RIGHTS-BRAZIL: HIV-Carriers – 10 Years Fighting for Their Lives

By Clarinha Glock Reprint | | Print |

Clarinha Glock

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil, Apr 26 1999 (IPS) - A group of people living with the Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus (HIV), which causes the Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), joined together 10 years ago in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre to demand respect for their right to life.

Difficulties in obtaining medication and medical assistance gave rise to the Group of Support and Prevention of AIDS (GAPA), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that today comprises not only HIV-carriers, but also their friends, doctors and clergy.

The AIDS epidemic, which bore the stigma of the “gay plague” when it first emerged, brought an upsurge of NGOs dedicated to defending the rights of sectors hit hardest by the disease.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s homosexual movement was growing in strength, made up of organisations like Somos, founded in Sao Paulo in 1978, and the Gay Group in Bahia (GGB), created in 1980.

“We had to fight not only against homophobia, but also in favour of a policy of prevention, both in the population at risk as well as among bisexual young people who repressed their homoerotic tendencies,” said Anthropology Professor and president of GGB Luiz Mott.

A decade of struggle has not been enough, however, to bury prejudice. The stigma persists, as does violence against and murders of homosexuals and transvestites, accused of spreading the disease.

GGB’s March bulletin, discussing the human rights situation in Brazil, stated that last year a homosexual was brutally murdered every three days, swelling the ranks of the victims of homophobia.

Amnesty International, the U.S. State Department and the International Association of Gays and Lesbians have all described Brazil as one of the world champions in terms of murders of homosexuals and transvestites, along with Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

“There has never been a national campaign in Brazil specifically targetted at homosexuals,” said Mott. He attributed that partly to Health Ministry fears that such a focus could drive up violence against the stigmatised population, and to the difficulty in addressing an issue regarded as taboo.

The president of GGB called for swifter and tougher police and legal action in investigating incidents of gay-bashing and homophobic murders and punishing the offenders; sexual education in schools to eliminate prejudice; and greater attention to homosexual communities in order to reduce the risks.

The group proposes the incorporation of the defence of freedom of sexual preference, the citizen rights of homosexuals, and the rights of discriminated minorities in all offical human rights documents and programmes.

Without that, “the epidemic will decline, due to a cure or treatment, but homosexuals will continue to be associated with the disease, in spite of all the information available.”

That fear is confirmed by “the ban prohibiting homosexuals from donating blood in hospitals in Porto Alegre, under the argument of improving controls,” said Celio Golin, secretary- general of the local group Nuances.

Women testing positive for HIV also face discrimination. A study by the Regional Labour Delegation in the state of Rio Grande do Sul – the capital of which is Porto Alegre – found that female HIV-carriers experienced worse workplace discrimination than men.

Last year, the Delegation set up an office of Assistance to Workers Living with AIDS, designed to help HIV-carriers find or keep jobs. The office’s statistics show that 53 percent of those seeking work with its assistance are women.

GAPA and other NGOs have made major strides. “Ten years ago, HIV-carriers sought anonymity. Today they fight for their civil and constitutional rights,” said Gerson Winkler, the founder of GAPA, who has lived with HIV for 13 years.

A sort of “living death” for HIV-carriers is no longer accepted, he added.

But the latest treatment plans have highlighted other problems in Brazil.

“Now carriers no longer die due to lack of medication, but because they lack access to medical care. Clinics do not attend them, or the health system is not able to guarantee continuity of treatment, which is complex due to the need to take more than 20 pills a day,” said Winkler.

The spread of the AIDS epidemic among the poor is both a cause and consequence of that phenomenon, said Winkler, who also serves as an adviser to the Human Rights Commission of the Rio Grande do Sul state legislature.

“Discussions on AIDS have become trivial,” said Winkler. “The challenge now is to breathe fresh life into the issue with new strategies. HIV-carriers must participate in drawing up public policies for prevention and care.”