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“I Always Have the Idea of Sin in My

Mind. …”: Family of Origin, Religion, and
Chilean Young Gay Men
a a
Víctor Figueroa & Fiona Tasker
a
Birkbeck, University of London , London , United Kingdom
Published online: 12 Dec 2013.
To cite this article: Víctor Figueroa & Fiona Tasker , Journal of GLBT Family Studies (2013): “I Always
Have the Idea of Sin in My Mind. …”: Family of Origin, Religion, and Chilean Young Gay Men, Journal
of GLBT Family Studies, DOI: 10.1080/1550428X.2013.834424
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1550428X.2013.834424
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DOI: 10.1080/1550428X.2013.834424
“I Always Have the Idea of Sin in My

Mind. . . .”: Family of Origin, Religion,
and Chilean Young Gay Men
VÍCTOR FIGUEROA and FIONA TASKER

Downloaded by [Universidad Católica del Norte] at 05:30 17 December 2013
Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom
This research aimed to explore the influences of family’s values

and religiosity on the sexual identity life course of Chilean young
gay men. Volunteer participants were recruited through invitations
published by two sexual minority organizations based in Santiago.
Six same-sex-attracted Chilean men between 18 and 24 years old
were interviewed using a semi-structured interview. Foucauldian
discourse analysis was used to explore how discourses about their
sexual identity development were constructed, including the im-
plications for subjectivity and the location of these compressions
within a social and historical context. Findings revealed feelings
of self-rejection and self-recrimination featured in the life course
development of participants’ sexual identities that were embedded
within the familiar and sociohistorical context in which they lived.
In particular, parents’ religious beliefs regarding the abnormal and
unnatural view of “homosexuality” shaped by Catholic and Evan-
gelical churches played a crucial role in lack of acceptance during
their development. The study showed the internal struggle faced
by these Chilean young gay men to achieve their own acceptance
and perceived normalization of their sexual orientation. Implica-
tions for therapy and education with young gay men living in a
predominantly Christian cultural context and Latino countries are
reviewed.
The authors wish to thank all those interviewed for this project and the two GLBT Chilean
organizations that supported this research (MOVILH and Iguales). We also want to express
our deep gratitude to Constanza Acevedo, Lorena Monsalve, Álvaro Canobra, and Mauricio
Martı́nez for their support during the recruitment. We also thank Roni Mermelshtine from
Birkbeck, University of London and Marie Delvoye from the University of Liège for their
comments on this article.
Address correspondence to Fiona Tasker, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birk-
beck, University of London, Malet Street, Bloomsbury, London, WC1E 7HX, UK. E-mail:
f.tasker@bbk.ac.uk
1
2 V. Figueroa and F. Tasker
KEYWORDS Latino gay, sexual identity, cultural context, family,

life course, religiosity
INTRODUCTION
The experiences of gay youths and their families have been well docu-
mented within developmental psychology (Bouris et al., 2010; Diamond,
Butterworth, & Allen, 2012; Patterson, 2000; Peplau & Beals, 2004; Savin-
Williams, 1998). However, most of this research has been conducted with
white gay youths in North American, European, and English-speaking coun-
tries. Significantly less research has been conducted on the family lives of
ethnic-minority gay youths (Merighi & Grimes, 2000; Morales, 1989; Trem-
ble, Schneider, & Appathurai, 1989). A few studies have included samples
of Latino gay youths to study family influences on development and mental
health (Dubé & Savin-Williams, 1999; Grov, Bimbi, Nanı́n, & Parsons, 2006;
Merighi & Grimes, 2000; Newman & Muzzonigro, 1993; Rosario, Schrimshaw,
& Hunter, 2004; Rosario, Schrimshaw, & Hunter, 2009; Ryan, Huebner, Diaz,
& Sanchez, 2009; Ryan, Russell, Huebner, Diaz, & Sanchez, 2010). Notwith-
standing, participants in these studies were youths from Latino family back-
grounds who were born in, or who at the time of the study lived in, the
United States. This research study has focused on the family influences on
sexual identity development of Chilean gay youths in order to explore how
Latino families may shape their life courses without confounding the effects
of immigration and culture when considering sexual identity development.
A Latin American research setting may provide a new avenue within
which to investigate the influences of sociocultural context on gay youths.
Although Chilean and U.S. Latino gay youths have been exposed to the Amer-
ican “gay culture” through the globalization process (Altman, 2001; Carrillo,
1999; Parker, 2002), some social theorists, based on their ethnographical
studies, have recommended focusing in how Latino same-sex sexualities
are expressed in diverse ways and in different local contexts (Vidal-Ortiz,
Decena, Carrillo & Almaguer, 2010). Furthermore, the life experiences of
Chilean and U.S. Latino gay men might differ in particular ways. For instance,
most Chilean gay men do not experience discrimination by ethnicity, unlike
Latino gay men living in the United States. According to the census of 2002
by the National Institute Survey of Chile (Instituto Nacional de Encuesta,
2003), Chilean society is homogenous with respect to ethnicity, with less
than 5% of Chile’s population identifying as a member of an ethnic minority
group. In contrast, U.S. Latino gay men have reported multiple instances of
discrimination not only because of their sexual identity, but also because
of their ethnicity and often because of their experiences of relative poverty
(Diaz, Ayala, & Bein, 2004; Diaz, Ayala, Bein, Henne, & Marin, 2001).
Wider research using the life course perspective has suggested that
the developmental possibilities individuals encounter are influenced by their
Family of Origin, Religion, and Chilean Gay Men 3
historical and cultural context (Elder, 1998). Bengtson and Allen (1993) high-
lighted the importance of social context and historical location in the study
of families over time. For instance, studies have examined sociocultural and
political circumstances that contextualize diverse trajectories associated with
sexual identity development among different cohorts in the United States
(Cohler & Hammack, 2007; Floyd & Bakeman, 2006; Russell, Clarke, & Clary,
2009; Savin-Williams, 2005). Thus, the life course of sexual identity should
be understood by considering the particular sociohistorical context in which
same-sex desire is fully integrated into the life story through social practices
(Cohler & Hammack, 2006). This study addresses the life course (Bengtson &
Allen, 1993; Cohler & Hammack, 2006; Elder, 1998) and the social construc-
tionist (Foucault, 1978; Horowitz & Newcomb, 2002) perspectives in order

to explore how these Chilean gay youths developed a particular sense of
their own sexual identity within the context of the generally hostile cultural
climate of Chile.
Gay Men in a Chilean Context

