In June 2010, Parada came to prominence after his article "El matrimonio gay en cartas" ("Gay marriage in letters") was published in the newspaper [[The Clinic (newspaper)|]]. It consisted of a series of e-mails exchanged Parada and a family member on in support of [[gay marriage]], which is [[...|not currently recognized by the state]].ref In 2011, Parada began his career as a political activist, joining MOVILH and becoming its spokesperson. In March 2012, after the brutal beating of [[Daniel Zamudio]] by [[neo-Nazi]]s because of his [[sexual orientation]], Parada and MOVILH played an important role in securing legislation introducing severe penalties for [[hate crime]]s on the basis of sexual orientation. That year, with the support of [[Marco Enríquez-Ominami]]'s [[...|Progressive Party]], Parada launched his candidacy for municipal councilman for the commune of Providencia, winning a four-year term to last until 2016.ref Parada was backed by [[Josefa Errázuriz]], who successfully ran for mayor of Providencia, against the conservative incumbent, [[Cristián Labbé]], whom Parada has referred to as a “recalcitrant fascist” for his support of the [[Pinochet regime]].ref His victory makes him the first openly gay politician elected in Chilean history.ref Parada's election was part of a historic election season in which rightwing, anti-gay mayors Labbé and of [[Independencia, Chile|]] were defeated and the first two transsexual women, [[Zuliana Araya]] in [[Valparaíso]] and [[Alejandra González]] in [[Lampa, Chile|]], were also elected.ref
