Chile navy officer makes history by announcing he is gay

Yahoo – AFP, Patricia Luna, 28 Aug 2014

Chilean Navy officer Mauricio Ruiz, pictured during a press conference in

Santiago, on August 27, 2014 (AFP Photo/Claudio Reyes)

Santiago (AFP) - A navy officer became the first member of the Chilean military to reveal he is gay -- a groundbreaking admission in this conservative Catholic country.

"There is nothing better than being yourself," a shy-looking Mauricio Ruiz, 24, told a press conference on Wednesday.

He said he had already told his superiors because he was tired of leading a double life, then decided to go completely public by speaking to the media.

Mauricio Ruiz (L) and his boyfriend Jorge

 Velasquez pose for photos after a press

 conference in Santiago, on August 27, 

2014 (AFP Photo/Claudio Reyes)

Chile is a highly conservative country, where even divorce was not allowed until 2004, and discrimination against suspected gays in the military and society in general have been common. A law governing same sex unions is being debated.

"For me it is important to take this step, because to be repressed is to not accept what you are, and that made me unhappy," Ruiz said.

Gays can have a tough time in Chile.

The violent death of a young gay man named Daniel Zamudio at the hands of alleged neo-Nazis prompted a 2012 law that punished people who discriminated against others because of their race, sexual orientation or social status.

Gay rights groups welcomed Ruiz's announcement.

"He took a pioneering decision, worthy of brave people who take the first step," said Oscar Rementeria, spokesman for the Homosexual Integration and Liberation Movement.

Ruiz said his partner initially did not want him to come out because he feared for Ruiz's safety. The partner stood beside him at the press conference.

In the end, the reaction was not as adverse as he expected, Ruiz said.

"I don't know what I was afraid of," he said.

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"The Akashic Circle" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)

“… Gender Switching

Old souls, let me tell you something. If you are old enough, and many of you are, you have been everything. Do you hear me? All of you. You have been both genders. All of you have been what I will call between genders, and that means that all of you have had gender switches. Do you know what happens when it's time for you to switch a gender? We have discussed it before. You'll have dozens of lifetimes as the same gender. You're used to it. It's comfortable. You cannot conceive of being anything else, yet now it's time to change. It takes approximately three lifetimes for you to get used to it, and in those three lifetimes, you will have what I call "gender confusion."

It isn't confusion at all. It's absolutely normal, yet society often will see it as abnormal. I'm sitting here telling you you've all been through it. All of you. That's what old souls do. It's part of the system. …”