News
La reivindicación de derechos y violencia contra LGBTQ marcan la crisis política en Chile
Activistas han participado en manifestaciones contra el gobierno de Piñera


CONCEPCIÓN, Chile — En menos de tres días una manifestación convocada por estudiantes contra el aumento en las tarifas del metro se convirtió en una imponente e inesperada protesta nacional por años de desigualdades en Chile, paralizando al país por completo y poniendo en jaque a toda la clase política chilena. Millones de personas han salido a las calles en los últimos días para manifestar su descontento.
Sin embargo, algunas de las masivas marchas han terminado con manifestantes atacando negocios, incendiando y saqueando supermercados en la peor revuelta que se ha visto en el país en décadas. En respuesta, el presidente de Chile, Sebastián Piñera, decretó Estado de Emergencia sacando a los militares a las calles y sumó un toque de queda que profundizó el conflicto desencadenando en los peores episodios de violación de Derechos Humanos en los últimos 30 años en país latinoamericano. Un grupo de congresistas anunció el domingo una acusación constitucional contra Piñera.
“Estás semanas han sido una bomba de tiempo que todos sabíamos que iba explotar, pero no sabíamos que explotaría ahora y con esta intensidad”, dice Alessia Injoque, presidenta ejecutiva de Fundación Iguales, una organización LGBTQ chilena. Similar opinión tiene Franco Fuica, coordinador de legislación y políticas públicas de Organizando Trans Diversidades (OTD), “estamos viviendo una revolución social”, afirma.
La crisis en Chile, se arrastra hace mucho tiempo. En 1973 el dictador Augusto Pinochet realizó un golpe de Estado para derrocar a Salvador Allende, el primer presidente socialista electo democráticamente en América Latina. Pinochet dio marcha atrás al modelo de Allende y comenzó a implementar una fórmula económica diametralmente opuesta, el país se convirtió en una especie de laboratorio del neoliberalismo e inició una cruel dictadura que persiguió, torturó y mató a sus opositores.
Los cambios económicos de Pinochet fueron liderados por un grupo de economistas liberales educados en la Universidad de Chicago, donde aprendieron de las ideas de los estadounidenses Milton Friedman y Arnold Harberger, los “Chicago boys” implementaron reformas económicas y sociales que todo lo privatizó, las cuales fueron selladas en la Constitución Política de la República de Chile de 1980, que permanece vigente.
Chile es el único país en el mundo en que el agua es privada, las pensiones de jubilación son bajas, hay mala salud y la mayoría de los hogares tienen dificultades para llegar a fin de mes. Un informe publicado en enero de este año por la Comisión Económica de América Latina y el Caribe (Cepal), que analizó la evolución de la pobreza, el gasto y la inclusión social, reveló que Chile sigue manteniendo sus altos índices de desigualdad. “El 1 por ciento de la población concentra el 26,5 por ciento de la riqueza”, concluyó la investigación.
“Llevamos años en un sistema injusto, donde todo está hecho para que siempre ganen los mismos. Más allá de esa injusticia hubo impunidad, donde no pasó nada con personas que hicieron mucho daño, paso del dolor a la frustración, el gobierno fue indolente y todo reventó”, aclara Injoque. La activista trans sinceró haber sentir miedo “me dio escalofríos cuando supe que los militares saldrían a las calles” recuerda.
“Piñera le declaró la guerra a mis nietos por cadena nacional, mandó al Ejército a dispararles a matar por manifestar pacíficamente su enorme sufrimiento y al pueblo le está pareciendo que hay complicidad ahí y yo escuchó otra voz generalizada: ‘renuncia Piñera'”, dijo al Washington Blade, Pamela Jiles (Frente Amplio, una nueva fuerza política en el Congreso de Chile), quién ha liderado el impeachment.
“Mi deber como parlamentaria es acusar constitucionalmente a Piñera, como lo habría hecho la diputada humanista Laura Rodríguez, utilizando una atribución parlamentaria y un instrumento constitucional, de espaldas a la élite y de cara al pueblo”, explicó Jiles. “No puede ser de otro modo ya que ha puesto en grave peligro la seguridad de la nación, ha sumido el país en el desgobierno y es el principal -aunque no único- responsable de las muertes de quienes debía proteger”.
Desde el estallido de esta revolución social se han reportado brutales casos de violación a Derechos Humanos por las Fuerzas Armadas y de Orden chilenas. Represión, abuso de poder, violencia desmedida, detenciones ilegales y muertes alertaron a Michelle Bachelet, Alta Comisionada de Derechos Humanos en la Organización de Naciones Unidas (ONU) y expresidenta de Chile, por lo que decidió enviar un equipo de observadores a verificar los casos, entre ellos el de un joven homosexual detenido ilegalmente, torturado y abusado sexualmente por la policía.
Josué Maureira, estudiante de Medicina de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC), fue detenido mientras entregaba primeros auxilios a manifestantes heridos, denunció que fue apaleado hasta quedar inconsciente, vejado por su orientación sexual y expresión de género, nuevamente golpeado hasta romperle el tabique nasal, violado con una porra, amenazado de muerte y encarcelado por supuestas agresiones a los carabineros. El Instituto Nacional de Derechos Humanos (INDH) presentó una querella por tortura sexual.
“Los Estados de Emergencia autorizan a restringir la libre circulación, pero no a atentar contra la vida de las personas. La ‘salida de la crisis’, como le gusta decir a la élite, será únicamente la salida de Piñera. Es nuestra obligación detener la matanza de inocentes”, subrayó Jiles.
Shane Cienfuegos, activiste y coordinadore del área de investigaciones de Colectiva Neutres, que en las últimas semanas ha logrado unificar a la mayoría de los grupos LGBTQ mencionó que “yo estoy en las calles desde la evasión del metro, activando los territorios.Convocamos a todas las organizaciones y llegaron más de 50, hicimos un diagnóstico y descubrimos que estábamos siendo vulnerades”.

