The 26th Pride March held in Santiago, Chile on June 27th was one of the largest demonstrations by the LGBTQ movement in the South American country, with over 100,000 participants.
The event, organized by the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation and the Iguarez Foundation, took place along Alameda, the capital’s main thoroughfare, with flags, signs and slogans in support of equality, against a backdrop of inter-organizational concerns about the direction of President José Antonio Casto’s government.
The march was preceded by a speech in Plaza Baquedano, attended by human rights organizations, families, activists, victims of discrimination, and representatives of various embassies. This year’s parade was also led by LGBTQ seniors from the group Años Rosados, part of Axion Gay, to commemorate history for those who lived through decades when openly expressing their sexual orientation or gender identity could mean persecution, imprisonment, and social exclusion.
“This march shows that the fight for equality is still alive and will not be pushed back,” Movili spokeswoman Javiera Zuniga said. “We march in remembrance, with pride, and with the belief that the rights Chile has won cannot be rolled back.”
During the event, the organizations called on the Chilean government to comprehensively reform Zamudio Law, an anti-discrimination law that has been in effect since 2012, introduce penalties for hate speech, and strengthen protections for LGBTQ people in education, health care, the workplace, and public spaces.
Rolando Jiménez, founder of Movilh, noted that Chile has made significant progress towards equality and non-discrimination between 1991 and 2022. But he warned that progress had begun to lose momentum in recent years, and signs of this were becoming increasingly worrying under the current administration.
“For decades, Chile has carved out a path to progress through laws and public policies that expand rights. Today, we are marching because of attacks aimed at weakening these protections and preventing further progress,” Jiménez said.
The march took place in a country that has recently established a strong legal framework for sexual and gender diversity. In Chile, the Citizens’ Union Agreement was enacted in 2015, the Transgender Rights Act was enacted in 2018, and the Marriage Equality Act was enacted in 2022. For these organizations, this legal framework explains why recent decisions by the executive branch and Congress are seen as a sign of backwardness, rather than simply an administrative debate.
One of the main concerns arose in March, when the new President Casto’s administration decided not to support the Organization of American States’ Declaration on LGBTQ Rights. The decision marked a departure from the previous government’s stance and was interpreted by civil society groups as a sign of a weakening of Chile’s human rights foreign policy.
However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintained that Chile remains committed to promoting and protecting human rights without discrimination, and that the decision was due to differences regarding the wording of the document. This explanation does not completely dispel the doubts of these groups, which called on the executive branch to take a clear and consistent public stance during the march.
100 days into the Casto administration, the Iguarez Foundation also announced the results of its LGBTQ+ Radar, an initiative that continuously monitors government, legislative, and executive actions that affect the rights of LGBTQ people in Chile.
Of the nine measures recorded so far, five have been rated unfavorable, three are under evaluation and only one has been deemed favorable, the group said.
The Iguares Foundation identifies among adverse measures actions that are hostile to, restrictive of, or exclude pre-existing public policies or safeguards. This category includes the repeal of Circular 781, which protects LGBTQ students in educational institutions. Chile’s decision to abstain from the OAS LGBTQ Declaration. Remove items related to diversity from the National Household Survey. Canceling inclusion training programs for civil servants. Working with the United States to limit the definition of gender at the United Nations
The monitoring also includes three measures that are currently being evaluated and whose final impact has not yet been determined: the National Human Rights Plan, the Access to Justice Regulation, and the Adoption Law Regulation. In contrast, the only beneficial measure identified so far is the enactment of the School Coexistence Act, which the Foundation considers a measure that extends or protects rights.
Fundación Iguales says the LGBTQ+ radar is updated in real time and each reading includes its source, date and responsible institution. For the organization, the assessment of Kast’s first 100 days confirmed that the signals from the executive branch were not isolated incidents, but part of a pattern that must be monitored by civil society and the international community.
Controversial developments have also occurred in the field of education. The Inspector General of Education has abolished the school’s internal regulations, including the circular on coexistence and provisions on gender identity and non-discrimination. But days before the march, the General Accountant General upheld the legality of Circular 812, which protects the rights of trans students in the school system, and rejected attempts to declare the regulation illegal.
For the Iguarez Foundation, the ruling was an important signal in a hostile political climate.
“The fact that an organized group tried to eliminate this circular speaks volumes about the times we live in. We welcome the Comptroller’s Office’s clarification of this matter and will continue to be vigilant to prevent any setbacks,” said María José Cumprido, the group’s executive director.
This discussion reached Congress.
Amid Pride Month, the House of Representatives approved a resolution calling on Casto to eliminate the use of inclusive language in public services. The initiative, backed by the right-wing sector, called for the repeal of administrative laws promoting these forms of communication and the banning of what it defined as “grammatical distortions” based on gender, ethnicity, and other identity classifications.
For LGBTQ organizations, this measure is ideological in nature, failing to recognize that inclusive language has not been broadly imposed, but rather a tool that has been used in specific contexts to name historically excluded groups. At the marches, this point became one of the most frequently cited examples of the new political climate that had taken hold under the Casto regime.
Despite this situation, organizations also highlighted positive institutional developments. Paulina Nuñez, president of the Senate of the more moderate right-wing ruling party Renovation Nacional, pledged in May to push for reform of the Zamudio law and act as a liaison with the executive branch, which is modernizing anti-discrimination laws. The reforms are currently stalled in Congress, despite long-standing criticism from human rights groups that they have had limited impact.
“The commitment to advance the reform of Zamudio law is good news, because Chile needs effective anti-discrimination laws that protect victims and have real tools to combat hate speech,” Movili representatives said.
The march culminated with a cultural event in Los Héroes Plaza, but the political message was clear from the beginning. In addition to celebrating progress, the organizations warned that these rights must continue to be protected.
For organizations, the country continues to have a strong legal foundation on sexual and gender diversity, but faces a period of uncertainty under a conservative government, with mixed signals about the continuity of these efforts in its first months in office.
Chile already has laws in place regarding gender identity, civil unions, and marriage equality. The organizations therefore believe that the setbacks they have observed are not merely symbolic and could undermine the safeguards that form part of the democratic framework the country has built over the past few decades.
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
