Brazilian queer community and allies show sympathy for the LGBTQIA+ of Orlando, especially the survivors and the families of the deceased. Vigils have been held in different cities.

pulse

BELO HORIZONTE, capital of Minas Gerais state

By Brazilian newspaper O Tempo

Holding candles, signs and rainbow flags, 300 people gathered last Tuesday (14) in the neighborhood of Saint Augustin, Belo Horizonte (capital of Minas Gerais state) for a vigil in memory of the victims of the attack on our brothers and sisters in Pulse club last Sunday (12), when 50 were killed and 53.

Our objective is to show that behind the massacre there is a display of hatred against the LGBT community. We want to draw attention to that as others have done in different parts of the world‘ – explained Francis Vaz, 33, one of the organizers of the vigil.

1 2 3 4

Vigil in São Paulo, the biggest city in Brazil.

By Brazilian Forum magazine

Last Sunday (12), at about 6 p.m., LGBT activists and allies gathered in front of the Art Museum of São Paulo (Masp) on Paulista Ave to hold a vigil to homage the victims of the queerphobic massacre at Pulse, Orlando.

Everyone’s eyes mirrored the sadness that lied inside their hearts.

It could have been here, where religious fanaticism grows visibly, where chicanery with the LGBT population’s rights takes place in the open in the National Congress‘ – said the representative of Mothers for Equality, Majú Giorgi.

5 6

 

 

 

 

sao-paulo-vigil-3

 

 

Vigil in Campo Grande, a neighborhood in the west area of Rio

By Brazilian news site Top Mídia

About 30 people lit candles and discussed the violence against LGBT people that have been thriving around the world. The venue was Ary Coelho square in the neighborhood of Campo Grande, Rio de Janeiro.

Rainbow flags were hoisted and waved in the square last Monday (13). A group of sympathetic people gathered around a bonfire in grief for the precious lives that had been taken away by a homophobic shooter in Orlando on Sunday (12).

Transgender women, Cris Stefanny, coordinator of LGBT Public Policies with the municipality of Rio de Janeiro in the district of Campo Grande, and Amanda Anderson also attended the gathering and discussed the need to expand the LGBT agenda and increase resilience to fight for it.

Alone we won’t manage to make this revolution‘ – said Cris, emphasizing the need to unite other groups in a situation of vulnerability.

We can’t be silent in face of the growth of conservatism‘ – said Amanda. ‘Our reality has been the street corners‘ – she said criticizing the marginalization of LGBT people, mainly transgender people.

cinelandia-orlando-pulse-2

 

 

Horror in Brazil kills one by one, sometimes two at a time

With information by Brazilian site SuperPride (in Portuguese)

homophobia-in-brazil

The LGBTQIA+ community of Brazil has been sympathetic to the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Orlando and many other parts of the Globe. In Russia, for example, two people were arrested by the police just because they paid a simple homage to the victims of the homophobic attack last Sunday (12) in Pulse club. How crazier can it get?

Well, in Brazil, in the beginning of the same weekend as the massacre of Orlando, two gay teachers were burnt down in a car in the small town of Santaluz, a town 161 miles away from Salvador, the capital of Bahia.

The murder took place at about 10 p.m. last Friday (10). Minutes later, Edivaldo Silva de Oliveira and Jeovan Bandeira had their bodies found in the trunk of Edivaldo’s car, carbonized and abandoned on the curb of BA-120 highway. Both teachers worked for the same public school in town.

Edivaldo was recognized by the dental arch and buried last Tuesday (14). The funeral procession took two hours and gathered hundreds of dwellers despite the heavy rain.

According to the police, the other corpse will go through DNA testing to be identified, but Jeovan’s family believe it’s his dead body since he disappeared last Friday – the crime date.

Police Chief, João Farias, said to BBC that one of the possible motivations for the crime is homophobia. Edivaldo’s house was found messed up, but no valuable objects had been taken away.

They were very dear to the city dwellers. Also, they didn’t have enemies. We’ve heard several people, and meanwhile, we don’t rule out any possibility.’ – said the Police Chief.

Ay Group of Bahia (GGB), the only entity to have recorded cases of homophobic and transphobic murder through the years, highlights the numbers of queerphobic crimes in Brazil. Only in the first semester of this year, 16 cases of murder against LGBT people have been recorded in the state of Bahia alone.

Homophobic murders total 123 in Brazil so far this year.

In 2015, GGB counted 319 murders due to homophobia and transphobia in Brazil (see the report in English here: https://homofobiamata.wordpress.com/estatisticas/relatorios/2015-report/).

Dwellers marched

march

Last Monday (13), hundreds of dwellers rallied to protest and demand justice for the two gay teachers’ case. The group stopped in front of the forum, the police department and the City Council.

Questions that remain to be answered

Freddy Mercury and Montserrat Caballé wonder, and I join my voice with theirs:

How can I go on
From day to day?
Who can make me strong in every way?
Where can I be safe?
Where can I belong
In this great big world of sadness?
How can I forget
Those beautiful dreams that we shared?
They’re lost, and they’re nowhere to be found
How can I go on?

Where is it all headed, my queer comrades and straight allies?

How can it be prevented?

While we don’t find the answers to those questions, let’s lift up our queer voices and struggle to keep the tone as audible and unavoidable as possible, shall we?