South America
Referendum on new Chile constitution to take place Sept. 4
Draft document specifically includes LGBTQ rights
Chile, one of the most conservative countries in South America, on Sept. 4 will hold a referendum on the country’s new constitution that specifically includes protections for LGBTQ people.
Chileans will have to vote on the constitution that the Constitutional Convention, a group of 155 elected members, drafted. Eight of them are openly LGBTQ and one of them, Gaspar Domínguez, a gay doctor who works at a rural hospital in Palena in Los Lagos Region in southern Chile, served as its vice president.
The unprecedented social unrest that took place in Chile in October 2019 set this constitutional process in motion. An expansion of LGBTQ rights were among the protesters’ myriad demands.
The recognition of the different ways of forming a family, the right to identity and nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, among other things, will become reality if Chileans approve the new constitution. Chile would become one of the few countries in the world with a constitution that specifically enshrines LGBTQ rights.
Domínguez told the Washington Blade that the new constitution is “at the forefront of the world since it is the only constitution in the world that ensures political representation of sexual minorities. It also has the right to identity and has good rights.”
Domínguez is currently traveling throughout Chile to encourage people to vote for the constitution. He nevertheless recognizes this work is not easy because those who oppose it “are spreading fake news.”
The new constitution seeks to distribute political and economic power.
The current one dates back to the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, and many Chileans consider it illegitimate because they feel it benefits a privileged few. A heated debate is currently underway between the new constitution’s supporters and opponents.
Several polls indicate the majority of Chileans plan to vote against it, but Domínguez said “polls do not always tell the truth” and remains hopeful “the approve option will prevail.”
“When the discussion on the decriminalization of sodomy was made at the end of the 90s some said that Chile was not ready and it was approved and nothing happened,” he said. “Then in the 2000s they said that Chile was not ready to legislate on divorce. It was approved and nothing happened.”
The referendum will take place less than six months after the country’s marriage equality law took effect.
Domínguez said “Chile has already changed.”
“The fact that, for example, eight people of sexual diversity have been elected (to the Constitutional Commission), that I have been vice president of the convention being openly and explicitly gay, shows that independently of the result of the electoral process of the plebiscite, it was already on the public and political agenda,” he told the Blade.
“It has been a lot of responsibility to be up to a task of that magnitude,” added Domínguez, referring to his role as the Constitutional Convention’s vice president. “And I believe that we have undertaken the work with the seriousness that is required and we have reached a successful conclusion.”
Chile
Far-right José Antonio Kast elected Chile’s next president
Advocacy group declares ‘state of alert’ over president-elect’s opposition to LGBTQ rights
José Antonio Kast on Sunday won the second round of Chile’s presidential election.
Kast is the far-right leader of the Republican Party who was a member of the country’s House of Deputies from 2002-2018. He defeated Jeannette Jara, a member of the Communist Party of Chile who was former labor and social welfare minister in outgoing President Gabriel Boric’s government, by a 58.2-41.8 percent margin.
The election’s first round took place on Nov. 16.
Kast and Jara faced each other in the runoff after no candidate received at least 50 percent of the vote in the first round. Kast will take office on March 11.
“Under his leadership, we are confident Chile will advance shared priorities to include strengthening public security, ending illegal immigration, and revitalizing our commercial relationship,” said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday in a statement. “The United States looks forward to working closely with his administration to deepen our partnership and promote shared prosperity in our hemisphere.”
The Washington Blade has previously reported Kast has expressed his opposition to gender-specific policies, comprehensive sex education, and reforms to Chile’s anti-discrimination laws. The president-elect has also publicly opposed the country’s marriage equality law that took effect in 2022.
The Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation, a Chilean LGBTQ and intersex rights group known by the acronym Movilh, in a statement acknowledged the election result. Movilh also declared a “state of alert, given this leader’s (Kast’s) public and political trajectory, characterized for decades by systematic opposition to laws and policies aimed at equality and nondiscrimination of LGBTIQ+ individuals.”
“We urge the president-elect and far-right sectors that follow him to understand and internalize (the fact) that the rights of LGBTIQ+ people are inscribed in the universality of human rights, and they are not built upon an ideology or a political trend,” said Movilh in its statement. “This is not, and never has been, a left-wing or right-wing issue, although some on both sides have gone to great lengths to suggest otherwise, without any basis other than their own partisan or electoral aspirations.”
Organizado Trans Diversidades, a group that advocates on behalf of trans and nonbinary Chileans, on social media said it will “continue the fight for our community’s human rights.”
Colombia
Colombia anunció la inclusión de las categorías ‘trans’ y ‘no binario’ en los documentos de identidad
Registraduría Nacional anunció el cambio el 28 de noviembre
Ahora los ciudadanos colombianos podrán seleccionar las categorías ‘trans’ y ‘no binario’ en los documentos de identidad del país.
Este viernes la Registraduría Nacional del Estado Civil anunció que añadió las categorías ‘no binario’ y ‘trans’ en los distintos documentos de identidad con el fin de garantizar los derechos de las personas con identidad diversa.
El registrador nacional, Hernán Penagos, informó que hizo la inclusión de estas dos categorías en los documentos de: registro civil, tarjeta de identidad y cédula de ciudadanía.
Según la registraduría: “La inclusión de estas categorías representa un importante avance en materia de garantía de derechos de las personas con identidad de género diversa”.
Estas categorías estarán en el campo de ‘sexo’ en el que están normalmente las clasificaciones de ‘femenino’ y ‘masculino’ en los documentos de identidad.
En 2024 se inició la ejecución de diferentes acciones orientadas implementar componentes “‘NB’ y ‘T’ en el campo ‘sexo’ de los registros civiles y los documentos de identidad”.
Las personas trans existen y su identidad de género es un aspecto fundamental de su humanidad, reconocido por la Corte Constitucional de Colombia en sentencias como T-236/2023 y T-188/2024, que protegen sus derechos a la identidad y no discriminación. La actualización de la Registraduría implementa estos fallos que ya habían ordenado esos cambios en documentos de identidad.
Por su parte, el registrador nacional, Penagos, comentó que: “se trata del cumplimiento de unas órdenes por parte de la Corte Constitucional y, en segundo lugar, de una iniciativa en la que la Registraduría ha estado absolutamente comprometida”. Y explicó que en cada “una de las estaciones integradas de servicio de las más de 1.200 oficinas que tiene la Registraduría Nacional se va a incluir todo este proceso”.
Brazil
Black transgender singer from Brazil wins three Latin Grammy Awards
Liniker performed at Las Vegas ceremony
A Black transgender singer and songwriter from Brazil on Nov. 13 won three Latin Grammy Awards.
Liniker, who is from Araraquara, a city in São Paulo State, won for Best Portuguese Language Song for her song “Veludo Marrom,” Best Portuguese-Language Urban Performance for her song “Caju” from her sophomore album of the same title, and Best Portuguese Language Contemporary Pop Album for “Caju.”
She accepted the awards during the Latin Grammy Awards ceremony that took place in Las Vegas. Liniker also performed.
“I’ve been writing since I was 16. And writing, and poetry, have been my greatest form of existence. It’s where I find myself; where I celebrate so many things I experience,” said Liniker as she accepted her first Latin Grammy on Nov. 13. “And being a composer … Being a trans composer in Brazil — a country that kills us — is extremely difficult.”
Liniker in 2022 became the first openly trans woman to win a Latin Grammy.
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