MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
LGBTI Diversity Flag hoisted in Chilean city of Punta Arenas
“What happened on Wednesday is a tremendous milestone that Punta Arenas,” Iguales Foundation president Pi said. The diversity flag was hoisted Wednesday on Mount La Cruz in Punta Arenas, Chile's southernmost city, as part of the celebration of the International Gay Pride Day (LGBTI) by the Iguales Foundation. Similar ceremonies were held all over the world, including the Magallanes Region Government House, over 2,000 kilometers south of Santiago.
“What happened on Wednesday is a tremendous milestone that Punta Arenas has hoisted the banner of diversity in the southernmost part of the world,” FI executive president Juan Enrique Pi explained. He added that “we hope it will become a constant practice in the region of Magallanes and throughout Chile, because respect for diversity must be a cross-cutting value, which will fill all regions of the country with pride.”
Governor Paola Fernández welcomed the initiative and said that “it seems valuable to us to participate in activities that promote diversity, giving value to the rights of all Chileans.” She went on to say that “as a government, we act from an inclusive perspective, eradicating all forms of discrimination, the best demonstration of which is the Equal Marriage Law bill,” which has been announced by President Michelle Bachelet.
Iguales' Jimena Lizama expressed her gratitude for the good reception and support of the local authorities from “one of the southernmost areas of the world, where cultural changes often occur more slowly than in other regions.” She also vowed to “continue to work so that each person is proud to be who he/she is.”
Deputy Gabriel Boric, who represents that constituency in the national lower house, said that “from Magallanes we join the commemoration of the International Day of LGBTI pride because we are sure that a country advances when equality, tolerance and respect defeat discrimination.”
“All members of this society must reaffirm their commitment to reach a different Chile, one in which we can be really free, because a society that discriminates violates us all,” he added.
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Read all commentsChile has a lot of oddness and silliness with flags. You can see in the same picture their “Independent Republic of Magallanes” flag. For the imaginary independent republic. Once in a while somebody raises a “Mapuche Nation” flag in Punta Arenas. And then there are the clowns who have a flag for their imaginary “Glacier Nation” and appear to believe that Chile's glaciers somehow are not part of Chilean territory and constitute a separate political entity. Don't know what they're smoking but it's apparently strong stuff and domestic consumption is rather, um, high.
Jun 29th, 2017 - 01:31 pm 0https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacier_Republic
I spend a lot of time (and money) in Punta Arenas (Chile) and have some property near there. Once upon a time I asked about the observation that almost every building in Punta Arenas had the means for flying a flag. The answer: there were certain days where, under the law, it was mandatory to fly the national flag. So I looked it up, since chilenos are famous for their chamullo. In this case they were correct: Ley Nº 18.287 obligates residents to fly the flag on even private residences on specific dates, with fines for noncompliance up to 200,000 CL pesos.
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