RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Homophobia Kills

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 25 2002 (IPS) - The murder of 2,092 homosexuals from 1980 to 2001 makes Brazil the world’s most dangerous country for this minority, according to a new book, “Causa Mortis: Homophobia”.

The non-governmental Gay Group of Bahia (GGB), which for years has conducted studies of extreme intolerance against those who exercise different sexual lifestyles, decided to combine the data to create a comprehensive report, which was presented this week in Brasilia.

The true number of victims is probably even higher, Marcelo Cerqueira, one of the report’s authors told IPS. He said that many of their cases, and the homophobic motives behind them, are not covered by the communications media, the principal source of the statistics.

Barely 10 percent of the murderers are sent to prison, demonstrating the impunity of these crimes, which generally are perpetrated by youths under 21 who are poor, uneducated and unemployed.

Furthermore, the researchers for the report were unable to obtain this specific data from eight of Brazil’s 27 states. The verified cases are “just the tip of the iceberg,” said Cerqueira, professor of history and defender of homosexuals’ human rights.

GGB, based in Salvador, capital of the northeastern state of Bahia, maintains that Brazil suffers this type of violence more than any other country.

The annual average of murders of homosexuals in Brazil is 100; three times that of Mexico, and four times the rate in the United States – two countries where this crime phenomenon is well documented.

“It’s a paradox” for a country whose image is one of sexual freedom and tolerance, where many men dress up as women and transvestites are applauded during Brazil’s famous Carnival, said Cerqueira.

But the cultural reality is something else. Many men, say psychologists, turn to violence to prove they are different and to assert their virility, according to the activist.

This is particularly insidious because most of those who kill homosexuals are poor and marginalized from society – just like their victims – but “do not accept that sort of equality of status, and seek to differentiate themselves by force,” he said.

Last year in Brazil there were 132 murders of gays reported, according to “Causa Mortis: Homophobia”, surpassing the 130 of 2000, and far above the annual average of the last two decades. This could be an indication of growing intolerance, or of improved reporting of such crimes, acknowledge the authors.

The rise in murders of gays follows the increase in violence throughout Brazilian society in general, particularly in the big cities. But it does not coincide with local crime rates because it reflects specific conditions, according to the report.

The book was presented in Brasilia because in the capital city 11 homosexuals were murdered last year, the largest proportion with respect to total population, said GGB president, Luiz Mott, co-author of the report.

However, the Federal District, the jurisdiction in which Brasilia is located, has an overall homicide rate that is much lower than other big cities, like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Human rights activists are also concerned about the Brazilian northeast, where a full one-third of the murders of gays, lesbians and transvestites occur, a portion far greater than the region’s share of the national population, and much larger than its share of the country’s total crime.

Last year’s murders of homosexuals confirm a trend that has been developing over recent years. Most occurred early Sunday mornings or Fridays. December has been the month with most such killings, reaching 15 in 2001.

Of the 132 murders last year, 60 victims were persons categorised as “without profession or unemployed” and most were between the ages of 31 and 40.

Three murders that made headlines in the last few years reflect the cruelty and violence engendered by extreme prejudice. One of the victims was a transvestite who was beaten to death by a racist youth gang in Santo André, near Sao Paulo.

Four years ago, two transvestites were thrown into the ocean by three military police in Salvador and one drowned. The police were sentenced to prison in that case.

Last month, another murder shocked the country: a gay man was stoned to death in the small northeastern state of Alagoas.

To halt – or at least reduce – violence against this “vulnerable” sector of the population, who many people consider “inferior, second class,” it is essential to launch a far-reaching campaign against prejudice, said Cerqueira.

In particular, the press must change its derogatory vocabulary and its “crude treatment” when it comes to covering issues involving homosexuals, he added.

The movement also demands the creation of government bodies, similar to those that defend the rights of women, Afro-Brazilians or Indians, as well as participation in the National Education Council, so that schools “combat discrimination against homosexuals,” instead of promoting it as they do currently, Cerqueira said.