Girl ‘raped by stepdad, told by dad she deserved it for being a lesbian’

A picture of a girl clasping her hands

A 14-year-old girl in Chile has allegedly been raped by her stepfather and told by her father that she deserved it for being a lesbian.

The girl told Chilean LGBT+ group the Movement of Homosexual Integration and Liberation (Movilh) that she was raped by her stepfather in 2017, in the home they share with her mother.

She said she kept quiet about the attack until December 4 last year, when she told her 16-year-old partner.

The girl and her partner reportedly confronted her mother on January 14, telling her to take action.

Pro-choice and gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans activists argue with riot police as the bus chartered by "Hazte Oir" (Make yourself heard) conservative association passes by La Moneda presidential palece in Santiago in 2017, the same year the girl was allegedly raped

Chile has some way to go to guaranteeing LGBT rights (PABLO VERA/AFP/Getty)

Instead of reporting the allegations to the police, she sent her daughter to live with the girl’s evangelical father, who, according to Movilh, has previously assaulted her because of her sexual orientation.

Since then, the girl has allegedly been held prisoner in her father’s house, where she has been beaten and prevented from seeing or communicating with anyone.

Her father told her that she deserved to be raped for being a lesbian, and that he was hitting her with a leash to “get the bad out,” according to Movilh.

Girl who was ‘told she deserved to be raped for being a lesbian’ removed from father’s home

After Movilh’s lawyer, Monica Arias, reported the allegations to the prosecutor’s office, the organisation was told on Tuesday (January 22) that The Children’s Ombudsman would intervene in the courts in favour of the girl, according to The Times Chile.

The girl has now been removed from her father’s home, according to Arias, and taken into police custody “for the performance of examinations, while the Prosecutor’s Office will order the Family Court to apply precautionary measures.”

“Everything indicates that the biological father is a danger to the girl, because he has insulted and beaten her because of her sexual orientation.”

— Movilh’s leader, Rolando Jiménez


Movilh’s leader, Rolando Jiménez, said: “We deeply value the concern of the Children’s Ombudsman’s Office to help a girl who is injured at a younger age, female and a lesbian.

“The abuse suffered by her has dismayed us and we trust that by joining forces with the Children’s Ombudsman’s Office, we will soon be able to resolve the situation of vulnerability that still affects the girl.

“Everything indicates that the biological father is a danger to the girl, because he has insulted and beaten her because of her sexual orientation and according to the complaint we received, he wounded her with a leash after the rape, saying that she deserved what happened because she is a lesbian.”

The LGBT+ group added in a statement: “We will not be calm until the child leaves the father’s house permanently and until he and the stepfather are sanctioned by justice.

“In parallel we will manage the possibility of the girl going to live with her partner and her (partner’s) mother, as they are the only people who have given her protection and affection.”