According to population-based surveys, in Chile disapproval of sexual mi-
nority groups has steadily declined during recent years (Instituto de Investi-
gación en Ciencias Sociales [ICSO], 2012; Smith, 2011; World Values Survey
[WVS], 2006). In addition, younger cohorts generally have reported more tol-
erant attitudes toward sexual minorities compared with older cohorts (ICSO,
2012; WVS, 2006). Furthermore, studies have continued to record high lev-
els of stigmatization in Chilean sexual minorities in recent years (Barrientos,
Silva, Catalán, Gómez, & Longueira, 2010; Gómez & Barrientos, 2012). One
study comparing Chile and the United States showed that Chileans were
more prejudiced toward lesbians and gay men and held more traditional
gender role beliefs than Americans (Nierman, Thompson, Bryan, & Mahaf-
fey, 2007). Thus, Chilean society seems to be highly heterosexist and conser-
vative regarding same-sex sexualities (Caro & Guajardo, 1997; Cornejo, 2010;
Lyons, 2004). Indeed, public expressions of same-sex affection are generally
condemned and same-sex socialization spaces remain marginal and socially
invisible in Chilean cities (Gómez & Barrientos, 2012).
The discriminatory context in Chile, as in the rest of Latin America,
has been associated with the rejection of same-sex sexuality fostered by the
Catholic Church (Akerlund & Cheung, 2000; Bozon, Gayet, & Barrientos,
2009; Greene, 1994). The Catholic Church also has been seen to have a
stronger impact on law and policy in Chile compared with other Latin Amer-
ican countries, given the collaboration between the church and democratic
parties during the transition to democracy (Htun, 2003; Valdés, 2005). For
example, Htun suggested that cracks in the state-church relationship opened
a window for liberal issues in Argentina and Brazil, which was not seen in
Chile under democratic governance. Indeed, same-sex marriage has been

legalized in Argentina and Brazil (as well as in Uruguay and some states
of Mexico), while it remains illegal in Chile because of stringent opposition
by the Catholic Church and conservative political groups (Oyarzún, 2011).
Hence, the Catholic Church and political groups have been highly influen-
tial in law and policy privileging heterosexuality, thus feeding into and also
being fed by public opinion (Lyons, 2004; Oyarzún, 2011).
The Catholic Church’s influence on Chilean society has been detailed
by Cornejo (2011) in his historical review of Chilean literature about “homo-
sexuality”.1 Cornejo concluded that a “medicalized paradigm” of illness and
deviation still underpinned many Catholic pronouncements on “homosexu-
ality.” For example, a widely publicized book by Bishop Fernando Chomali

and colleagues laid down Catholic guidelines for addressing “homosexual-
ity,” noting that while “homosexuality” was not a disease, it is abnormal and
constituted a deviation of human nature given the purpose of procreation
(Chomali, Carrasco, Ferrer, Johnson, & Schnake, 2008). Prominent Chilean
academics in the fields of psychiatry and clinical psychology also have pre-
sented same-sex relationships as pathological from an evolutionary perspec-
tive (Valenzuela, 2006) and claimed that “homosexuality” may be treated
and reversed (Zegers, Larraı́n, & Bustamante, 2006). Nevertheless, positive
reflections about sexual minorities have been spread in Chile by social sci-
entists from gender and HIV/AIDS studies since the 1990s (Guajardo, 2004;
Cornejo, 2011). In addition, the official association of psychologists in Chile
(Colegio de Psicólogos) has stated that “homosexuality” is not a pathology
and questioned the validity of conversion therapies (Barrientos & Cárdenas,
2013).
Organizations in defense of sexual-minority rights in Chile emerged in
the late 1980s as a social response to the control of HIV/AIDS and were asso-
ciated with struggles for the return of democracy to Chile (Guajardo, 2004).2
In 1996 16 sexual minority people died in a deliberate fire at the Divine
nightclub in Valparaiso, inspiring the movement to fight for the abolition of
the law against sodomy, which was reversed in 1997 (Barrientos et al., 2010;
Núñez, 2010). Until now, few changes have been made in law for sexual
minorities’ civil rights recognition. For example, a same-sex civil partnership
bill is still waiting for approval in the parliament. Thus, gay- and lesbian-
headed families are not protected by law. Neither adoption by lesbians or
gay men, nor the use of reproductive technologies (such as artificial insem-
ination) by gays and lesbians, are available in Chile today (Herrera, 2009).
However, antidiscrimination legislation was finally passed into Chilean law
in 2012, making illegal discrimination on the grounds of sex, gender iden-
tity, sexual orientation, race or ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status,
language, ideology or political opinion, religion or belief, participation in
organizations, marital status, age, paternity, personal appearance, or illness.
Developing a Gay Identity in Latino and Chilean Families

SEXUAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT
The sexual identity development of lesbians and gay men often referred to as
the coming-out process has led to numerous theoretical models (e.g., Cass,
1979, 1984; Fassinger, 1991; Troiden, 1979, 1989; see Bilodeau & Renn, 2005,
for reviews). These models suggest that lesbians and gay men develop their
sexual identity throughout different stages during their development. Three
main developmental stages have been described in the widely used models
by Cass (1979, 1984) and Troiden (1979, 1989). In the sensitization period
before puberty individuals are said to recognize their first experiences of
same-sex attraction. Next, in a period of identity confusion individuals are

said to feel confused because they achieve a clearer awareness of their sexual
orientation but they also realize the implications of prejudice. Later, lesbian
and gay youths move through an eventual acceptance and integration of
their same-sex attraction experiences into their sexual identity during late
adolescence or adulthood.
Nevertheless, these linear stage models have been criticized as they have
been derived from an essentialist perspective of sexual identity formation
(Horowitz & Newcomb, 2002). Linear stage models fail to recognize indi-
vidual (Rosario, Schrimshaw, & Hunter, 2008; Savin-Williams, 2008), cultural
(Boxer & Cohler, 1989; Elizur & Ziv, 2001), and historical (Floyd & Bakeman,
2006) contexts. For example, studies in the United States and Canada have
found evidence that lesbian and gay youths from ethnic minority groups
experienced more difficulties than white youths when they disclosed their
sexual identity to their family of origin because of the more conservative
nature of their family systems (Dubé & Savin-Williams, 1999; Grov et al.,
2006; Merighi & Grimes, 2000; Rosario et al., 2004; Tremble et al., 1989).
LATINO AND CHILEAN GAY MEN MASCULINITIES

Latin American ethnographic research studies of gay men have provided an
insightful understanding of the cultural meanings of same-sex desire (for a
review see Parker & Cáceres, 1999). These studies have revealed that same-
sex-attracted men tended to define their identities based on the role they
played during sexual intercourse (Carrier, 1989, 1995). Receptive men (who
often perceived themselves effeminate) were more likely to identify as ho-
mosexual, while anal-insertive men were more likely to identify as a mascu-
line male. Notwithstanding, these early descriptions of same-sex desire have
been questioned in recent research given the emergence of new gay identi-
ties in same-sex-attracted Latino men associated with American acculturation
(Carrillo, 1999; Parker, 2002; Vidal-Ortiz et al., 2010). Vidal-Ortiz and col-
leagues (2010) have suggested that passive/active descriptions used by Latino
gay men in reference to their sexual preferences are not completely different
from top/bottom words used in the United States. Thus, same-sex identi-
ties in Latino men should be addressed beyond this passive/active-gendered
dichotomy.
Nevertheless, recent studies with U.S. Latino gay men have revealed
that active/passive role differentiation continues to affect sexual behavior in
particular ways (Carballo-Diéguez, Dolezal, Nieves, Dı́az, Decena, & Balan,
2004; Jeffries, 2009). One study revealed that Latino gay men preferred to
be insertive or receptive based on the perceived masculinity/femininity in
their sexual partners (Carballo-Diéguez et al., 2004). Furthermore, these tra-
ditional associations of masculine-active and feminine-passive gender roles
appeared to be highly significant in the life experiences of Latino gay men.

