Homophobic stunt at Chilean GLBT festival

A homophobic stunt has led to increased security measures at a GLBT film festival in Santiago, Chile.

The stunt occurred on Tuesday evening at the Spanish Embassy in the Chilean capital, one of six venues at the third Festival of Sexually Diverse Cinema.

Vials of an odorous liquid of undetermined origin and pamphlets saying “no more lies, promoting homosexuality is not culture” and “your taxes are being used here” were launched in the embassy’s theatre and entrance.

The attacks follow a campaign against the festival by anti-gay group Acción Familia, whose various complaints included an allegation that pedophilia was being promoted by using the faces of the 11-year-old protagonists of one of the films in the festival’s publicity.

The film itself won a prize in an Australian children’s film festival in 2001.

Agitation was also stirred by an article in the widely-read broadsheet El Mercurio which described the festival as one of Chile’s national failures.

A spokesperson for the festival said “these forms of expression, which we denounce fiercely, only promote violence and hatred”.

While neighbouring Argentina inspired Latin America’s GLBT activists when it legalised gay marriage in July, Chile remains a bastion of conservative sexual attitudes.

An anti-discrimination law has been mired in talks for more than a decade and the country’s President Sebastian Piñera is its first conservative president since the Pinochet dictatorship ended in 1990.

Nevertheless, Santiago was the scene of a festive and politically charged March for Sexual Diversity, attended by more than 20,000 people, only two weeks ago.

Although there were no casualties in the attacks, the festival’s organisers are considering their legal options.

Due to its occurrence in the Spanish embassy, Spanish police are also investigating.

By BEN CONVEY