Thu Mar 28, 2024
March 28, 2024

A wave of homophobia and the organization of resistance

The aggression against our comrade Guilherme (militant at the Secretariat of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender of PSTU and GT-GLBT of CSP-Conlutas) was just the latest aggression of a terrible wave of homophobic attacks. A wave that can only be stopped by the resistance that has been constructed by the movement.

The disgusting and cowardly attack against our comrade Guilherme is far from being something exceptional in Brazil. Quite the opposite. What indeed make it somehow different from many other crimes motivated by homophobia in Brazil were two things: first, as a movement activist, Guilherme has had the courage and support to denounce what happened and second, and fortunately, unlike many other cases, despite the threats, humiliation and psychological mistreatment faced by our fellow, he survived the attack.

In the last three decades, more than 3,300 Brazilian homosexuals were not so “lucky.” Last year, the Grupo Gay da Bahia (GGB), one of the sector oldest organizations, released data showing that Brazil is the “world champion” of assassinations against the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender). Only in 2010 there were 254 deaths across the country, confirming the statistic which shows that, for years, every two days, one Brazilian homosexual (man or woman) is murdered simply because they do not fit the heterosexual pattern.

The figures above are, unfortunately, far from even getting close to reality, since the same prejudice that victimizes LGBT  prevents that violence against them is recorded (either by “stealth” imposed by relatives, or by the resistance of law enforcement agencies as it became evident, once more, in Guilherme’s case). That is why the GGB (Grupo Gay da Bahia) poll is based only on the records that appeared in the media during the period.

Increasing Violence

What is clear, however, is that there is a growing wave of violence. The 254 deaths in 2010 show a striking increase in violence over the previous year, when 198 murders were recorded. In order to get ​​the meaning of it one may just remember that, in the same period, 35 similar crimes were registered in Mexico and 25 in the United States and these countries respectively occupy the 2nd and 3rd places in this macabre ranking.

Among the 198 deaths in 2009, 117 (59%) were gay men, 72 transvestites (36%) and 9 were lesbians (5%). In the previous year, 2008, there were 189 deaths, which, in turn, meant a 61% increase over 2007 (122). Since the GGB was created, and started polling the subject, it was recorded 3,330 deadly attacks against homosexuals.

The crimes are spread throughout the country, concentrated in the metropolitan areas in states as diverse as Bahia in the northeast, and Parana in the south (each with 25 homicides in 2010), Pernambuco (14 deaths), Alagoas (11), Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais (each with five murders).

The growth of homophobic violence in Sao Paulo, where the most recent attacks took place, could already be noticed since last year. Between January and November there had been registered 19 deaths, causing São Paulo to jump to the second place among the most homophobic cities.

Needless to say, the overwhelming majority of these killings were not even properly investigated. Impunity is the rule in these cases. A rule that is dictated by the state, which, as expected, see these murders with the same contempt with which they are treated by the “white and heterosexual” elite it represents.

Lula’s government negligence

Lula’s arrival to power has not changed a single inch of this situation. Indeed, as the figures show, homophobia and its consequences, often deadly, have continued to increase. Like everywhere else, the alliance of a former industry worker[1] with the Brazilian bourgeoisie, and his submission to their interests and ideology (including in relation to the oppression issues) resulted in an increase in attacks against the living conditions of exploited and oppressed people.

Likewise, another “trademark” of the Popular Front government, the co-optation of social movements, also played an important role in this story. A situation full of contradictions.

On the one hand, for example, Sao Paulo is home to the largest GLBT Pride Parade in the world. Second, that same parade became a festive and depoliticized event (highly celebrated and supported by large branches of the local market) that since a decade ago is going to the streets to “celebrate” unreal achievements, like the project “Brazil without homophobia”, a Lula government’s bill that actually never left the drawing board.

The de-politicization and cooptation degree of this event, organized by major sectors (and government officials) of the movement was highly evident in 2009 Parade, when they took advantage of the police apparatus to remove the sound-equipped car of Working Group GLBT which was representing the, then, National Coordination of Struggles (currently the CSP-Conlutas), which resulted in the beating and arrest of several comrades.