For example, one study found that Latino gay men who identified as effemi-
nate reported having experienced more homophobia, higher levels of mental
distress, and a higher frequency of negative experiences such as childhood
sexual abuse, verbal and physical abuse, and rape (Sandfort, Melendez, &
Diaz, 2007).
In Chile, femininity in gay men might be perceived as a transgression of
gender norms. Thus, people who do not conform with traditional masculine
gender roles might be labeled as “homosexuals,” stigmatized, or attacked
(Caro & Guajardo,1997). Indeed, in a qualitative study with four gay men,
Carrasco (2006) found that participants were stigmatized during their child-
hood because they were perceived as different by their peers. They indicated
the complexities of “being gay” in Chilean society due to a “homosexual”
stereotype that exacerbated effeminate gestures. Olavarrı́a (2000) has sug-
gested that the hegemonic masculinity is the dominant social model through
which gender relations are negotiated in Chilean society and that this has
affected the life experiences of gay men. Thus, the present study explores
the extent to which the gender role perceptions of young Chilean gay men
are seen as being associated with sexual identity from a developmental and
family context perspective.
LATINO AND CHILEAN FAMILIES

Existing studies have indicated that Latino gay individuals may experience
greater rejection from their families and communities because of the impor-
tance attached to traditional and religious values that shape gender roles,
sexuality, and family life (Bouris et al., 2010; Greene, 1994; Morales, 1989;
Rosario et al., 2004; Ryan et al., 2009; Taquette, Vilhena, Santos, & Barros,
2005; Zamora-Hernandez & Patterson, 1996). The institutionalization of a
sexual morality based on gender norms in Latino culture has been associ-
ated with the influence of the Catholic Church (Akerlund & Cheung, 2000;
Bozon et al., 2009; Greene, 1994). The link between negative attitudes toward
sexual minorities and Christian religiosity also has been seen in empirical re-
search (Herek, Chopp, & Strohl, 2007; Herek & McLemore, 2013; Whitley,
2009). Thus, gay men developing their sexual identity within a Christian
religious context struggle more to reconcile negative messages about ho-
mosexuality with acceptance of their own same-sex attractions (Ganzevoort,
Van der Laan, & Olsman, 2011; Sherry, Adelman, Whilde, & Quick, 2010;
Super & Jacobson, 2011). Our study has extended this line of research by
exploring possible linkages between religious values and family-of-origin
perspectives as seen by Chilean gay men.
In Chile, the social institution of family has experienced significant trans-
formation during the past century (Olavarrı́a, 2000; Oyarzún, 2005; Valdés,
2005). Church and state were highly influential in the hegemonic representa-
tion of traditional patriarchal family that predominated during this historical
period (Valdés, 2005). Family was based in the imaginary construction of the
sexual difference (masculinity/femininity) and the heterosexist model of the
“natural family” (with a mother and a father) fostered by the Catholic Church
(Oyarzún, 2005). The nuclear family was the focus of law and policies in
order to reproduce the sexual division of labor throughout the increasing in-
dustrialization process. Within this social order men should work outside the
home (productive role) and women should remain at home for child rear-
ing (reproductive role) (Oyarzún, 2005; Valdés, 2005). Power relationships
between genders were reproduced in nuclear families and children were so-
cialized within this model (Olavarrı́a, 2001). Men were seen as the provider
and the authority of the family, and women as dependent and subjugated
(Olavarrı́a, 2000).
During the dictatorship and the transition to democracy, new transfor-
mations in the institution of the family were observed in Chile (Olavarrı́a,
2000; Valdés, 2005). The increasing incorporation of women in the labor mar-
ket, poor working conditions, and the loss of protective norms for workers
introduced new changes in families (Valdés, 2005). The increasing partici-
pation of women in the productive role changed family configuration and
empowered women to achieve more equal gender relations (Valdés, 2005)
and marriage and birth rates decreased (Olavarrı́a, 2000). Hegemonic mascu-
line and subordinate feminine identities were increasingly questioned. Many
men lost their position as exclusive provider and an increasing number of
women were heading their families without a man (Olavarrı́a, 2000). Changes
in laws and policies, the social relevance of HIV, feminist movements, me-
dia and the Internet, and the globalization process also contributed to the
transformation of gendered family values in Chilean society (Valdés, 2005).
Moreover, the transformation of the traditional family model in Chile has
influenced the socialization of sexuality. Early sociological studies revealed
that men were socialized to be heterosexual, which included holding a privi-
leged social position over homosexuals and homophobic attitudes (Olavarrı́a,
2001; Valdés & Olavarrı́a, 1998; Valdés, 2005). The heterosexist model
prescribed that men should be active and penetrative and women pas-
sive and receptive (Valdés & Olavarrı́a, 1998). Men learned from parents
that they were free to exert their “instinctive” sexuality, while women were
taught about the value of virginity before marriage and the responsibility for
their sexuality (Valdés, 2005).
Nevertheless, new changes have been observed in current generations
regarding sexuality in Chile (Palma, 2006; Valdés, 2005). Research has shown
that parents of adolescents are more willing to talk about sexuality, love, and
contraception with their children (Valdés, 2005). Another study on genera-
tional differences in sexuality of the Chilean population revealed that the
age of sexual initiation has decreased more in women than for men (Palma,
2006). Regardless of the changes observed in sexual values in Chilean so-

ciety, conservative political groups and the Catholic Church continued to
promote the traditional role of women within families, sexual abstinence,
virginity until marriage, and the rejection of condom use (Valdés, 2005). The
expansion of the Evangelical Church in recent years also has contributed to
gender conservatism (Valdés, 2005) and negative views about homosexuality
(Cárdenas & Barrientos, 2008), possibly to a greater extent than the Catholic
Church.
As previous social research has shown, significant transformations have
occurred in gender, sexual, and family values in Chilean society during
recent decades. In addition, Latino gay men have been deeply affected by
their family values and the socio-cultural context they live in. The present
study sought to explore how family values and religiosity might influence
the life course of young gay men in Chile. Our research questions were as
follow:
1. How do gay men give meaning to their sexual identity in Chile nowadays?
2. How do they develop their sense of sexual identity over time?
3. How do family relationships support, or hinder, this identification in par-
ticular culturally related ways?
METHOD
Participants
Interviewees were 6 men with an average age of 20 years (age range 18 to
24 years old). Criteria for participants’ inclusion were being Chilean, being
between 18 and 25 years old, and currently identifying as gay. Five partic-
ipants were enrolled in higher education courses at the time of the study
and the remaining man had been educated to a secondary school level. All
participants resided in the city of Santiago, and five of them had lived all
their lives in that city. At the time of the study all six participants were liv-
ing with at least one member of their family of origin: two lived with both
TABLE 1 Demographic Information of Participants
Participant Educational Level Childhood Religion Family Formation
Pedro Undergraduate student Catholic Living with father

