Category Archives: Santiago, Chile

Luis, President of Fundación Iguales , Santiago, Chile

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

Luis, in his own words: “(Being gay) means that I am a man who likes men. It shouldn’t mean anything else, but unfortunately it also means that I have less rights than other people and that I am discriminated against.

(With regards to challenges) Just too many. I had a sad childhood, with almost no friends, just because I was considered to be “different” and needed to “adapt”. I needed too much time to finally come out of the closet. I also changed majors twice because I had no clue about what I really wanted to do with my life. And then there’s my health issues: I’m waiting for my second kidney transplant.

(With regards to the gay community in Santiago) I’d say it replicated the class patterns of the general population in the sense that it isn’t very likely that a high and a low-class gay guy will become friends. And I’d also say that to a certain extent it is still ghettoized, because gays don’t feel comfortable at their workplaces or families so they tend to isolate from the rest of society and make strong bonds with other gays.

I took a very long while to acknowledge that I was gay, mainly because at the time I didn’t have any role models. There weren’t any gays or lesbians in my social circles. Fortunately I had the opportunity to spend a semester in Berlin while in university, and that helped me a lot because it was the first time I met gay guys and was in stable relationships, which was very inspiring to me. Soon after coming back to Chile, after a last date with a girl which made realize there was no option whatsoever I could be straight, I started dating a guy that ended up being my boyfriend for a couple of years. I was so happy that I never told anyone to keep the secret. In a couple of days everybody knew, except my family. I didn’t dare tell my parents, so I asked a psychologist to do so. It proved better that way cause they already had the reassuring opinion of a “specialist” before talking to me. It was a harsh conversation but I was well prepared and happy, which they ended up noticing and finally accepting.

I hate it when people say they wouldn’t do anything different should they had the chance to. I’d do so many things different! I’d tell my younger self to stop trying to fit and start trying to discover who he really is. To travel more, meet different people, and stop listening to those who kept trying to make him a uniformed person.”

Iguales

Jorge, Writer, Santiago, Chile

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

Jorge, in his own words: “Ser gay es una legítima forma de vida, cuestionada por más de un siglo por la sociedad heterosexual, lo que hizo en el pasado que los gays vivieran en una especie de realidad paralela. Una realidad ligada con la criminalización, la enfermedad y la inmoralidad.

En las últimas décadas se abrió una posibilidad de que los homosexuales viviéramos como seres normales, enfrentando finalmente nuestros sentimientos, nuestros valores y nuestras debilidades. Pero veníamos tan dañados por tanto prejuicio acumulado, por tanta negación de nosotros mismos, que este proceso de inserción en la sociedad heterosexual ha sido un proceso muy difícil. Agreguemos a eso el terrible flagelo del Sida que nos diezmó en la década del 80 y generó un nuevo estigma en contra de la comunidad gay a lo largo del mundo.

He sido toda mi vida gay. Desde adolescente tuve la película muy clara. Siempre me gustaron los hombres, me he enamorado de hombres toda mi vida. Por ello me cuesta hacer una diferencia entre lo que era mi vida en épocas más oscuras, cuando en Chile no se podía casi hablar de nuestra homosexualidad, hasta el día de hoy en que, aparentemente, todo el mundo puede salir del closet con cierta facilidad.
Por ello, no mido mis triunfos en función de mi homosexualidad. Eso estuvo ligado a toda mi actividad como ser humano. He amado, he escrito, he vivido toda mi vida en esas condiciones, por lo que, en definitivas, mis triunfos y fracasos se miden como otro ser humano más.

La comunidad gay en Santiago de Chile, es un poco como en todas partes en el Hemisferio Occidental. Se vive en guettos marcados por diferencias sociales, culturales, de edad. En los años 70 cuando yo era un muchacho, logré tener muchos amigos. Esas relaciones se fueron desgastando con el paso de la vida y ahora los miro con cierto rechazo. En esta última década surge con fuerza una generación mucho más preocupada de sus derechos, con fuerte intromisión en la vida pública, capacidad de visibilidad y atentos a sus derechos. Yo espero y ansío que estas generaciones jóvenes rompan finalmente todas las barreras y se hagan cargo de sus vidas, aprendan a convivir en parejas y a crear sus propias familias. Quizás solo en ese momento la estigmatización y la homofobia que existe fuertemente en Chile pueda comenzar a acabarse.

Mi salida del closet no tuvo nada de espectacular. Insisto. Fui gay toda mi vida. Tal vez lo interesante sea que fui capaz de tomar las riendas de mi vida desde muy jovencito. A los 22 años me enfrenté con una madre muy posesiva y dominante y dejé mi casa. Nunca más volví a vivir dentro de una familia heterosexual. He vivido solo, he vivido con pareja – una larga relación de más de 20 años – que desgraciadamente se terminó. Un consejo para los muchachos de hoy: salir de sus hogares, hacer sus propias vidas, no desaprovechar ni un solo minuto porque la vida se pasa rápido y después no sirven de nada los arrepentimientos.”

In English:

” Being gay is a legitimate lifestyle, questioned for more than a century by heterosexual society ,which he did in the past that gays live in a kind of parallel reality . A reality linked to the criminalization, disease and immorality.

