Brazil Congress deliberates on toughening penalties for hate crimes

Federal Deputy Maria do Rosário, author of a bill to criminalize acts of intolerance against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, among other groups deemed vulnerable, said this week, during the 13º LGBT Seminar at the National Congress, that the legislation failed to advance as a result of deliberate interference from other lawmakers.

The text, under deliberation for two years, was approved by the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ) in November 2014, but was shelved in January 2015. The proposal was subsequently brought forward again, and redistributed so that a number of commissions could deliberate. “This redistribution was meant to delay [the debate,]” said the lawmaker.

Representatives from LGBT associations who attended the event urged authorities to move forward with the proposal. They criticized the decision to submit the text for deliberation to the Commission for Public Security and Combat Against Organized Crime, formed chiefly by parliamentarians from the “bullet caucus,” a group of lawmakers who advocate for the end of the Disarmament Statute, which restrains the use of fire weapons by the population.

In the opinion of drag queen Lorelay Fox, who has debated prejudice on her YouTube channel for ten years, self-knowledge and acknowledgment can reduce violence against this portion of the population.

“We like being acknowledged as someone who belongs to a certain group, but we're the ones who must bring ourselves into the group, rather than having other do it for us,” she said. Lorelay also noted that prejudice can be perceived even within the LGBT community. “The heterosexual public often sees us as fun, but, within the community itself, people can be very judgmental. Prejudice can be really strong when men oversteps the masculine-feminine boundary,” she added.

Mãe Nangetu, a representative of African-Brazilian religions in the National Council for the Promotion of Respect and Appreciation of Religious Diversity, linked to the presidency, warned that the terreiros, where followers of such religions hold their ceremonies, are often subject to attacks for accepting people's sexual orientation. “The terreiros have to cope with the fear of the Holy Inquisition. It's hate, the lack of respect, intolerance. Intolerance is born inside our homes,” she argued.

In the view of lawmaker Jean Wyllys, Brazil’s Penal Code should be revised in order for hate crimes to be seen as more serious offenses. But this is not the only solution to the country's prejudice, he believes. “Homophobia is, first and foremost, the guard who holds control over gender boundaries. At the age of six, I heard [a word for gay] used as an insult, and this is repeated throughout Brazil. I don't mean the school. The school is an extension of what happens among families,” he stated.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira