South America
Gay man plays leading role in drafting Chile’s new constitution
Gaspar Domínguez is vice president of Constitutional Convention
SANTIAGO, Chile — Gaspar Domínguez, the vice president of Chile’s Constitutional Convention that will rewrite the country’s constitution, is a 33-year-old openly gay man. Domínguez last week spoke with the Washington Blade about the historic process through which Chile is going and what it will mean for LGBTQ rights in the country and around the world.
Chileans last May elected 155 people to the Constitutional Convention. Domínguez was one of eight openly LGBTQ people chosen, and he became the constituent body’s vice president in January.
“In this process of deep political transformation that Chile is going through, I think that many doors that were there, that we knew existed, were opened and one of those was to recognize that people of sexual diversity are citizens, that we need to participate and represent ourselves in politics and that was how in the convention we came to at least eight people openly belonging to sexual diversity,” Domínguez told the Blade from his office in the former National Congress building in Santiago, the Chilean capital. “I have had to lead this process, give it an administrative management in terms of deadlines, to organize the processes and also political management because the things we say, the way we say things also help to build certain realities and certain opinion in terms of the consequences that will have for Chile.”
Dominguez noted “Chile is one of the most conservative countries in Latin America.” He acknowledged, however, the country over the last decade has seen many LGBTQ rights advances.
A law that allows same-sex couples to marry and adopt took effect in March.
Domínguez said a draft of the new constitution on which Chileans will vote on Sept. 4 has four “fundamental aspects for the LGBTQ+ population.”
“The most relevant one is that it establishes non-discrimination,” he said. “The constitution will prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
“Second, it establishes the State’s recognition of the existence of diverse types of families in plural, and that, by the way, will have a consequence in terms of public policies in the future,” added Domínguez.
He pointed out to Blade the State would have to guarantee the LGBTQ community is politically represented. The fourth provision would ensure each person has the right to decide their gender identity.
Domínguez highlighted the work of LGBTQ organizations that have been fighting for years for their rights.
“There are organizations and movements of the LGBTQ+ community that think one way and others that think another way and that I think is very good,” he said. “(The first goal was) to make visible that the LGBTQ+ community is not a homogeneous community. That is good, especially today that we are in this constituent process, opening the possibility that these differences have agreements.”
Finally, Domínguez said that “it is a tremendous opportunity for the LGBTQ+ community in Chile and certainly in the world, because today, when we talk about a constitutional reform of political representation in other laws of other countries, they will be able to put that the example of Chile constitutionally ensures the political representation of women in parity terms and the political representation of the different sexual and gender dissidences. So I think there is a tremendous opportunity.”
“I believe that the right to identity, the recognition of equal marriage, the recognition of the different types of families puts us at the forefront in this matter and, by the way, it should become an example for the discussions that other countries will have on similar issues,” he said.
Colombia
Claudia López criticizes Trump over threats against Colombian president
Presidential candidate would become country’s first lesbian head of government
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Colombian presidential candidate Claudia López has criticized President Donald Trump after he suggested the U.S. will target Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
“Colombia is very sick, too, run by a sick man, who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States, and he’s not going to be doing it very long,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday.
Trump made the comments a day after American forces carried out an overnight operation and seized now former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and wife, Cilia Flores, at their home in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.
Maduro and Flores on Monday pleaded not guilty to federal drug charges in New York.
Petro is a former Bogotá mayor and senator who was once a member of the M-19 guerrilla movement that disbanded in the 1990s. He has urged Colombians to take to the streets and “defend national sovereignty.”
“Colombians are the ones who decide who governs Colombia,” said López on her X account. “President Gustavo Petro won free elections and has a constitutional mandate.”
López did not mention Trump by name in her comment.
The first-round of Colombia’s presidential election will take place on May 31. The country’s 1991 constitution prevents Petro from seeking re-election.
López in 2019 became the first woman and first lesbian elected mayor of Bogotá, the Colombian capital and the country’s largest city. She took office on Jan. 1, 2020, less than a month after she married her wife, Colombian Sen. Angélica Lozano.
“This year we will decide at the polls what direction (the country) is heading and what leadership will advance Colombia,” said López in her X post. “Supporting soft dictatorships and attacking democracies is an absurd and unacceptable political action by the United States towards Colombia, Venezuela, and Latin America.”
Quién gobierna en Colombia lo decidimos los colombianos.
El presidente @petrogustavo ganó unas elecciones libres y tiene un mandato constitucional. Este año decidiremos en las urnas qué rumbo y a cargo de qué liderazgo avanza Colombia.
Sostener dictablandas y atacar democracias… https://t.co/K61G2QUcck— Claudia López Hernández (@ClaudiaLopez) January 5, 2026
López would be Colombia’s first female president if she wins the election. López would also become the third openly lesbian woman elected head of government — Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was Iceland’s prime minister from 2009-2013 and Ana Brnabić was Serbia’s prime minister from 2017-2024.
The LGBTQ+ Victory Institute in 2024 honored López at its annual International LGBTQ Leaders Conference in D.C. The Washington Blade interviewed her during the gathering.
Colombia
Blade travels to Colombia after U.S. forces seize Maduro in Venezuela
Former Venezuelan president, wife seized on Saturday
Washington Blade International News Editor Michael K. Lavers will be on assignment in Colombia through Jan. 10.
Lavers arrived in Bogotá, the Colombian capital, on Monday. American forces two days earlier carried out an overnight operation and seized now former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and wife, Cilia Flores, at their home in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.
Maduro and Flores on Monday pled not guilty to federal drug charges in New York.
Maduro in 2013 became Venezuela’s president after his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, died.
The country’s ongoing economic and political crises have prompted millions of Venezuelans to flee to neighboring Colombia and other countries throughout Latin America and around the world. The seizure of Maduro and Flores threatens to further destabilize Venezuela and the broader region.
The Washington Blade, which has reported from Colombia several times over the last decade, has interviewed several LGBTQ Venezuelan opposition leaders. The Blade has also extensively covered the plight of LGBTQ Venezuelans and Venezuelans with HIV/AIDS who have left their country because of violence, persecution, discrimination, and a lack of medications.
“LGBTQ Venezuelans in Colombia and elsewhere have a unique perspective on the events that have transpired in their homeland over the last two days, and how they continue to reverberate throughout the hemisphere,” said Lavers. “It is critically important for the Washington Blade to document the situation in the region as it continues to evolve and to show how it will impact LGBTQ communities.”
“The Blade has a long history of covering the plight of LGBTQ communities around the world and this trip reflects our commitment to the region,” said Blade Editor Kevin Naff. “This reporting will help shine a light on the challenges facing LGBTQ Venezuelans and those living with HIV and how they are coping with the unfolding events.”
Lavers last reported from Colombia in 2021. His coverage included a trip to Cúcuta, a Colombian city that is on the country’s border with Venezuela.
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.”
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