"Homocausto" violento e nao combatido no Brasil. 250 pessoas LGBT Assassinadas em 2010" (em Portugues)
A “homocausto” rages unabated in Brazil: 250 LGBT people murdered in one year (em Ingles)
January 14th, 2011A “homocausto” rages unabated in Brazil: 250 LGBT people murdered in one year
(Assine a peticao para o Embaixador Brasileiro em Washington para tomar providencias)
A Brazilian LGBT organization that has been documenting homophobic murders of LGBT people in that country says they have now hit a record number: one every day and a half.
Grupo Gay da Bahia (GGB), the oldest Brazilian gay group, documented 250 cases in 2010. The figure is part of their annual report - still being completed - that will be officially unveiled in March.
In an interview with Terra Magazine, founder of the GGB and 'dean of the homosexual movement in Brazil' ('decano do movimento homossexual brasileiro'), Luiz Mott , said that in 2009 there were 198, about 50 less than reported last year.
Speaking on Brazilian TV, Mott described what's happening as a "homocausto."
In the previous decade an LGBT person was killed, on average, every three days. In recent years, that average rose to a murder every day and a half.
GGB says that between 1980 and 2009 at least 3,100 homosexuals were killed by hate crimes in the country.
This escalation reflects growing violence in Brazil, especially with regard to lethal crimes. But, in general, impunity is higher when the victim is gay, Mott said, because people do not want to get involved, to testify.
Mott emphasized that the figures compiled by the GGB, based on reports in the national press, do not reflect the real picture of violence against homosexuals in Brazil. That it is definitely much more extensive: "surely this number is much higher."
For Mott, the country is living with a contradiction in that it has "more than 150 gay parades, houses the largest association of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) in Latin America," but at the same time, it is "the world leader in deaths from this population. Brazil has a death penalty, in practice, much more severe than those in most homophobic countries in the world."
"A homofobia cultural é forte no Brasil" - "cultural homophobia is strong in Brazil."
In November, we reported that a proposed hate crimes law to tackle killings of LGBT had provoked a massive backlash on social media, including direct incitements to violence.
Grupo Gay da Bahia (GGB), the oldest Brazilian gay group, documented 250 cases in 2010. The figure is part of their annual report - still being completed - that will be officially unveiled in March.
In an interview with Terra Magazine, founder of the GGB and 'dean of the homosexual movement in Brazil' ('decano do movimento homossexual brasileiro'), Luiz Mott , said that in 2009 there were 198, about 50 less than reported last year.
Speaking on Brazilian TV, Mott described what's happening as a "homocausto."
In the previous decade an LGBT person was killed, on average, every three days. In recent years, that average rose to a murder every day and a half.
GGB says that between 1980 and 2009 at least 3,100 homosexuals were killed by hate crimes in the country.
This escalation reflects growing violence in Brazil, especially with regard to lethal crimes. But, in general, impunity is higher when the victim is gay, Mott said, because people do not want to get involved, to testify.
Mott emphasized that the figures compiled by the GGB, based on reports in the national press, do not reflect the real picture of violence against homosexuals in Brazil. That it is definitely much more extensive: "surely this number is much higher."
"In the National Plan for Human Rights (PNDH 2) there were 11 affirmative measures which, unfortunately, the [previous] Lula government did not implement. The first was the documentation, the implementation of systematic data collection on violence, murder of homosexuals. Official statistics of Brazilian hate crime should be undertaken by the Ministry of Justice, the Office of Human Rights and national states - not the GGB, with its limited resources, who has done this heroic work."Even with underreporting, Brazil outperforms countries such as Mexico, which is the second place in the murders of gay men (average 35 cases per year) and the United States, third in the list (approximately 25 notices per year), according to Mott.
For Mott, the country is living with a contradiction in that it has "more than 150 gay parades, houses the largest association of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) in Latin America," but at the same time, it is "the world leader in deaths from this population. Brazil has a death penalty, in practice, much more severe than those in most homophobic countries in the world."
"A homofobia cultural é forte no Brasil" - "cultural homophobia is strong in Brazil."
In November, we reported that a proposed hate crimes law to tackle killings of LGBT had provoked a massive backlash on social media, including direct incitements to violence.
