Homomercracia. The commodification of sexual and gender diversity in Chilean democracy

The approval of the anti-discrimination law in 2012 and the Civil Union Agreement in 2015 in Chile offer a sharp contrast to a society that has historically repressed LGBTQ people. However, it is not clear why and how public discourse shifted within this conventional heteronormative context. To understand this, I analyze samples taken from the Chilean print and digital media using Critical Discourse Analysis. I propose the concept of Homomercracia: a portmanteau from the Spanish words for homosexuality, market, and democracy, which describes the instrumentalization of political rhetoric related to sexual and gender diversity. I conclude that social and political changes in Chilean society have helped to catalyze these recent advances.