South America
Chilean government seeks to implement LGBTQ, intersex rights agenda
Conservative newspaper incorrectly reported ministry plans legislation
A conversative Chilean newspaper’s article on Sunday that said the Women and Gender Equity Ministry was preparing to introduce a bill that would create an LGBTQ and intersex rights undersecretariat prompted mixed reactions across the country.
The ministry in 2022 launched its first “LGBTIQA+ Roundtable” that includes representatives of different public institutions, organizations and Chilean LGBTQ and intersex activists who are working to improve the quality of life for the country’s queer community that over the last year has seen an increase in attacks and hate crimes.
LGBTQ and intersex rights in Chile have gained ground over the last decade.
Civil unions, marriage equality, transgender rights and an anti-discrimination law are some of the successes that took time to take effect. There is, however, no state institution or public policy that works to ensure historically discriminated LGBTQ and intersex Chileans are included. This is why activists feel the “LGBTIQA+ Roundtable” that President Gabriel Boric’s government is promoting is an unprecedented opportunity.
Forty-two organizations from across Chile participated in the roundtable during its first year, which culminated on Jan. 6 with the signing of an agreement between the Women and Gender Equity Ministry’s Women and Gender Equality Undersecretariat and the Interior and Public Safety Ministry’s Crime Prevention Undersecretariat to assist people across the country who are victims of anti-LGBTQ attacks. The roundtable at the same time also announced it will send a bill to Congress later in 2023 that would expand the ministry’s mandate to ensure “the LGBTIQA+ community is included.”
There has yet to be an announcement on the creation of an LGBTQ and intersex undersecretariat.
Most Chilean media outlets covered this report after El Mercurio published it on Sunday. José Antonio Kast, an extreme right-wing politician who is a former presidential candidate, on his Twitter account criticized what turned out to be inaccurate.
“Chile is poorer, more violent and insecure than a year ago and the inept government is dedicated to enlarge the State to deepen its ideological agenda, instead of solving social urgencies,” wrote the Republican Party leader.
The ministry told the Washington Blade that “the roundtable with organizations from the LGBTIQA+ community has just been finalized.”
“One of the demands is to have an institutionality,” said the ministry. “During 2023 it will be defined which is the progressive path, while the anti-discrimination law is improved at the same time.”
Women and Gender Equity Undersecretary Luz Vidal Huiriqueo on her social media networks said “we met with LGBTQ+ organizations for seven months” and the ministry made “security, employment and health priorities.”
“On the 1st we advanced in an agreement with (the Crime Prevention Undersecretariat) to properly address and for the long challenges we committed to propose an institutional mechanism,” said Vidal.
Vidal said in an exclusive interview with the Blade before El Mercurio published its inaccurate report that “finding and giving answers to the demands of the LGBTIQA+ population in Chile is a commitment for President Gabriel Boric’s government that will not be put aside for anything.”
“We at the (Women and Gender Equality Ministry) have embraced the day-to-day needs that this community, in many cases, has to survive,” said Vidal from her office. “That is why, from our ministry, we have created this intergovernmental roundtable to have a fluid and permanent communication with LGBTIQA+ organizations.
Vidal added Boric “instructed us to move from discourse to action.”
“We have to get to work. We have to implement the agreements,” said Vidal. “We can’t just make pretty announcements and that is our commitment. The commitment we have today is to work for women, for gender equity, for and with the entire population, in favor of all citizens and of those who lack the presence of the State.”
The undersecretary told the Blade the need to incorporate the queer community into the ministry’s work is important because “the State, as of today, has no powers to specifically address the LGBTQ+ population.”
“We need to create a progressive path that, whether an institutional or other figure, allows us to implement public policies,” she said.
That supposed institutionality was the one that sparked controversy last Sunday and it will not be an easy path, regardless of the mechanism that Boric’s government ultimately chooses to implement.
“I think it is not going to be an easy process,” said Vidal. “It is not going to be a project that we can say, we are going to take them out at the end of the year, that is clear to us. Even today it is difficult to move forward with projects or the work that the ministry is doing because we currently have a Congress with political forces that are against inclusion and respect for diversity. This is present in our Congress, and it is also present in several Latin American countries.”
Emilia Schneider, Chile’s first trans congresswoman, on the other hand told the Blade that “it seems to me that the announcement of an institutional framework for the LGBTI community within the Women’s Ministry, and also in what has been working with the Justice Ministry to advance in an institutional framework against discrimination, regarding the reform of the Anti-Discrimination Law are two fundamental steps to advance in dignity and rights for sexual diversities and dissidences.”