Marcelo Undergraduate student Catholic Living with both mother and
stepfather
Carlos Undergraduate student Catholic Living with both grandmother
and grandfather
Gustavo Undergraduate student Catholic Living with mother
Nicolas Undergraduate student Evangelical Living with both mother and
father
Roberto Secondary school Evangelical Living with mother
completed
their mother and their father, two lived with their mothers, one lived with
his father, and one lived with both of his maternal grandparents. All six
participants reported having been raised under Christian values, including
attendance with their family at a place of Christian worship in some cases:
four received a Catholic upbringing, and two Evangelical. All interviewees
declared not practicing any religion at the time of the study. All participants
were currently members of one of the two sexual-minority organizations that
assisted in the recruitment process. A summary of each participant’s details
and the pseudonyms given to participants are listed in Table 1.
Recruitment of Participants
The recruitment of volunteers to participate in the study was conducted with
the collaboration of two sexual-minority organizations based in Santiago. The
Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation (MOVILH) and the
Equals Foundation (Iguales) distributed flyers for the study (via the Internet
and at their events) and provided a private office on their premises for
conducting each individual research interview with each participant. Two
participants were contacted through an invitation on the MOVILH Facebook
page linked to members’ Facebook profiles. Another two participants were
contacted by a flyer published by Iguales. And the last two participants,
who were also members of MOVILH and Iguales, were recruited by other
participants through snowballing. The interviews were conducted during the
months of July and August 2012. The study received ethical clearance from
the authors’ university institutional review board.
Measures
The present study was conducted using semistructured interviews, the main
questions of which were prepared in advance. However, the open-ended
nature of the questions enabled participants to raise issues not necessar-

ily suggested by the interviewer and interesting leads raised were followed
up by the interviewer with further questions requesting clarification or ex-
pansion (Hugh-Jones, 2010). When designing interview questions social
constructionist (Horowitz & Newcomb, 2002) and life course (Cohler &
Hammack, 2006) approaches for the understanding of sexual identity de-
velopment were considered.
The interview was structured as follows. The first part was an introduc-
tion to the study and included collection of demographic information. The
second part of the interview focused on particular aspects of the life course
exploring early experiences of same-sex attraction (e.g., When did you first
become aware of feelings of same-sex attraction? What experiences in your

life helped you to realize that you felt attracted to people of your own sex?),
the feelings associated with these experiences (e.g., How did you feel dur-
ing this process?), and interactions of individuals with their family and social
context (e.g., What did different people in your family of origin think about
people who experience same-sex attraction? Why did they think that?). The
third part explored the meanings that individuals attributed to their same-sex
attraction experiences and the concepts they used to give coherence to these
experiences (e.g., Do you like to use any word to identify yourself or define
your sexuality? What do you like about that term?).
Interview Procedure and Transcription

Each of the six participants completed an individual interview in Spanish.
Study interviews lasted between 45 and 75 minutes and were conducted by
the first author (a Chilean gay man in his early thirties). Each participant gave
his consent for interview audio-taping.
Interviews were audio-recorded with each participant’s consent and ver-
batim transcripts were made in Spanish by the first author. To ensure con-
fidentiality, information was disguised in the transcripts and pseudonyms
were assigned. The interviews, transcripts, and all the initial coding were
conducted in Spanish, because this allowed the particular meanings of lan-
guage and discourses to be kept within the analysis (Willig, 2008; Wiggins
& Riley, 2010). For example, the words used to identify same-sex-attracted
people vary considerably between English-speaking (Savin-Williams, 2005)
and Spanish-speaking (Carrier, 1995) countries. In addition, developmental
researchers have suggested that Spanish is a more gendered language than
English (Sera, Berge, & Pintado, 1994), raising the possibility that cultural
understandings around same-gender versus other-gender attraction would
be emphasized more strongly in the original Spanish version than in the
English translation. Thus, only the extracts and coding used by the second
author to audit the analysis were translated into English.
TABLE 2 Developmental Milestones of Sexual Identity
Age of Sexual
Age of First Age of Coming Self- Identity Label
Participant Cognizance Awareness Out Acceptance MA FA Used
Pedro Puberty 11–12 18 Yes Yes Yes Gay, Maricón

Marcelo 6–7 15–16 17–18 Yes No Yes Cola, Gay
Carlos 7 11–12 16 Yes No No Gay
Gustavo Childhood 10–11 13 Yes Yes No Gay
Nicolas Childhood 13 13 Yes No No Gay
Roberto 5 8 15 Yes Yes No Gay
Note. MA/FA = Current mother/father acceptance of son’s sexual orientation
Analysis Method
The data analysis method used to study the transcripts was Foucauldian
discourse Analysis (FDA) (Arribas-Ayllon & Walkerdine, 2008; Willig, 2008;
Wiggins & Riley, 2010). Specifically, the following FDA protocol was used in
this research based on the methodological propositions of Wiggins and Riley
(2010). First, keywords from the transcripts were selected that allowed for
summarizing chunks of data (such as a sentence, paragraph, or argument).
All paragraphs in the transcript were summarized in this way to identify both
the style and content of the speech used in them. Second, themes were
identified from these keywords for each participant, and consecutive read-
ings of these themes enabled them to be grouped into overarching themes,
which were refined through reference to general concepts from the liter-
ature. Third, the overarching themes were then used to organize relevant
transcript extracts from participants. Fourth, the various discourses of par-
ticipants were identified, showing the construction of meaning within them,
within the overarching themes generated in the study. Finally, the implica-
tions of discourses for Chilean gay men’s subjectivities, and the relationships
of these discourses to the family and sociocultural contexts they lived in,
were examined.
FINDINGS
The first three themes identified in participants’ interviews (“rejection of

first cognizance,” “awareness and self-recrimination,” and “self-acceptance”)
are presented in a chronological order regarding sexual identity life course.
These three themes appeared as a process sequence in all six participants’
accounts (see Table 2 for these chronological sequences). The final theme
presented refers to family members’ reactions to disclosure of participant’s
sexual orientation; this theme varied within each individual account.
Rejection of First Cognizance

