{"id":11242,"date":"2018-10-28T17:08:57","date_gmt":"2018-10-28T11:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pahichan.com\/?p=11242"},"modified":"2018-10-28T21:00:13","modified_gmt":"2018-10-28T15:15:13","slug":"brazils-fearful-lgbt-community-prepares-for-a-proud-homophobe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/brazils-fearful-lgbt-community-prepares-for-a-proud-homophobe\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazil\u2019s fearful LGBT community prepares for a \u2018proud homophobe\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kathmandu (Pahichan) October 28 – It was exactly a fortnight after round one of Brazil\u2019s poison-filled presidential election that Aretha Sadick found herself sprinting for her life away from a man wielding an iron bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a hate crime. No doubt about it. Hate is the only word,\u201d recalled the 29-year-old black transgender artist and campaigner, still shaken by her run-in with death.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was on a street I always walk down. An area where I always go. And I\u2019ve never experienced such an overt act of hostility,\u201d she said. \u201cThese things don\u2019t happen by accident. There\u2019s been a validation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadick and fellow members of S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s LGBT community are clear who they blame for legitimising such violence: a far-right firebrand who is notorious for his spiteful, homophobic remarks and looks very likely to become Brazil\u2019s next president on Sunday.<\/p>\n

In nearly three decades as a congressman,\u00a0Jair Bolsonaro<\/a>\u00a0has never concealed his dislike of gay people. \u201cYes, I\u2019m homophobic \u2013 and very proud of it,\u201d he once proclaimed.<\/p>\n

In a\u00a02013 interview with Stephen Fry<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 which the British actor later called \u201cone of the most chilling confrontations I\u2019ve ever had with a human being\u201d \u2013 the far-right populist claimed \u201chomosexual fundamentalists\u201d were brainwashing heterosexual children to \u201cbecome gays and lesbians to satisfy them sexually in the future\u201d. Bolsonaro declared: \u201cBrazilian society doesn\u2019t like homosexuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The politician \u2013 whom polls give a 12-point lead over his leftist rival Fernando Haddad, down from 18% a fortnight ago \u2013 has ramped up such rhetoric during the campaign, accusing LGBT campaigners and other minorities of \u201cself-pity\u201d, while simultaneously claiming that he will govern for all.<\/p>\n

Activists, however, say that while violence and discrimination against the LGBT community have long existed, Bolsonaro\u2019s brazen bigotry has helped launch a new era of brutality and threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s as if the gates of hell have been opened \u2013 as if hunting season had been declared,\u201d said Beto de Jesus, a veteran LGBT activist and founder of S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s huge annual gay pride parade. \u201cIt\u2019s barbarism.\u201d<\/p>\n