Schneider said it is important “to make a permanent change in the State, which recognizes the importance of having a space that responds to the needs of the queer population and takes charge of combating inequality, discrimination and violence to which our community is exposed.”
“It seems to me that this is one of the most important commitments, which if realized would be a fundamental legacy of this government in matters of sexual diversity and dissidence,” she said.
Ignacia Oyarzun, coordinator of public policies for Asociación OTD Chile, the country’s most important trans rights organization, said the implementation of an institutional framework to advance LGBTQ and intersex rights “is an advance that goes in the direction of establishing what will be a trans labor quota to achieve a greater integration of the community in society.”
Oyarzun noted employers do not hire people who are trans, or fire them without reason. This lack of employment opportunities, according to Asociación OTD Chile, makes trans people more vulnerable to violence.
Jorge Muñoz of Movimiento Organizado de Gays, Lesbianas, Trans y Heterosexuales (MOGALETH) in Puerto Montt, a city that is roughly 640 miles south of the capital of Santiago, also participated in the roundtable. Muñoz told the Blade that “any approach from the central power to civil society, and especially to the regions, is positive.”
“In this context, we consider it an advance in terms of the demands of the collective in the struggle for the recognition of the historical violation of our rights,” said Muñoz. “The State’s recognition of mistreatment and hate speech towards dissidents has historically been centralized. The regions where we also suffer harassment, mistreatment, difficulties in access to health, education and work have been relegated throughout history. In this sense, what we value most is the recognition of our demands in the territorial context.”
Chile
New face of Chilean politics includes LGBTQ rights agenda
Municipal and regional elections took place on Oct. 27
Chile’s municipal and regional elections that took place on Oct. 27 have brought with them a renewed focus on LGBTQ rights and diversity.
In a context where the center right has managed to stand out against the Republicans, political parties have incorporated into their platforms a commitment towards the inclusion of queer people. Some Chilean political scientists say the elections have shown a country inclined to vote for the opposition Chile Vamos coalition, even though the left governs Chile.
The ruling party, grouped in Contigo Chile Mejor, had a setback similar to what happened in the 2021 municipal and regional elections — it lost 39 communes that include Santiago, San Miguel, Ñuñoa, and Independencia.
Voters in Maipú, the country’s second most populous commune, re-elected Tomás Vodanovic from President Gabriel Boric’s Frente Amplio.
Frente Amplio also won in Viña del Mar, and other communes, and saw victory in others that include Valparaíso, where the Chilean Congress is located.
Openly LGBTQ candidates have emerged since 2012, and some of them have made history. These include Congresswoman Emilia Schneider, a Frente Amplio member who is transgender.
Several LGBTQ candidates have resonated with voters within the framework of these elections; not only highlighting their identity, but their commitment to the struggle for equal social rights.
Gloria Hutt, president of Evolución Política (Evópoli), a party that is part of the Chile Vamos coalition, stressed the importance of diversity in its agenda.
“Part of Evópoli’s agenda is inclusion and diversity, including the diversity of communities of different sexual identities. And in this election we had a dozen candidates who belong to sexual diversities, some of them won, others did not, but it is part of the agenda with which we are permanently working,” Hutt told the Washington Blade.
“We believe that it is also part of the freedom of people to deploy their life project without anything else interfering but their own identity and without prejudice preventing them from deploying that identity,” she added.
The reelection of figures, such as Viña del Mar Mayor Macarena Ripamonti, and Vodanovic’s success in Maipú reflect significant support for the progressive agenda.
“First of all I would like to emphasize that we saw an impeccable process where citizens were able to express their preferences,” Frente Amplio Secretary-General Andrés Couble told the Blade. “We believe that the results allow us to look to the future with optimism.”
Couble highlighted the importance of LGBTQ candidacies in decision-making spaces.
“We think it is important to promote them and that they reach elected positions, because they allow us to bring the struggles for equal rights and respect and promotion of diversity to institutional spaces,” he said.
Couble at the same time highlighted the victory of Bladymir Muñoz, the Chilean councilman who received the most votes, as an example of the advance towards a more inclusive representation.
Muñoz is a Frente Amplio member. He received 41,669 votes in Maipú.
Peru
Victory Institute to honor Peruvian congresswoman at D.C. conference
Susel Paredes is first lesbian woman elected to country’s Congress
The LGBTQ+ Victory Institute will honor Peruvian Congresswoman Susel Paredes at its annual International LGBTQ+ Leaders Conference that will take place in D.C. in December.