Participants described an initial period when they began to notice their same-
sex attraction experiences. At that time they did not have the notion of “gay”
or “homosexual” to give meaning to these experiences. Some participants
noticed this from early in childhood, thus they referred to this attraction as
nonsexual in character. In particular, some of these participants described
that during this process they felt different from their same-sex peers. Carlos
distinguished his perception of the differences between his own gendered
behavior and that of his brother, and highlighted the reactions of his peers
that prompted him to notice these differences. Carlos’s experiences showed
how some participants perceived differences in the patterning of gender
behavior since their childhood. This experience of “feeling different” de-

rived mainly from the contrast between their perceptions of their peers and
their own self-perceptions revealing that they did not conform to the typical
gender roles expected of Chilean boys. Furthermore, Carlos described ex-
periencing peer stigmatization because of his “transgressions” of traditional
gendered behaviors:
One can express certain things that heterosexual peers do not. I don’t
know if all gay men do, but at least it happened to me. For example,
I liked playing with stuffed animals, things like that. My brother and I
were of a similar age; he was one year older than me. When we were
kids my brother liked to have a lot of male friends and I had more female
friends. I never liked roughhousing, I never liked the ball. I think those
are things that I noticed in childhood. Perhaps you don’t know you’re
gay, but you know you’re different . . . and you know, not just because
you say it, but because other children teased me.
In Nicolas’s case the experience of feeling different was related to the

message his parents gave him regarding what they expected of him in terms
of heterosexual behavior: “I wondered to myself in my childhood why my
family always told me, ‘no, men like women and women like men!’ And
sometime I said to myself: ‘why do I look at men or boys?”’ Thus, in Nicolas’s
case, his parents transmitted childhood expectations regarding heterosexual
behavior that did not match his own emerging feelings of attraction, and
he started to think his feelings required explanation as to why he felt as he
did. In fact all the participants reported that when they first noticed their
feelings of same-sex attraction they also thought that their feelings were not
appropriate.
In Carlos’s case his experience of feeling different because of attraction
to other boys was immediately identified by him as wrong and was con-
nected with his religious upbringing. Carlos said, “I always have the idea of
sin in my mind. In my child’s subconscious, I thought ‘I’m wrong, I’m dif-
ferent, I’m rare, and that’s bad!”’ As Carlos’s account shows, experiences of
feeling different and non-acceptance were strongly influenced by his parents’

religious beliefs. Carlos incorporated these beliefs from his family during his
development and could still tap into these discourses. Other participants’
narratives also revealed the impact of religion on their perceptions of their
early same-sex attraction experiences.
The findings in this study revealed a first period of sexual identity devel-
opment in which participants perceived “feeling different” starting in child-
hood because of the contrast between their own experiences, or behaviors,
and those of their peers. Some participants described being attracted to
men, which they did not observe in their peers, while others perceived
that their gender behaviors were also different from their peers. Other au-
thors described such experiences of “feeling different” as the process of

“sensitization” (Troiden, 1989; Newman & Muzzonigro, 1993) or “defined by
difference” (Flowers & Buston, 2001) in which individuals feel different from
their same-sex peers. Our study has pointed to the cultural specificity of
“difference” and “sin” in a Chilean context.
Participants experienced a sense of self-rejection with any deviation
from a culturally prescribed pathway to heterosexuality during this period
even without awareness of a developing “gay identity.” For example, child-
hood memories about the incongruence between participants’ same-sex at-
traction feelings and their parents’ heterosexual expectations, based on reli-
gious beliefs, raised questions for participants regarding their own feelings
and experiences (e.g., Ganzevoort et al., 2011; Sherry et al., 2010).
Awareness and Self-Recrimination

The second period in participants’ identity development seemed to begin
when they “confirmed” their attraction to men in some manner. In this period,
interviewees had a clearer notion of their own experiences of same-sex
attraction. Nevertheless, participants’ experiences of attraction to men were
not accepted by them at this point. And participants’ lack of self-acceptance
had a major impact on their developing sense of their own sexual identity
and their self-regard as any signs of same-sex attraction were stigmatized by
peers and family.
Two participants became aware of their same-sex attraction earlier than
the rest of the participants, yet they were not aware of the sexual character of
their attractions. Roberto, who had his first experience of same-sex attraction
at age five, described the moment when he achieved a deeper understanding
of his attraction: “Then, they [his peers] began to tease me, and I began to
notice it . . . and at ten years, eleven years, I heard some comments, for
example, an aunt told my mom, ‘I think it seems that he is homosexual
because he acts differently!’ Then I started to notice.”
Like Roberto, other participants also referred to various reactions from

peers and family associated with their awareness of their attraction to men,
but often their response to these reactions focused on the need to hide
their attraction. Other participants mentioned their perception of having “no
identity” because they were outside the social norm. Marcelo described his
rejection of a gay identity and the bleak intensity of being at a loss to place
himself in a social world without any identity: “In certain way I felt without
identity. I mean, I never felt comfortable with heterosexuals, and I felt a
strong rejection for those like me too, so I didn’t have a place in the world,
with my friend, with my family.”
Other participants described feelings of isolation and loneliness. Gus-
tavo explained how he lived this period of self-recrimination that he linked

to his sense of “self-discrimination” fostered by the church:
In that period between ten and twelve, thirteen, I tried to deny what I felt,
without stopping feeling, like to hide it, saying this will change, a process
of self-isolation . . .. One comes a time where one self-discriminates, one
takes what society says and impregnates it with that . . . previously it was
believed that gay people were as “sent by the devil,” when the Church
influenced more people, it still influences, but much lesser extent than it
was six, seven years ago.
Marcelo’s experiences were bound up with the religious beliefs that his
family held during this period. For him, the experience that helped him to
confirm that he was attracted to men was his first kiss, which instantly made
him react with Christian guilt and self- recrimination:
And I felt so bad, in fact I left there [a party], I left before the end, I went
home crying, walking blocks and blocks and then I came home crying.
I felt extremely guilty because I thought I had done something to Jesus,
because I was a Christian, as I said before, so it was not nice my first
kiss, it was super traumatic . . . plus I hated me and reproached me, I was
not happy with what I was and I wanted to be a better person.
Participants’ narratives revealed a second period in which they con-

