Last October 12, The Embassy of Argentina in South Africa jointly with the High Commission of United Kingdom in Pretoria organized a webinar entitled “Celebrating National Coming Out Day. Championing the visibility of LGBTI people through inclusive societies- a share responsibility “. It should be noted that both countries promoted this event as Co-Chairs of the Equal Rights Coalition (ERC), a group of 42 countries that promotes worldwide the respect for the rights of the LGBT community.

Panelists included South African government officials such as Deputy Justice Minister John Jeffery, Foreign Policy Special Advisor to Minister Pandor, Zane Dangor, human rights activists, Jade Madingwane, Gender Studies Professor from the University of Pretoria, Busisiwe Deyi, and the Executive Director of the NGO, Foundation for Human Rights, Hanif Vally. Diplomats, lawyers specialized in LGBT litigation, university professors and students, members of the Argentine community, etc. participated actively in the webinar through the question and answer session.

Ambassador Alberto D´Alotto opened the seminar and highlighted both the national policies carried out by our country in terms of promoting the rights of the LGBT community, as well as the main international initiatives promoted by Argentina in the United Nations General Assembly and in the Human Rights Council as well as in the OAS. Similarly, the participation of our country in the ERC and the invitation to South Africa to join this coalition were emphasized.

This activity had a vast repercussion in the local press through an interview on radio Jacaranda 94.7 and a newspaper article published by the newspaper Pretoria News.