Politicized Devotion to a Popular Saint: Daniel Zamudio and LGBT Rights in Chile

INTRODUCTION

On March 3, 2012, a group of four men in Santiago, Chile brutally assaulted Daniel Zamudio, a twenty-four year old gay man. Nearly a month later, Zamudio died from the wounds he received in the attack. The Chilean public was outraged by what they believed was a heinous act of prejudice. Although some have argued that the attack was a random act of violence,¹ Zamudio has become the figurehead for gay liberation in Chile and a folk saint.²

In spite of his popularity, Daniel Zamudio’s cause for canonization will never come before the Vatican for adjudication. His name will never be mentioned alongside the saints at Mass, and the anniversary of his death will never be an official feast day on the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar. Nevertheless, he occupies a key role in the hearts of believers, who faithfully recall his death through memorials, pilgrimages, and prayer. Zamudio has become, in the words of Frank Graziano, one among a category of “very special dead people, beyond the norm in their willingness to intercede on behalf of their people.”³ He is a bona fide saint of the people, if not a canonized martyr of the Church.

Since devotion to Zamudio has developed in Chile, a historically Catholic nation, the cult to the young man has yielded an abundance of political and spiritual power. Within Catholic culture, the story of Zamudio’s life and death evokes the imagery and passions associated with the saints of Christian tradition. These narratives of martyrdom have the ability to provoke political and spiritual change. In Zamudio’s case, traditional Catholic piety has served as a resource for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans (LGBT) Roman Catholics and their allies in the struggle against homophobic violence. Zamudio’s story shows that Catholic spirituality is a force that can generate transformative political action when employed by LGBT rights activists.

LGBT ACTIVISM AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

On its face, the Catholic Church around the world appears intent on stifling movements that advocate for the well-being of LGBT people. In the United

For Daniel

© Catalina Moya Rice

States, the Catholic hierarchy has a long history opposing LGBT rights. From the Church’s fight against government-sanctioned same-sex marriage,⁴ to its longstanding campaign against Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA),⁵ a national legislative proposal that would end workplace discrimination against LGBT individuals, to its preaching against condoms that could have saved tens of thousands of lives at the height of the AIDS epidemic,⁶ the Roman Catholic hierarchy has often been an unyielding force against LGBT liberation, social integration, and even survival. In Chile, where Daniel Zamudio was murdered, the situation is similar. There, according to the Movimiento de Integración y Liberación Homosexual (MOVILH), a Chilean LGBT rights group, the Catholic Church is one of the organizations most responsible for discrimination against sexual minorities.⁷ The Chilean bishops regularly use their political clout to pressure the government to deny LGBT rights, condemn same-sex relationships, and mobilize their parishioners against equality for sexual minorities.

For LGBT Catholics, the struggle with their church is personal because of how the institution’s teaching characterizes their lives and intimate relationships. Although the Church considers participation in heterosexual marital relationships a normative part of human nature,⁸ it rejects same-sex romantic relationships in their entirety. The catechism notoriously considers homosexual acts “intrinsically disordered” and homosexual inclinations “objectively disordered.”⁹ The hierarchy’s most vocal bishops routinely reiterate that, no matter what direction society takes, the Church will never accept or bless same-sex marriage within its own fold.¹⁰ LGBT concerns, it seems, have no welcome place within the Church. Catholicism seems to oppose LGBT rights activism.

We rightly wonder, then, how forms of spirituality associated with the Catholic Church may be liberating for LGBT Catholics? How can Catholic devotional practices stand up against the homophobia that the hierarchy often promulgates? To answer these questions, we need to redirect our understanding of the Catholic Church...