tinued to experience non-acceptance of their same-sex attraction experi-
ences. As Savin-Williams (2008) has noted, participants were not affected
by their “sexual orientation” itself; instead their development was impacted
by stigmatization they experienced from family members and peers. Indeed,
their increasing awareness of same-sex attraction contributed to a desire to
hide and change the expression of attraction, and feelings of loneliness, iso-
lation, guilt, and being without an identity (e.g., Newman & Muzzonigro,
1993; Sherry et al., 2010).
Participants from families with deeply rooted religious beliefs strongly
questioned their own sexual identity during this second period (Ganzevoort
et al., 2011). In particular, narratives revealed how some participants built

various meanings around their same-sex attraction experiences, as reflected
by their experiences of self-recrimination and fear of disclosing (Sherry et al.,
2010). As Savin-Williams and Ream (2003) noted, the fear of negative reac-
tions from parents often delayed participants’ disclosure.
Self-Acceptance
A third important process for all participants was when they began to accept
sexual attraction to men as part of their identity. Acceptance contrasted with
previous periods when they had rejected their sexual preferences because
of social expectations. For some participants this process was also described
as the time in which they “assumed” their sexual preferences. In the Span-
ish language “to assume” means to take the responsibility for or to accept
something. This word is generally used to express the assumption of a gay
identity. For example, Pedro’s story showed how his acceptance involved
no further exploration of the reasons for his attraction to men. He said:
And then at eighteen and having been several times with men, I said,
“this is undeniable, I’m gay,” and I assumed it . . .. After I assumed, I
immediately came out . . .. I think part of being assumed as different, or
part of being assumed as diverse, is not looking for in your head what
causes are . . ..
Pedro’s narrative also connected assumption and acceptance with dis-

closure. Thus, acceptance motivated some participants to disclose to others.
For Carlos, self-acceptance also was directly associated with disclosing to
others, which in turn he noted as supporting his self-acceptance since he
met with positive responses from those he counted as friends. As Carlos put
it: “When I accepted myself, I began to tell my friends . . .. I did not find any
friend who had a problem with me as homosexual.” In fact, all six partici-
pants referred to at least one experience of acceptance upon disclosure by
one of their peers, in contrast to the lack of acceptance from their parents.
In contrast to Pedro’s end to further exploration for reasons for his gay
identity once he had assumed it, some participants’ accounts indicated that
for them beginning to accept and disclose were associated with reinvigo-
rated searching for information about same-sex attraction. Marcelo said that
after accepting his sexual attraction experiences he began to learn about
homosexuality with his first boyfriend. Marcelo’s story revealed that this
exploration helped him to find words for self-definition that were more ac-
ceptable and comfortable for him and these words connected him to others
whom he identified as like himself. Marcelo explained how he had chosen
to use the Chilean word cola to identify himself as gay:
With my best friend, who is like my brother, we both came out at the
same time . . .. we learned homosexuality from books, encyclopedias of
sexology, magazines, then we were long speculating much about ho-
mosexuality and we called ourselves “cola,” so I like the word “cola,”
because we told “cola” ourselves . . . we were a long time speculating
about homosexuality before coming out, and after that we realized that
there were many other words, but for me, in particular, it has an emo-
tional meaning because [it] binds me with my best friend who is also
gay.
Marcelo’s account revealed that meanings attributed to different iden-

tity labels are personal. The word cola had an emotional meaning for him
because he felt attached to his best friend. Cola has been widely used in
Chilean society by older cohorts of people to label gay men, although it
has a negative meaning for some people. The term is an inversion of the
word loca (crazy woman) and probably had its origin in the second half of
the twentieth century as a jargon word used by offenders to identify effem-
inate men (Núñez, 2012). In addition, Marcelo identified with the word gay
as all others participants also did. Although, Pedro used the word maricón
(“faggot”) in reclaiming a positive meaning of a widely recognized pejorative
word in the Spanish world: “I use ‘maricón’ for the same reason that Ameri-
cans [from the United States] use the word ‘queer’, which was so severe by
the seventies, as saying ‘maricón’ in Chile today, and nowadays ‘queer’ is
used as a way of reclamation.”
Participants’ narratives revealed a third important process during their
sexual identity development. In this period participants changed to begin to
accept their own same-sex attraction experiences (Troiden, 1989; Newman
& Muzzonigro, 1993). For some participants, experience of acceptance was
associated with the time of disclosure, as previously described by Troiden
(1989) and Flowers and Buston (2001). For some of our participants self-
acceptance was associated with no longer asking questions regarding the
origin of their sexual preferences, but for others searching was revived to
look for new meanings at this pivotal period in identity construction.
At this pivotal period participants also went through a process in which
they re-defined themselves by using different identity labels. All participants
identified with the word gay and recognized it as a useful label to describe
or convey their sexual orientation to others (Savin-Williams, 2005; Cohler &
Hammack, 2007; Russell et al., 2009). But some of them also used Chilean
words such as cola and maricón in reclaiming a positive use of generally
recognized pejorative words at least in gay company. Thus our study has
highlighted the cultural specificity of the queer reclamation of pejorative
terms described by Brontsema (2004).
Our findings also are consistent with recent suggestions made by
ethnographic researchers who also have noted that Latino gay men are
defining their identities based on their sexual attraction rather than through
active/passive sexual roles (Carrillo, 1999; Vidal-Ortiz et al., 2010). Even
if a degree of acculturation with American “gay culture” can be observed
in participants’ accounts, these findings reveal that life course meanings of
same-sex desire are culturally and historically mediated throughout a devel-
opmental process starting during childhood or puberty.
Family Members’ Reactions to Disclosure

Parents’ reactions to participants’ disclosure were diverse, and some partic-
ipants recounted stories that showed how parents’ responses had changed
over time. Nicolas described the influence of family and religious beliefs on
fears that he felt about disclosing: “My family [father, mother, and siblings] is
evangelical and they are very attached to religion, and I was afraid to reveal
my sexual orientation, and I was afraid to say I’m gay! Then I could not say
it . . ..”
What was common to all six participants was the experience of non-
acceptance of at least one parent after disclosure. In some cases parental
non-acceptance was clearly embedded in religious adherence. For example,
Marcelo expressed how difficult his disclosure had been for his mother and
how she had continued to reject him because of her Catholic and Evangel-
ical beliefs. Particularly poignant and significant in terms of the connection
between family and religion is Marcelo’s description of how this took out a
key aspect of his life. In conveying the importance of his mother Marcelo
chose the very strong metaphor of a “pillar” to describe his mother’s role
in his life, suggesting that she represented something that held him up. The
removal of this pillar continued to shake the fabric of the building that he
depended on.
It was a super heavy blow for her. Especially, because of the Christian
upbringing she had given us, and it was a really difficult process, super
painful, where there was a breakdown in the relationship with my family,
there was a before and after when I came out with my family, and it
continues being painful . . .. It is complicated for me because my mom
does not accept me, my mom is like a pillar in my life.
According to participants’ accounts, some fathers also expressed rejec-

