In Chile, the pandemic forced many LGBT+ people into the closet.

There is a little-known reality of young lesbian, bisexual, gay and trans people who have to live with or return to their families during the pandemic.

December 17, 2020

By Erika Montecinos*

There are many challenges for LGBTIQ+ communities when emergencies strike, and especially during a public health crisis like the one we experienced in 2020. In this column, I want to share my perspective as a lesbian woman and coordinator of the Lesbian Group Breaking the Silence, on the social and economic crises that have unfolded in Chile, where once again the LGBTIQ+ communities are the most invisible.

Today, the pandemic forces us into confinement, taking precautions and following measures, making us wary of those close to us. While for some it may be an opportunity to slow down from the whirlwind of daily consumerism, for others, confinement becomes an ordeal . This is the case for cisgender women who are forced to live with an abuser and must take on double, even triple, tasks with working from home and caring for their children.

Recent surveys reveal what we all know: a very low percentage of husbands help their partners with housework during the pandemic. Likewise, same-sex couples also face problems of violence stemming from imposed gender roles, and the invisibility of these issues in this context works even harder for them.

But there is also the little-known reality of young lesbian, bisexual, gay, and trans people who must live with or return to their families during the pandemic. In this context, there have been reports of increased violence within their communities, including attacks from family members because of how they feel, dress, or express themselves. The family, which should be a refuge in times of crisis, becomes the primary perpetrator for LGBTQ+ individuals. For example, cases are emerging such as that of a young lesbian threatened with corrective rape by her stepfather, or of a young gay man whose aunt and cousins, with whom he lives, mock his gender expression. These realities are not considered in public policies, or if they are, they are implemented with a complete lack of understanding of the specific realities of marginalized communities.

Faced with this abandonment, the current context has transformed into a return to a mandatory and suffocating closet. LGBTIQ+ communities need support and protection. The Chilean State still does not fully recognize LGBTIQ+ people; it renders them invisible, fails to show them, or worse, is very slow to promote legal changes to improve their living conditions. At least in Chile, the Senate has taken action and promoted the establishment of a working group to address these issues in conjunction with civil society. This group developed a gender and sexual diversity agenda in the context of COVID, which, despite Senator Adriana Muñoz's good intentions, has not yet had any impact on the government in the form of public policy. What's more, the Undersecretary of Human Rights was unaware of the existence of this agenda. Unbelievable.

Therefore, it is necessary to have a broader perspective on the policies being implemented. Countries like Argentina have incorporated this perspective into their services; that is, they acknowledge and understand that sexual dissidence must be considered with its own specific problems and needs. As a group, we demand that the proposed measures have an intersectional approach. This means that they include the experiences and realities of women, class, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, because all of these are different and diverse manifestations of violence that are neither visible nor named. It is time to open #TheOtherCloset, to talk, to make visible, and to take action.

*Coordinator of the Lesbian Group Breaking the Silence

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