Frente de Liberación Homosexual

The Frente de Liberación Homosexual (Homosexual Liberation Front, sometimes abbreviated FLH) was a gay rights organization in Argentina. Formed at a meeting of Nuestro Mundo in August 1971, the FLH eventually dissolved in 1976 as a result of severe repression after the 1976 Argentine coup d'état.

The FLH was made up of a variety of semi-autonomous groups that operated individually but maintained contact with one another through a non-hierarchical organizational structure, enabling coordination and collaboration on actions and documents. Many of these groups were on the far left, and expressed anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism along with their advocacy for LGBT rights, women's rights, and labor rights; a view of all forms of oppression as interconnected was a key aspect of the FLH overall.

In 1973 and 1974, a large section of the FLH led by Néstor Perlongher became involved in Peronism, over the objections of other FLH members who noted Juan Perón's past involvement in repression of homosexuals. Members of the group were present at the inauguration of Héctor José Cámpora in May 1973, and at the Ezeiza massacre in June of the same year. By the end of 1974, the FLH had entirely separated itself from Peronism after Perón once again became president and reinstated the "Morality Brigade" tasked with state repression of sexuality.

In September 1973, the FLH published 5,000 copies of a one-off newspaper titled Homosexuales. They subsequently published six issues of an underground magazine called Somos from December 1973 through January 1976. Somos included criticism of capitalism, patriarchy, and heteronormativity as well as utopian messaging about sexual freedom; as time passed it became less journalistic and more cultural, and began to include art and poetry.

After the death of Juan Perón in 1974, attacks on gay people by right-wing paramilitary groups became more frequent, causing FLH membership to drop from about a hundred to roughly a dozen people. José López Rega called for homosexuals to be exterminated, and police officers were ordered to "scare [them] off the streets". The FLH eventually dissolved in June 1976 as a result of severe political repression. Some members fled to Europe and to other countries in Latin America, and many others were tortured, disappeared, or murdered during the Dirty War.