tion of their son’s disclosure of same-sex attraction. Roberto described how
he lived through disclosing to his father. His account of his father’s rejec-
tion was closely related to his father’s adherence to evangelical values and
connected specifically to the belief that same-sex attraction was abnormal or
unnatural and contravened definitions of manhood. For Roberto, his father’s
rejection had the particularly destructive effect of distinguishing between the
sin and the sinner for trying to establish a sense of an integrated sexual
identity:
Then I told him. He took it badly. We were in a car. He started driving

the car very fast. I thought we were going to crash because the car was
going very fast. He had tears in his eyes, but he never cried in front of
me. Then he didn’t cry and said me, “I love you, but I cannot accept
you.” “I cannot accept you,” he said, “because it’s not normal.” He said,
“You’re not a man”. . . it was chaotic.
Similar to Roberto, other participants described how their father’s reac-

tion was associated with religious beliefs. Roberto’s father’s perception also
reflected the cultural association between homosexuality and femininity and

the rejection of this stereotype presented in Chilean society. Stigma and re-
jection of feminine traits ascribed to gay men by society were recognized in
all six participants’ discourses.
Some participants also reported that after their disclosure at least one
parent’s response had turned toward acceptance. Exceptionally in this sam-
ple, Gustavo described his mother’s acceptance of him as coming close to his
family’s awareness of Gustavo’s sexual orientation. Nevertheless, the caveat
to his family’s acceptance was his continued presentation of masculinity and
an absence of femininity:
At thirteen my family knew, not by me, but because there was a prob-
lem [at school] . . .. The first three or four days were difficult. Nobody
talked about it, they pretended it never happened, but after it was
normalized . . . and then with the support of my family [his mother, sister,
aunts, cousins] it is obviously easier to understand all this . . . although,
they told me if I had been more effeminate in a way, it would have been
hard to accept me . . .. I think, it is the social stigma that a gay person
behaves as a woman, I mean, because you don’t depict that relationship,
you do not enter into the total definition of what a gay person is.
Gustavo’s account discourse revealed that the acceptance of his family had
contributed to his understanding of his experiences, which facilitated in
his own self-acceptance. However, this acceptance was conditioned by his
conformity with typical gender roles expected for Chilean men, reflecting
the importance for his family in maintaining masculine traits regardless his
sexual orientation. Gustavo’s story also shows that gay identity is compatible
with masculine traits in Chilean men. This association was presented in all
participants’ accounts as they identified as gay men with masculine traits,
although some of them also identified aspects of their behaviors that they
thought of as feminine when reflecting on their life course.
Moreover, Roberto’s account revealed the changing perceptions of dif-
ferent family members regarding his sexual orientation. Although his mother
had accepted him, he talked about the negative perception about gay men
his mother held before his coming out:
She [his mother] always has been open-minded and she accepted the
homosexuality in others, but having an homosexual child didn’t . . .. “I
don’t want that,” she said. “I wouldn’t wish it to anyone,” she thought;
and my sister, she didn’t agree with labels. “It does not matter if you are
gay, lesbian, straight; you are a person, nothing more,” she said [to] me.
Then I had no problem with her.
According to Roberto’s story, his sister also had accepted his sexual orien-
tation. The views of other participants’ siblings were similar to Roberto’s
sister’s perception. When participants talked about their siblings’ reactions

to disclosure, they mainly mentioned positive reactions.
Other participants described parental acceptance as a slower process,
but the achievement of parental acceptance clearly meant as much to them
as it did to Gustavo and Roberto. Pedro described his father’s acceptance as
being related to him accepting Pedro dating a specific man:
In my father’s family the only problem was my father . . .. He had for-

bidden me to be homosexual when I was a boy . . . to contextualize
that I come from a family of the right wing, very Catholic and very
conservative . . .. However, now it is amazing, amazing. For example, I
was dating a guy and I invited him to sleep over the weekend at home
and my dad bought breakfast for us. It is gratifying . . . another relation-
ship, it was difficult when I came out, but six years later, seven years
later, it is not so terrible.
Findings from the present study also indicated that parental rejection
of a son’s sexual orientation was closely related to the family’s religious be-
liefs regarding the abnormal and unnatural view of homosexuality (Lyons,
2004; Cornejo, 2011). Pathologizing ideas of homosexuality promoted by
Catholic and Evangelical churches had negative consequences for partici-
pants’ attempts to establish a sense of an integrated sexual identity. How-
ever, the Christian teaching of “love the sinner but hate the sin” (Herek et al.,
2007; Herek & McLemore, 2013) possibly led participants’ parents to support
their sons in spite of their negative reactions to disclosure. Notwithstanding,
parental negativity and the lack of self-acceptance during participants’ de-
velopment might explain why none of the participants in the study reported
holding any current religious affiliation (e.g., Barrientos et al., 2010).
Participants’ accounts also revealed parental rejection of homosexuality
because of its association with feminine traits. Negative views of femininity
in homosexual men were recognized by all participants as a social stigma
present in Chilean society that they all had to deal with. These findings were
consistent with previous research that showed that Chilean (Caro & Guajardo,
1997; Carrasco, 2006) and Latino gay men (Almaguer, 1993; Carrier, 1989,
1995; Guarnero, 2007; Sandfort et al., 2007) might be stigmatized by their
families, peers, and community because of the rejection of feminine traits
in men. This study revealed that the Chilean gay men interviewed were
socialized within a gendered social order that prescribed male masculinity
and heterosexuality (Olavarrı́a, 2001; Oyarzún, 2005; Valdés, 2005; Valdés
& Olavarrı́a, 1998). This might explain why participants’ identification with
masculine traits was important to the preservation of their own self-regard
and sexual identity and helped to foster parental regard in the face of the
strong sexual stigma present in Chilean society.
Some participants described experiencing acceptance from at least one
of their parents. According to participants’ accounts, these experiences had a