Paredes, a long-time activist who in 2021 became the first lesbian woman elected to the South American country’s Congress, will receive the 2024 LGBTQ+ Victory Institute Global Trailblazer Award.
Paredes and her wife, Gracia Aljovín, married in Miami in 2016. The two women sued the Peruvian government after the country’s Constitutional Court denied their request to register their marriage.
“It is a true honor and a recognition that I deeply value,” said Paredes in a post to her X account after she learned the Victory Institute will honor her in D.C.
Victory Institute Executive Director Elliot Imse described Paredes as “a true champion through her activism and political engagement for decades.”
“Her historic election to the Congress of Peru is just one of many testaments to her status as a true trailblazer who is exceptionally deserving of this honor,” added Imse.
South America
Argentine government closes anti-discrimination agency
LGBTQ activists have sharply criticized President Javier Milei’s decision
Argentine President Javier Milei’s government has officially closed the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI).
INADI, created in 1995, was a key player in the promotion and protection of human rights in Argentina, offering support and resources to people affected by discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation, race, and other characteristics.
Officials announced INADI’s closure on Tuesday during a press conference. Milei’s government has presented the move as part of a reform to streamline public administration and restructure human rights policies.
“One of President Milei’s ideals is the reduction of the state and the elimination of everything that does not generate a benefit for Argentines,” presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said in February when he announced INADI’s closure. “The decision was made to move forward in the dismantling of different institutes that effectively serve absolutely no purpose or are big boxes of politics or places to generate militant employment and the first of them is going to be INADI.”
The international community, including human rights organizations and LGBTQ activist groups, have expressed strong concern.
INADI has played a crucial role in the implementation of progressive laws in Argentina, such as the Gender Identity Law and marriage equality. Its dissolution raises questions about the continuity of these efforts.
“It is extremely serious, especially because we are in a moment in Argentina, not only because of the local context, but also the global context of a growth, an increase in anti-Semitism, racism, violence, xenophobia, LGBTphobia,” gay Congressman Esteban Paulón told the Washington Blade.
Paulón added Tuesday marked “three months since a triple femicide that occurred in the city of Buenos Aires with three lesbian women who were set on fire by a person who attacked them.”
“INADI was acting in many cases as an auxiliary of justice, with opinions that although they were not binding, they were a great support for the judicial instances,” he said.
Alba Rueda is a transgender woman who was Argentina’s Special Representative on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity under former President Alberto Fernández’s government. Rueda resigned last November ahead of Milei’s inauguration.
Milei’s government earlier this year closed the Women, Gender and Diversity Ministry, under which Rueda worked.
“The closure of Women, Gender and Diversity Ministry, the closure of the special representation on sexual orientation and gender identity, the position of the Foreign Ministry’s position in the OAS (Organization of American States) to reaffirm conversion therapies, and INADI’s closure is one of the situations that comes to institutionally break public policies that protect the most excluded sectors of Argentina,” Rueda told the Blade.
“The closing of INADI is a very, very serious situation,” she added.
Activists are calling on the government to clarify how it will guarantee queer rights in the future and whether it will create alternative mechanisms to address discrimination complaints.
Santiaga D’Ambrosio, an LGBTQ activist who is a member of the country’s Socialist Workers’ Party, told the Blade “the closure of INADI is an adjustment that endorses discrimination, not only towards sexual diversity, but also towards so many other oppressed, violated or persecuted sectors, such as workers in struggle, migrants, people with disabilities.”
“INADI, in fact, has played a progressive role in the face of discrimination due to political and union persecution in different workers’ conflicts, against dismissals and for the recognition of union privileges in workplaces,” added D’Ambrosio.
D’Ambrosio, at the same time, said INADI’s closure deepens the economic and social crisis through which the Latin American country is going.
“Behind the closure of an agency, there are layoffs and uncertainty among its workers and their families,” said D’Ambrosio, noting layoffs have also taken place at Aerolíneas Argentinas, the country’s national airlines, and other companies. “Meanwhile, the enormous tax benefits for national and foreign businessmen remain untouched.”
D’Ambrosio added LGBTQ Argentines and other marginalized groups have to “self-organize independently from all governments who don’t really care about our lives.”
“We have to debate in our workplaces and study … how to conquer and strengthen our claims in the streets,” said D’Ambrosio.
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