El pasado viernes 25 octubre se convocó a una masiva manifestación en todo el país, #LaMarchaMásGrandeDeChile fue trending topic mundial en Twitter y los canales de televisión cubrían la histórica protesta en cadena nacional, la cual que congregó a más de un millón y medio de personas. “Lo otro que iba a decir, que también hemos olvidado mencionar, aparte de los equipos -de fútbol- y las banderas chilenas, es muy importante, hay muchas banderas del movimiento LGBTQ, mucha gente también de la disidencia sexual que también están presentes y son movimientos que están manifestándose hoy día y sus banderas están ahí presentes en las calles”, interrumpió en vivo Mónica Rincón, periodista de CNN y aliada LGBTQ.
A través de sus redes sociales la mayoría de las instituciones LGBTQ chilenas llamaron a manifestarse. Mientras que las disidencias sexuales se desplegaron en grupo a participar. “Salimos con mucha pasión y creatividad para levantar con fuerza y al mismo tiempo reivindicar nuestros derechos que por siglos han sido vulnerados por el Estado de Chile y contra un sistema neoliberal que nos oprime”, añadió Cienfuegos.
En 1999 Chile despenalizó la sodomía, en 2012 sumó una ley antidiscriminación -la que los activistas apuntan como deficiente- y desde 2015 las personas del mismo sexo pueden acceder a una Unión Civil. En diciembre de este año entrará en vigencia la Ley de Identidad de Género que reconocerá el derecho a la identidad de las personas trans. A lo anterior, se suman políticas públicas que benefician a la diversidad sexual y de género, sin embargo, aún falta mucho para lograr la plena igualdad en el país.
“Conformamos una mesa con 19 organizaciones de la sociedad civil con presencia a lo largo de todo Chile, para poder trabajar en aquellas materias de ley que sean necesarias modificar para poder asegurar el reconocimiento, los derechos y las garantías de la población LGBTQ+”, mencionó Natalia Castillo (Frente Amplio), una joven congresista de la Cámara de Diputados que ha impulsado una bancada transversal por los derechos de lesbianas, gais, bisexuales, trans y queer, denominada “la bancada por la diversidad”.

Hace más de un año el proyecto de ley de matrimonio igualitario duerme en la Comisión de Constitución del Senado. Por otro lado, la “bancada por la diversidad” levantada por Castillo trabaja en la elaboración de otras iniciativas legislativas a favor de la diversidad sexual y de género que serán presentadas en las próximas semanas.
“Yo creo que es una gran oportunidad de perfeccionar la ley antidiscriminación, promover una ley que penalice la incitación al odio, y quizás, este es el momento para que las personas LGBTQ+ sean reparadas por el Estado de Chile por la histórica vulneración”, concluyó Fuica.