positive impact on their sexual identity development as it contributed to their
own understanding of their sexuality and encouraged them to express their
own sexual orientation. These findings revealed that parents’ acceptance was
an important event that resounded through life course development, as other
developmental researchers have noted (Savin-Williams, 1998; Savin-Williams
& Dubé, 1998). In addition, family acceptance may have had a particular
significance for these Chilean young gay men (Diaz et al., 2001; Diaz et al.,
2004), perhaps because of the importance given to family support in Latino
culture, often referred to as familism (Lescano, Brown, Raffaelli, & Lima,
2009).
Moreover, according to participants’ accounts, siblings mainly ex-
pressed positive reactions toward sexual identity disclosure. In addition,
interviewees’ accounts showed that all of them had experienced acceptance
from some of their peers. Participants’ siblings’ and friends’ positive
reactions contrasted significantly with their parents’ negative first reactions
to disclosure. These findings are consistent with recent studies showing
that younger generations are more accepting of sexual minorities in Chile
(ICSO, 2012; Smith, 2011; WVS, 2006). Most importantly, our findings
suggest the positive role that sibling and peer acceptance may play in the
self-acceptance process of young gay men.
CONCLUSIONS
Chilean young gay men’s narratives revealed a deep impact of family values
and religious beliefs on sexual identity life course development from child-
hood onward. In particular, the traditional values participants recalled their
parents stating were strongly related with heterosexist and rigid gender roles
expectations, and the subsequent stigmatization participants experienced.
Chilean Christian churches’ pathologizing discourses were associated with
parents’ negative views about homosexuality and participants’ own feelings
of self-rejection during their early sexual identity development. Thus, parents
in mediating the social context these young gay men had grown up in clearly
had a major impact on the sexual identity life course of our interviewees.
The study reported here was a retrospective account of the sexual iden-
tity development of a small sample of young Chilean gay men. These find-
ings represent a snapshot of the particular moment and context in which
data were collected, thus changes would likely occur in the narratives of
participants regarding meanings they gave to their same-sex experiences
and family reactions. The study also reflected only sons’ perceptions of fam-
ily members’ reactions; as yet little is known of how other family members
themselves might describe their own reactions and views.
All the participants in the present study were young Chilean gay men
who had accepted their same-sex experiences and disclosed their sexual
orientation to others. Moreover, all interviewees in the study were involved
in sexual-minority groups, and this likely played another part in the self-
acceptance process. Participants perhaps may have been more conscious of
the role of social institutions, such as the church, in building a discriminatory
context. Thus, further research is needed with gay men without connection
to sexual-minority groups and also those who are often hidden through
denial of their sexuality.
This study also represented only one generational cohort; hence findings
do not necessarily apply to older cohorts of Chilean gay men. Self-acceptance
in the present sample of participants had probably been promoted by pos-
itive reflections about sexual minorities spread in Chile by media and the
social sciences since the 1990s (Guajardo, 2004; Cornejo, 2011). Also, the
study’s findings might well not be representative of other different identities,
such as lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer.
Clinical psychologists and teachers working with Latino youths need to
be aware of the influence of parents’ religious values on sexual identity de-
velopment of gay youths. Our study represents a source to educate society
and prevent the stigmatization and discrimination of children and adolescents
who do not match cultural expectations such as heterosexual behaviors and
typical gender roles expected in Chile and other Latino countries. Therapists
might focus on the internalization of religious negative messages about ho-
mosexuality transmitted by parents from childhood in order to help youths
deal with feelings of self-rejection and self-recrimination. Family therapists
and counselors may also sensitize parents about the importance of family
acceptance for the well-being and mental health of their offspring (Bouris
et al., 2010; Elizur & Ziv, 2001; Goldfried & Goldfried, 2001; Ryan et al.,
2010) and the impact of negative messages on youths’ development (Bouris
et al., 2010; Needham & Austin, 2010; Rosario et al., 2009; Ryan et al., 2009).
This study revealed the internal struggle faced by gay men to achieve
their own acceptance in a predominantly Christian cultural context (Greene,
1994; Akerlund & Cheung, 2000; Bozon et al., 2009). Despite significant trans-
formations in Chilean society regarding gender, sexual, and family values
that have occurred in recent decades (Olavarrı́a, 2000, 2001; Oyarzún, 2005;
Palma, 2006; Valdés, 2005), it could be argued that these changes should be
interpreted in the context of a strongly heteronormative and religious society.
The study’s findings reflect the way in which Christian fundamental values,
both Catholic and Evangelical, often have remained a touchstone guiding the
way parents convey expectations of heterosexuality to young men in Chile.
NOTES
1. The terms homosexuality or homosexual will be used in this article in reference to sociocultural
understandings of same-sex sexualities.
2. We will use the term sexual minority when various sexual identity categories were included,
such as, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer.
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On: 17 December 2013, At: 05:30

Journal of GLBT Family Studies

“I Always Have the Idea of Sin in My

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1550428X.2013.834424

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

“I Always Have the Idea of Sin in My

VÍCTOR FIGUEROA and FIONA TASKER

Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom

This research aimed to explore the influences of family’s values

KEYWORDS Latino gay, sexual identity, cultural context, family,

tionist (Foucault, 1978; Horowitz & Newcomb, 2002) perspectives in order

Gay Men in a Chilean Context

Chile under democratic governance. Indeed, same-sex marriage has been

ality.” For example, a widely publicized book by Bishop Fernando Chomali

Developing a Gay Identity in Latino and Chilean Families

same-sex attraction. Next, in a period of identity confusion individuals are

LATINO AND CHILEAN GAY MEN MASCULINITIES

appeared to be highly significant in the life experiences of Latino gay men.

LATINO AND CHILEAN FAMILIES

2006). Regardless of the changes observed in sexual values in Chilean so-

TABLE 1 Demographic Information of Participants

Participant Educational Level Childhood Religion Family Formation

Pedro Undergraduate student Catholic Living with father

nature of the questions enabled participants to raise issues not necessar-

become aware of feelings of same-sex attraction? What experiences in your

Interview Procedure and Transcription

TABLE 2 Developmental Milestones of Sexual Identity

Pedro Puberty 11–12 18 Yes Yes Yes Gay, Maricón

The first three themes identified in participants’ interviews (“rejection of

Rejection of First Cognizance

behavior since their childhood. This experience of “feeling different” de-

In Nicolas’s case the experience of feeling different was related to the

feeling different and non-acceptance were strongly influenced by his parents’

thors described such experiences of “feeling different” as the process of

Awareness and Self-Recrimination

Like Roberto, other participants also referred to various reactions from

tavo explained how he lived this period of self-recrimination that he linked

Participants’ narratives revealed a second period in which they con-

et al., 2011). In particular, narratives revealed how some participants built

Pedro’s narrative also connected assumption and acceptance with dis-

Marcelo’s account revealed that meanings attributed to different iden-

Family Members’ Reactions to Disclosure

According to participants’ accounts, some fathers also expressed rejec-

Then I told him. He took it badly. We were in a car. He started driving

Similar to Roberto, other participants described how their father’s reac-

reflected the cultural association between homosexuality and femininity and

sister’s perception. When participants talked about their siblings’ reactions

In my father’s family the only problem was my father . . .. He had for-

of their parents. According to participants’ accounts, these experiences had a

Cornejo, J. R. (2010). Jóvenes en la encrucijada. [Youth at the crossroads]. Ultima

minorities: Public health perspectives on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender

(pp. 381–386). Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Patterson, C. J. (2000). Family relationships of lesbians and gay men. Journal

A cluster analytic approach. American Journal of Community Psychology,

Willig, C. (2008). Discourse analysis. In J. Smith (Ed.), Qualitative psychology: A

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