Abstract

Human rights violation regarding LGBTIQA+ people persist in Chile (CIDH, 2020; Movilh, 2023). In this context, the main objective of this study is to analyze, from a Critical Discourse Analysis perspective (Wodak, 2003), the main discursive strategies around the discursive construction of LGBTIQA+ people used in digital comments as a response to news about LGBTIQA+ people on Facebook. Grounded Theory techniques are used to propose an emergent theory hypothesis that results in two central categories. The study illustrates a spectrum of discursive strategies (nomination and topoi), migrating from protection and empathy regarding LGBTIQA+ right to the portraying of LGBTIQA+ people as objects of ridicule and, as a result, the violation of their human rights. It is discussed how these discursive strategies create a discourse that could potentially stigmatize and lead to the exclusion of LGBTIQA+ people from the public debate regarding their rights. © 2025 Universidad Catolica Silva Henriquez. All rights reserved.