In recent decades a possibility that homosexuals live as normal human beings, eventually facing our feelings, our values ​​and our weaknesses opened. But we were so damaged by both cumulative prejudice by ourselves so much denial that this process of insertion in heterosexual society has been a very difficult process. Compound this with the terrible scourge of AIDS that decimated us in the 80s and created a new stigma against the gay community throughout the world.

I have been gay all my life. Since I was very young I have clear the movie. I always liked men, I am in love with men all my life. So I find it hard to differentiate between what was my life in darker times, when in Chile there could almost speak of our homosexuality, until today that apparently everyone can come out fairly easily.

Therefore, I do not measure my success in terms of my homosexuality. That was linked to all my activity as a human being. I’ve loved, I have written, I have lived all my life in these conditions, so that in final , my triumphs and failures are measured more like another human being.

The gay community in Santiago de Chile, is a bit like everywhere else in the Western Hemisphere. We live in ghettos marked by social, cultural, age differences. In the 70s when I was a young, I managed to have many friends. These relations were wearing over life and now look with some reluctance. In the last decade a much powerful emergence of rights more concerned with strong interference in public life, visibility and capacity aware of their rights generation. I hope and look forward to these younger generations eventually break all the barriers and take charge of their lives, learn to live in pairs and create their own families. Perhaps only then stigma and homophobia that exists heavily in Chile can begin to end.

My out of the closet had nothing spectacular. I insist. I went gay all my life. Perhaps the interesting thing is that I was able to take control of my life since very young. At 22, I was faced with a very possessive and domineering mother and left home. I never again live in a heterosexual family. I lived alone, I have lived with a partner – a long relation of more than 20 years – which unfortunately ended. A tip for the boys today: leave their homes, making their own lives, not wasting a single minute because life passes quickly and then they are of no regrets.”

Cristóbal, Student, Santiago, Chile

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

photo by Kevin Truong

Cristóbal, in his own words: “Well, To be gay you need courage to face many things, like bullying from people you know or you don’t, the way they look at you. But, the most important one is to tell your parents you are gay, this one was the most difficult to me, also, being gay is to be my self, it’s not a big change, just the people you feel attracted to. Besides, being gay means to me to let the people know that you are not different between them, and make them know your point of view of the life with respect, if you are aggressive or not very kind, people won’t feel respect or anything for you. The idea is to let them know the way you are and why you chose to live being gay. In some cases, being gay is an option, but in others it is stronger than an option and most of the people or the world don’t understand.

The most challenge was to tell to my parents and my friends, but it was not as horrible as I thought, because they still love me the way I am. Also, I’m studying at the University and that was one of my challenges, continuing my studies, I almost am finishing my career which is of the most beautiful one, to be a teacher. However, being a teacher with different sexual condition is going to be a big challenge of my life, to be accepted into the educational institution, but if you are good at what you do and love it, I think it will be less challenging. Either way I will be ready to face it.

The gay community (in Santiago) Works very hard for the acceptance, also for rights that everybody has, but, gay people don’t. I think it is wonderful, because everybody moves for one cause, to be respected from the others to us. However, there exists an institution called MOVILH, which fights for this, making it happen.

When I was at high school, I realized that I was different to others. My likes were different too. But, I did not put too much attention on that changes, because I thought it was part of my growing up process. During the days, weeks, This changes were too strong, then, I began to look at the boys or my classmates with other sight. I began to like boys! Due to that I felt terrible, because I did not have a good education about gays. Also, just the things I heard, which it was not good. During those years, I had felt guilty, so I never told this to anybody, but one day, I told to my mom that I found cute a boy from another grade, she felt terrible and a little guilty too and she told me, “that feeling is going to disappear some day” . I trusted her word. Years later, something happened to me, I was working with my mom in the summer, one day I had to bring some papers to a company, and the receptionist guy started flirting with me, I was so nervous that I just did my job and tried to leave the building as soon as I could, but at the entrance he was waiting for me. He stopped me and asked for me cellphone, I gave it to him and he began to call me, and then we met each other. He was my first gay experience besides he was 7 years older than me, We decided to have meetings after that we started a kind of relationship. Next year, I met another boy, he just was a sexual experience for me, also I was the same for him. Nonetheless, I had been dating with both guys at the same time at least 2 years. In 2010 I decided to tell my sexual condition to my parents, the fist one was my mom, when I told her she cried, but she knew, but it was hard to hear it, then she hugged and kissed me and told me she will love me at the same way she did. Later that day, I told my father, he was a little strict, but he accepted to me, but as I live with him, he put some rules to me. During the time, my whole or most of my family found out I am gay, they did not have problem. Then, on 2012 I had a boyfriend, who lasted 2 years and 4 months with him, my family met him and they loved him. He was my first love, but we broke up on september 17th, we are still talking, and maybe we will back together one day, because I still loving him.

I’m proud of myself to face all this, and also being brave in this life is the only way to survive, I’m responsible, good son, good brother and I will never change the life, the family and friends I got. I say to myself, thanks for being who you are, never change and keep working hard, the success is nearer than you can imagine.”