There are many things that we don’t have to forget

Homophobic hate crimes spreading throughout Brazil – Alexandre Ivo, a 14-year-old boy, was tortured and killed in June 2010 in Rio de Janeiro. Why? Because he was gay. Ms. Patricia Gomes and Ms.Sandra de Moraes, two female professors living in Parana, were killed in their own home in December of 2009. Why? Because they were lovers.

Although Sao Paulo hosted in 2010 the biggest gay parade in the world, with over 3.3 million people, Brazil suffers from one of the highest numbers of hate crimes in Latin America. The fear of homosexuality in the country is increasingly being expressed through horrific crimes nationwide, as reported by multiple sources. The Latin-American Center on Sexuality and Human Rights has identified that the states of Parana and Bahia have the two highest numbers of crimes against homosexuals in the country and at least 15 people were killed in each Brazilian state in 2009, simply for being members of the LGBT community. According to Senator Fatima Cleide, from the state of Rondonia, one person dies every two days, as a victim of homophobic crimes in Brazil. The Brazilian gay rights group Grupo Gay da Bahia (GGB), which is funded by the World Bank and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), estimates that between 1980 and 2009 well over 3,100 homosexuals were killed by hate crimes in the country.

Brazil is at a pivotal moment in its history. The new administration can choose between allowing hate crimes to continue festering the nation’s stance towards human rights, or promote respect and equality for all. Its neighboring country, Argentina, has already shown the world that progress is not only possible but it also ought to be considered imminent in Latin America. Brazilians can, if they decide to do so, show their leadership and put an end to homophobic hate crimes in the nation, reverse the titles held by Parana and Bahia, and become a promoter of equality.

While hundreds of people die every year based on hate crimes, Brazilian Congress has struggled since 2006 to approve legislation categorizing homophobic violence as crimes. Religious and conservative interests have proven to be strong and effective opponents to this human rights law.

Not only are Brazilian LGBTs treated as second-class citizens, but people are dying because of this. Successful professionals, loving couples, and young boys and girls, among many others, are suffering of intolerance and are being killed because of the lack of action of society and legislators. It is an unfair reality. The question I have for the readers and the country’s newly elected politicians is: When will ALL Brazilians be protected and have equal rights under law? (Source: The Amnesty International USA Web Log)

Religion strikes back at Brazil's gay culture

Despite a little sub-tropical rain, the world's largest gay pride parade, in São Paulo, went off spectacularly. It received broad public support, and no less a figure than Stephen Fry joined a colourful group of revellers who have much to celebrate. The supreme court had just officially recognised the rights of same-sex unions to the privileges held by heterosexual couples, and another judge soon after signed off on the country's first full-fledged gay marriage.

One aspect of the celebrations, however, ignited controversy. The city's main avenue was decorated with posters, designed by an HIV prevention group, that featured 12 barely clothed male models, styled as Catholic saints, but with come-hither looks and the caption: “Not even a saint can save you. Use a condom”. The group says the aim was education, but it was hard not to see the campaign as an intentionally provocative shot at the religious right in the increasingly tense confrontation between the two groups.

The church itself, of course, publicly registered offence at the images, but the real new conservative player on the scene is the evangelical Christian movement, a rising political force that is mounting an increasingly threatening assault on the gay rights movement and moving sexual issues closer to the centre of Brazilian politics. That group had conspicuously organised a massive “March for Jesus” just days before the gay pride march, and didn't waste much time getting around to railing against gay marriage. In this traditionally Catholic country, more and more are becoming evangelical Christians – now likely more than 20% of the population – and are more eager to make their version of Christianity a political issue.

Despite the persistence of persecution, official mainstream Brazilian society is relatively accepting of gay culture. Former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had as a personal spiritual adviser the gay-friendly liberation theologist Frei Betto, and the de facto rights of same-sex civil unions have been recognised in Brazil since 2004. The church opposes gay marriage but makes less of a fuss about the legality of civil unions, and the government of new president Dilma Rousseff has made an end to discrimination a priority.

But when Dilma faced her first political crisis earlier this year, as a corruption scandal brought down her chief of staff, Antonio Palocci, she was outmanoeuvred by a political force that would be familiar in the US but is new here in Brazil: the "evangelical bloc" in Congress. It used her moment of weakness to kill an anti-homophobia bill she favoured that had long been in the works. It's now dead in the water until they can come up with one the evangelical bloc likes. “It's certainly possible to read those posters in the parade as an aggressive reaction to the evangelical movement or at least to their idea of Christianity”, says Guilherme Altmayer, an artist active in the gay rights movement. “But there is a clear war now, which has been escalating, and the latest homophobic movements in Congress have been far too radical”.

It's not entirely clear that provoking the religious community by creating signs that effectively invite the viewer to have gay sex – albeit protected – with a saint is the most effective strategy for advancing the cause of the gay community. They may be just as likely to offend middle-of-the-road Brazilians, nominally Catholic but usually not church-going and usually fairly liberal on the issue of others' sexuality.

But in the largest of the former Iberian colonies, which way society moves is not being decided on the steps of Mother Church. It is being played out on the streets, in Congress, and increasingly in evangelical congregations more reminiscent of the American south (Text: Vincent Bevins to The Guardian).