Migratory Policies and Sexual Diversity in Chile: Straining the Rhetoric of Post-Dictatorial Consensus: tensionando la retórica del consenso posdictatorial

With the end of the civil-military dictatorship, Chile began a socio-political transition marked by a rhetoric of “consensus,” which resulted in the neutralization of differences, leading LGBTI+ and migrant experiences to situate themselves in a place of non-contradiction. This article aims to observe the tension in understanding citizenship in the post-dictatorship period based on the demands of LGTBI+ and migrants in the country. We present a critical documentary analysis —from a queer feminist approach— of sexuality and migration policies, which show a clear assimilationist slant based on an idea of “citizen” that does not disrupt transitional peace. Emphasis is placed on the contradictions between the grand narrative of the peace agreement and post-dictatorship cohesion and the invisibilizations that LGBTI+ and migrant collectives went through. Likewise, the generalist uses of diversity as a renewed form of assimilation are highlighted. The originality of this analysis lies in the fact that it provides an intersectional review of how policies are usually thought of under a single vector of difference —class, origin, or sexuality— without bringing to the forefront the articulation of differentiating social structures in which the new transitional process is structured. We conclude that, in the processes of differentiation that reified these norms, dissidents and migrants were labeled as a “problematic otherness,” over which government was exercised, mainly to avoid a deviation from the frameworks accepted as “normal” for the security of the recent Chilean democracy.