrimination.
The platform balconies have been painted with portraits of different ‘types’ of LGBTI people – some single, some couples, but all to show the diversity of the community.
The staircases are all painted in rainbow colors.
Horacio Rodríguez Larreta said naming the station after Jaúregui was ‘not only a tribute but an act of justice’ for the activist who ‘madethe fight for rights his life’.
‘If there is something we have to be proud of [it’s] how we have evolved as a city, as a community,’ he said.
’In terms of respect for rights.’
During his lifetime Jaúregui shaped the LGBTI movement in Argentina.
In 1991 he founded the Gays for Civil Rights Association (Gays por los Derechos Civiles)
A year later he led the first Pride March in Buenos Aires.
Jaúregui died of AIDS on 20 August 1996.
Since 2008 the day of his death is celebrated as the Day of Activism for Sexual Diversity.
by Stefanie Gerdes
Source – Gay Star News
