Being Gay in Chile

Recently I received an email from a reader in Africa curious about homosexuality in Chile. I wasn't sure where to begin or if I was even the right person to ask. While I lived in Chile I had several homosexual friends and students, some out, some still in the closet, I didn't feel like I could really comment on what day-to-day life was like for gays and lesbians.

Plus, given that said reader is from Africa, I felt that I had to think very carefully about the response. For example, a gay from San Francisco or West Hollywood would probably find gays in Santiago to be extremely repressed whereas someone from a more socially conservative country might find gay Chileans to be more open.

So I made my best attempt at answering these questions:

"How does the society react to it [homosexuality]? What is the situation like? And how are gays in Chile?

Though I am in a huge closet, I still fancy the idea of being in a society where I can at least breathe. Is Chile a sort of society that I can be able to do this?"

The writer of the email also stated that they thought I was an appropriate person to ask because of older entries I had written about gays in Chile. I had to disclose that the reason why I met so many homosexuals were because of my roommate's lifestyle, my proximity to the gay barrio in Santiago, and the type of students I taught - theater and art (sorry if that sounds like I'm stereotyping, but it's true).

I wanted to provide some perspective, so I just thought about my experiences with the community. I explained that things have changed a lot since the dictatorship ended, and there are more freedoms, socially and politically. There is a gay community in Chile that is active in promoting gay rights in their country. BUT, the rest of society hasn't necessarily caught on. From what I saw, I felt that the younger generation was more accepting and open to homosexuality but older generations and conservatives (obviously) weren't exactly too keen on the idea.

After watching and reading different coverage of last Saturday's March for Sexual Diversity in Santiago, I felt that my answer was pretty much on point. The women's blog Zancada, which supported the march from the beginning, put a positive spin on the event, stating that all kinds of people attended the event, including families with babies, and that attendance appeared to be more like 50,000 people, rather than the 12,000 quoted in other media.

Then I watched this report from TVN and had to laugh because it was so ridiculously one-sided in its portrayal of people who attended the march for equality. (Notice that the anchor who introduces the segment made sure to point out that NO MORE than 12,000 people were at the march. NOT ONE PERSON MORE.)



You don't even have to speak Spanish to get the gist of this very serious and unbiased piece of journalistic excellence complete with the Village People background music, half-naked men dressed like over grown mice, and the drag queens who took over Santiago's main avenue. I guess all the lesbians and heteros who support equal rights were out of town that weekend.

Today in my inbox I find another email from the same reader wanting to know more about what gays in Chile are like. If one were to judge by the above video, it would seem that being gay in Chile was like living out the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval every day.

But I'm not in Chile anymore and even if I were, I don't think it would be fair for me to try and talk about what it's like for gays there. I'm not gay and I'm not Chilean. I don't want to generalize or project anymore than I already may have.

So if anyone reading this has any thoughts to share or wants to weigh in on this, please do. The person who wrote the email was very interested in hearing other people's opinions. It's easy to google "gay in chile" and read wikipedia pages or news articles about the topic, but it seems that the personal experiences are more difficult to come across.

P.d. Three cheers for NY passing the gay marriage law! It's a shame that California is still fighting it out in the courts.