On January 19, in a march organized by independent sectors of the movement, which brought together about 1,500, as a reaction to the wave of attacks in Sao Paulo, Douglas Bennett, head of the Secretariat of the GLBT PSTU referred to this contradiction, noting “Those responsible for homophobia are not only those who explode bulbs in our faces, but also those who cover up these crimes being accomplices of the same crimes when they carry on omissions. If we have to be here today it is because eight years of Lula government have already passed, many expected effective actions against homophobia, but nothing has been done so far. Nothing happened. Just like everything else he promised to the people, Lula left us aside, waiting for crumbs, and meanwhile, homophobia ran wildly. “

The fight for rights and for the criminalization of homophobia

Recently, as a result of the struggles that the movement has caught over the past decades – and its most militant sectors continue fighting – a number of resolutions nationwide were approved, as from the state or municipal agencies that extend few rights to homosexuals, however, the fact is that there is no specific legislation which ensures full rights for homosexuals (as the civil partnership), not to mention the legal possibility to defend themselves in cases of homophobia, since there isn’t such a crime in the Brazilian penal code.

Meanwhile, besides the deaths, cases of prejudice and discrimination do not stop growing. Gays and lesbians are “legally” prohibited from donating blood, students are harassed and assaulted in schools, and workers suffer harassment in their jobs and with an increasing frequency, homophobic gangs feel free and protected by impunity to attack people in streets.

Since the end of last year, these attacks (see the Box) gained visibility precisely because they attain a region that the GLBT community regard as “liberated territory”, an area close to Avenida Paulista which has long been home to dozens of places attended by gays and lesbians and where, for example, is common to find couples holding hands (a very rare gesture, and already regarded as “dangerous” in the rest of the city).

In late December 2010, independent sectors of the movement, with the active participation of PSTU militants – including our comrade Guilherme – began organizing a response, first via the Internet, then by holding the march on 19 January.

Convened to demonstrate outrage at the series of aggressions, the march had as its main flag the struggle for the approval of Bill 122/2006, which criminalizes the discrimination, based on sexual orientation, disability, age or gender, but has been shelved for four years in Congress.

It is clear that the mere approval of PLC 122/06 is far from meaning an end to homophobic attacks. One may just remember that since 1988 Brazil has a law that makes racism a non bailable crime; however, until now this law has been of little or no help at all in practical terms.

However, this would be a major victory for the movement and a minimum guarantee signaling that disgraceful episodes like the one involving our fellow, and those even worse episodes, when the lives of thousands are taken, do not happen again or at least not go unpunished.                     

Box

See below a brief summary of the facts in Sao Paulo city, the Sao Paulo state capital.

November 14, 2010: Four youths under 18 years old and one over 18 years old cowardly attack – with punches, kicks, and fluorescent bulb-lights – three boys near the Avenida Brigadeiro Luis Antonio.

End of November 2010: The chancellor of the Mackenzie University issues a statement opposing to the approval of PLC 122/06, claiming that “teaching and preaching against the practice of homosexuality (sic) is not homophobia, because it is understood that such a law maximizes rights to a particular group of citizens “. Also according to the reactionary man, “the Holy Scriptures, on which the Presbyterian Church of Brazil [the parent institution] firm their beliefs and practices, teach that God created mankind with a sex differentiation (male and female) and with heterosexual specific purposes involving marriage, the sexual unity and procreation “.

Beginning of December 2010: Talks and arrangements through Facebook take hundreds of people in front of Mackenzie to protest against the university statements.

December 4 e 5, 2010: On Saturday, two 28-year-old men were beaten (one of them into unconsciousness) in Sao Paulo. The next day, a couple of guys were assaulted in Frei Caneca Street by a man who was carrying brass knuckles.

December 12, 2010: Already known as “Act Anti-homophobia on Facebook,” the group calls a protest “a large kiss” in front of the Ofner Delicatessen at Alameda Campinas, in response to the discrimination faced by a couple of homosexuals who embraced each other within the establishment. An employee of Ofner rebuked them saying that there “was a place for families” and that they should not behave like “deer”. The event brought together about 500 people.

December 21, 2010: A girl was punched and shoved after kissing a female friend in Augusta Street.

Beginning of January 2011: A lesbian couple were kicked and punched within a fast food restaurant -McDonald’s – in Taboao da Serra, in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo.

January 16: Thiago Silva Vallin, 25 years old, a resident of a condominium at Bela Cintra Street, assaulted another resident of 53 years old. The victim had to be hospitalized at Santa Casa Hospital. The attack came after several threats and attacks made by Thiago. These threats and attacks had already been denounced by the victim.

January 25, 2011: A group of boys dressed in black attacked a 27-year-old student with glass bottles, the student had his right eye injured and ended up in hospital. The attack occurred in one of the areas most attended by the GLBT community, the corner of Frei Caneca and Peixoto Gomide Streets. Three months later, our comrade Guilherme was attacked near the same corner.

[1] Lula was a metalworker before retiring.

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