Who are the LGBT+ candidates who want to change the Chilean Constitution?
On May 15 and 16, Chile will elect constitutional convention delegates to draft the new Constitution. At least 47 candidates are LGBTQ+.
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Research: Airam Fernandez
On May 15 and 16, Chile holds municipal elections, gubernatorial elections, and elections for constituent assembly members to draft the new Constitution. This is a historic process for several reasons: if elected, the candidates will replace the constitution that has governed the country since the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. There will be 155 assembly members , and half of those elected must be women, as required by law . Among a long list of candidates, at least 47 identify as LGBTQ+ . This is the first time such a significant number of LGBTQ+ individuals have decided to run for office in the country .
Challenges for candidates from sexual dissidence
The candidacies of sexual minorities face several challenges. Lorena Olavarría is a mayoral candidate in Melipilla and part of the Dissident Vote platform, formed after the 2020 plebiscite—where the option to replace the 1980 Constitution won. She tells Presentes that they have already overcome the first challenge: “We organized ourselves,” she says. And they did so not only out of a desire to contribute to building a new Chile, but also to honor the memory of the victims of the wave of hate attacks and discrimination that has affected the entire country for several years. “We are also here for them, and we are not afraid. Because we are together, and that makes this path more bearable,” she affirms.
Another challenge is visibility , explains the team at Les Constituyentes. This platform was created by women activists from the LGBTQ+ community to disseminate the various proposals emerging from this perspective. “Their main challenge is raising awareness, since, in general, they have less access to mainstream media and fewer financial resources than other candidates. This directly impacts their chances of being elected,” they told Presentes. According to data they analyzed from comovoto.cl, as of March 14, 2021, 13 out of 47 candidates had not registered any contributions to their electoral campaigns.
But the most important challenge, in the eyes of Les Constituyentes, is that LGBTIQ+ candidates are actually elected : “In this sense, for us it is important to highlight this unique parity process in Chile , where men and women will draft a new Constitution. And in turn, to advance the discussion about the identities of each candidate and how contradictory the binary system could be for the LGBTIQ+ population ,” they state.
Those who are elected will have to fight, once again, from a position of resistance. “ They will occupy a space in politics that has become accustomed to denying the existence of bodies that do not conform to the norms imposed by heterosexuality , so being a dissident will be an act of resistance that will represent the LGBTIQ+ population in a historical process.”
The proposals
The candidates' proposals are very diverse. Most take a critical stance toward the structural problems that led Chileans to take to the streets in October 2019 and stage the largest social uprising in the country's recent history. And that is what Les Constituyentes emphasizes: “They don't just focus on the rights we have because we inhabit dissident bodies and different territories, but also recognize the importance of other basic rights and present proposals that invite us to think about a national project.”
They all agree on the need for their identities to be enshrined in the new Constitution, and that what is written should somehow reflect the diverse country that Chile is today. “Ultimately, incorporating the LGBTIQ+ and intersectional perspective into the construction of a new model will not only contribute to developing specific measures for the recognition of the rights of those who have been historically excluded from political systems, but will also be a contribution to the rest of society ,” they say.
Presentes spoke with 26 of them, to learn about their beginnings in activism and their experiences in politics, and also to delve deeper into the ideas they have for the new Constitution.
In this special report: Who are they, where do they come from, and what are their proposals?
If you are an LGBT+ candidate and are not on this list, please write to us at contacto@agenciapresentes.org
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