South Africa National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza on June 17 swore in lesbian feminist Palomino Jama as a new MP.
Jama joins other LGBTQ legislators — including Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson; Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Dion George; and Deputy Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities Minister, Steve Letsike.
Jama said she will work hard and excel as MP.
“What a great moment to be alive. Thank you youth of 1976, thank you Simon Nkoli, Phumi Mthetwa, Paddy Nhlaphos, Vanessa Ludwig, and others for what you did for the LGBTI people in the 80s and 90s. Lastly, for the fierce fist of the Jamas to always hit where it matters for the people of this country,” said Letsike.
Embrace Diversity Movement, a local LGBTQ organization, said Jama’s inauguration came at an appropriate time, during Pride month.
“Her swearing-in took place during a month of profound significance in June, which marks both international Pride Month and Youth Month in South Africa,” said the group. “Palomino is a seasoned queer activist and dedicated community builder with a distinguished record of leadership and service.”
“The EDM proudly supports Palomino in her deployment to parliament, her presence meaningfully advances youth and queer representation in public office,” added the Embrace Diversity Movement. “We are confident that she will serve the people of South Africa with integrity, courage, and distinction.”
South Africa is the only African country that constitutionally upholds LGBTQ rights. There are, however, still myriad challenges the LGBTQ community faces on a daily basis that range from physical attacks to online abuse.
Letsike in May faced a barrage of online attacks after she released a scathing statement against popular podcaster Macgyver “MacG” Mukwevho, who during a podcast episode in April insinuated that the reason behind popular socialite Minnie Dlamini’s “unsuccessful” relationships were probably due to the bad odor from her genitals.
Letsike, who viewed MacG’s comments as offensive, called for the podcaster to be summoned before parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities and criticized the local television station that aired the podcast.
X users and other social media subscribers bombarded Letsike with anti-lesbian comments. She, however, was unphased.
Letsike continues to face anti-lesbian comments, even though MacG apologized and the television station on which his podcast had aired cancelled its contract with him.
Israel
Activist recalls experience in Tel Aviv after Israel-Iran war began
Marty Rouse was part of Jewish Federations of North America Pride mission

A long-time activist who was in Israel last month when its war with Iran began has returned to D.C.
Marty Rouse traveled to Israel on June 6 with the Jewish Federations of North America. The 5-day mission ended the night before the annual Tel Aviv Pride parade was scheduled to take place.
Mission participants met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and several LGBTQ activists in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. They visited the Western Wall, the Nova Music Festival site, and Nir Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel that is less than a mile from the country’s border with the Gaza Strip. Mission participants also visited Sderot, a city that is roughly a mile from the Hamas-controlled enclave, a veterans rehabilitation facility, a new LGBTQ health center and the Aguda: The Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel in Tel Aviv.
Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, killed upwards of 360 partygoers and kidnapped dozens more at the music festival that was taking place at a campground near Re’im, a kibbutz that is roughly 10 miles southwest of Nir Oz. The militants killed or took hostage nearly a quarter of Nir Oz’s residents. They also took control of Sderot’s police station.

Tel Aviv Deputy Mayor Chen Arieli spoke at the mission’s closing party that took place at the Sheraton Grand, a hotel that overlooks Tel Aviv’s beachfront, on June 12.
Rouse and other mission participants planned to stay in Tel Aviv for the Pride parade, which was scheduled to take place the following day. He and Gordie Nathan, another mission participant who lives in Palm Springs, Calif., had checked into a nearby hotel that was less expensive.
“We said our farewells,” recalled Rouse when he spoke with the Washington Blade in D.C. on June 24. “We went to our hotels, and we get the warning, and then all hell broke loose.”
Israel early on June 13 launched airstrikes against Iran that targeted the country’s nuclear and military facilities.
Rouse said mission organizers told him and other participants who remained in Tel Aviv to meet at the Sheraton Grand for breakfast and dinner — Israel’s airspace was closed in anticipation of an Iranian counterattack, and authorities cancelled the Pride parade.
He said he went to bomb shelters at least twice a night for three nights.
Israel’s Home Front Command during the war typically issued warnings about 10 minutes ahead of an anticipated Iranian missile attack. Sirens then sounded 90 seconds before an expected strike.
Rouse and Nathan walked to the Sheraton Grand on June 13 when the Home Front Command issued a 10-minute warning. They reached the hotel in a couple of minutes, and staff directed them to the bomb shelter.
“You know to walk slowly, everything’s fine,” recalled Rouse. “You get 10 minutes, so everything was fine when the alarm goes off.”
Rouse described the Sheraton Grand shelter as “well lit” with WiFi, a television, and air conditioning. He was watching an Israeli television station’s live coverage of the Iranian missile attack when he saw one hit an apartment building in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan.
A 74-year-old woman died and her boyfriend was seriously injured.
“I go over to look at the TV, just to watch,” recalled Rouse. “All of a sudden, you watch, and you see one bomb go and land and explode in Tel Aviv on TV. It landed and blew up.”
“I was like, okay, this is real, and so that was scary,” he added.
Rouse said the bomb shelter in the hotel where he and Nathan were staying after the mission ended was far less comfortable.
“It was dark. It was humid. It was hot. It was very uncomfortable,” said Rouse. “You really felt alone.”

Rouse and nearly everyone else on the mission who were in Tel Aviv when the war began left Israel on June 15. They boarded buses that took them to the Jordanian capital of Amman, which is a roughly 2 1/2-hour drive from Tel Aviv through the West Bank.
Rouse described the trip as “like a field trip” until they drove across the Jordan River and arrived at the Jordanian border crossing.
“You walk into this room, and instead of being in a well air-conditioned airport, you’re in this hot, humid, small place in the middle of the desert, packed with people, and those big, large, loud fans and pictures of military people on the walls,” he said. “It was almost like a Casablanca kind of feeling.”
Rouse said Jordanian authorities brought mission participants through customs in groups of 10. A Jewish Federations of North America liaison from Amman who previously worked as a tour guide for A Wider Bridge — a group that “advocates for justice, counters LGBTQphobia, and fights antisemitism and other forms of hatred” — went “behind closed doors” to ensure everyone was able to enter the country.
“It took a really long time,” Rouse told the Blade.

Mission participants arrived in Amman a short time later. They checked into their hotel and then had dinner at a restaurant.
“Now we feel like we’re safe and we’re in Amman,” recalled Rouse. “We’re sitting outside having a beautiful dinner.”
Iranian missiles passed over Amman shortly after Rouse and the other mission participants had begun to eat their dessert. They went inside the restaurant, and waited a few minutes before they boarded busses that brought them back to their hotel.
“No one was openly freaking out, which I was surprised by,” said Rouse.
The group was scheduled to fly from Amman to Cairo at 11 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET) on June 16. They visited Jerash, an ancient city north of Amman, before their flight left Jordan.
“[The Jerash trip] actually took our minds off of everything,” said Rouse.
A Jewish Federations of North America contact met Rouse and the other mission participants at Cairo’s airport once their flight landed. Rouse arrived at JFK Airport in New York on June 17.
Trump-announced ceasefire ended 12-day war
President Donald Trump on June 23 announced a ceasefire that ended the 12-day war.
The U.S. three days earlier launched airstrikes that struck three Iranian nuclear sites. The ceasefire took effect hours after Iran launched missiles at a U.S. military base in Qatar.
Iran said the war killed more than 900 people in the country.
The Associated Press notes Iranian missiles killed 28 people in Israel. One of them destroyed Tel Aviv’s last gay bar on June 16.
The war took place less than two years after Oct. 7.
The Israeli government says Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, killed roughly 1,200 people on that day when it launched its surprise attack on the country. The militants also kidnapped more than 200 people.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says Israeli forces have killed nearly 55,000 people in the enclave since Oct. 7. Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, has said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who the IDF killed last October, are among those who have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and Israel.

Rouse upon his return to the U.S. said he “was never as aware of the comfort of another human being than I was during that time.” Rouse affectionately called Nathan his “bomb shelter boyfriend” and even questioned the way he reacted to the missile alerts.
“He’s sitting on the edge of the bed and he goes, okay, I’m going to put on my socks and my shoes, and I say, really? You’re going to put on your socks,” Rouse told the Blade. “The fact that I was nervous, that putting on socks might have changed the direction of our lives, to me was like I can’t believe I said that to him.”
Rouse quickly added Nathan helped him remain calm.
“If I was by myself, those nights would have been long enough,” said Rouse. “It’s a totally different feeling to be with another human that you know than to be by yourself.”

Rouse also praised the Jewish Federations of North America.
“JFNA really sprung into action and started to figure out all options to get us all safely home,” said Rouse. “It was all about logistics. Staff worked around the clock identifying and then mobilizing to get us back to the states. It was a great team effort and I know I speak for everyone in expressing our deep appreciation for their dedication to getting us safely home.”
Congress
Congress passes ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ with massive cuts to health insurance coverage
Roughly 1.8 million LGBTQ Americans rely on Medicaid

The “Big, Beautiful Bill” heads to President Donald Trump’s desk following the vote by the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday, which saw two nays from GOP members and unified opposition from the entire Democratic caucus.
To partially offset the cost of tax breaks that disproportionately favor the wealthy, the bill contains massive cuts to Medicaid and social safety net programs like food assistance for the poor while adding a projected $3.3 billion to the deficit.
Policy wise, the signature legislation of Trump’s second term rolls back clean energy tax credits passed under the Biden-Harris administration while beefing up funding for defense and border security.
Roughly 13 percent of LGBTQ adults in the U.S., about 1.8 million people, rely on Medicaid as their primary health insurer, compared to seven percent of non-LGBTQ adults, according to the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute think tank on sexual orientation and gender identities.
In total, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the cuts will cause more than 10 million Americans to lose their coverage under Medicaid and anywhere from three to five million to lose their care under Affordable Care Act marketplace plans.
A number of Republicans in the House and Senate opposed the bill reasoning that they might face political consequences for taking away access to healthcare for, particularly, low-income Americans who rely on Medicaid. Poorer voters flocked to Trump in last year’s presidential election, exit polls show.
A provision that would have blocked the use of federal funds to reimburse medical care for transgender youth was blocked by the Senate Parliamentarian and ultimately struck from the legislation — reportedly after the first trans member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) and the first lesbian U.S. senator, Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), shored up unified opposition to the proposal among Congressional Democrats.
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