Brazilian opposition says proud homophobe Bolsonaro’s ‘macho ideas’ are responsible for anti-LGBT violence
Brazilian President and ‘proud homophobe’ Jair Bolsonaro. (EVARISTO SA/AFP/Getty)
The political opposition in Brazil has said that Bolsonaro’s “macho ideas” are responsible for promoting violence against LGBT+ people and women in the country.
Despite the criminalisation of homophobia and transphobia, Brazil is the deadliest country in the world for transgender people.
President Jair Bolsonaro has previously called himself a “proud homophobe” and has said he would rather have dead son than a gay one.
He also said this year: “Brazil can’t be a country of the gay world, of gay tourism. We have families.”
According to Reuters, Fernanda Melchionna, a congresswoman with the opposition Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), said: “The LGBT-phobic, sexist declarations from the government contribute to promoting violence.”
She added that Bolsonaro’s government “repeats macho ideas” and “dismantles public policies for women’s protection”.
Revellers participate in the 2019 Sao Paulo Gay Pride parade. (Cris Faga/NurPhoto via Getty)
A study showed that murders of LGBT+ people are on the rise in Brazil.
A study recently published by the Brazilian Forum of Public Security found that murders of women were on the rise, and that 66,000 incidents of sexual violence took place in 2018.
The study said that LGBT+ murders rose from 99 in 2017 to 109 last year, but it was only able to access data from 10 of Brazil’s 26 states.
A different study by Grupo Gay da Bahia, which looks at social and traditional media reports of crime, suggests that around 320 LGBT+ people were killed in Brazil last year.
Ana Flavia Andrade, campaigns manager at LGBT+ rights group All Out, told Reuters that Bolsonaro ran a “very aggressive campaign”.
She added: “This is a person that has a history of being completely open about prejudice and who has made extremely racist comments, who has made extremely homophobic comments.”
Censorship of LGBT+ content has also become a major issue in Brazil, and this week the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Marcelo Crivella, tried to stop sales of an Avengers comic book because it featured a same-sex kiss.
