LGBTQ+ RightS

Shortly after arriving in Santiago, Chile for my semester exchange, there was one pertinent observation I made: that here there is an abundance of PDA. In the park, on the train, on the street, in the supermarket, lovers young and old share kisses and so much more in the public space. To this, no one bats an eyelid - everyone evidently accustomed to such displays of intimacy and affection. But more striking was that all this touching wasn’t reserved solely for heterosexual presenting couples. queer lovers, too, lay close in the park and walk arm in arm.

In hindsight I am embarrassed to admit that I was initially shocked by my observation. Before arriving here, I knew very little about Santiago. Driven by my desire to learn Spanish, I was brought here by the fact that there were only two Spanish speaking countries on offer in our university’s exchange program. Chile seemed like a foot in the door to this world I wanted to be a part of, a world, like so many other Australians, I knew very little about. Despite being a student of international relations, this region is something of a black hole in our education system. Plagued with media-driven stereotypes of cartels, Catholicism, instability, and my knowledge that the Spanish language was a gendered one which may enforce the gender binary, I certainly had precon ceived expectations of this place as a more conservative and traditional one, particularly unsafe for the LGBTQ+ community. Yet on my third day here, seeing a queer couple closely and lovingly intertwined in a bustling city park, I came to the realisation that I had a lot to unlearn.

Historically, Chile’s population has been statistically more conservative due in part to the major influence of Catholicism in the region. However, there is currently a major shift occurring. The recently elected left-wing government has brought in a cabinet with one of the highest numbers of female and LGBTQ+ members in the world. The president has spoken openly about transgender rights. Signs on the street call for the protection of trans women. The binary nature of the language is shifting too, and there is a wider understanding here that language is not a fixed thing. People change, and the words we use to explain phenomena should reflect this reality.