"Twitter storm" against Pastor Malafaia reaches Marina.
Pastor Silas Malafaia accused the Dilma Rousseff government of being "the biggest financier of gay activism," blaming it for the end of Father's Day and Mother's Day celebrations in schools; immediately, internet users reacted and the hashtag #menosodiomalafaia (less hate Malafaia) reached the top of Twitter; the "tweetstorm" ended up affecting Marina Silva's candidacy, who backed down from supporting the gay cause after pressure from the evangelical pastor.
247 – Pastor Silas Malafaia sparked outrage among Twitter users after accusing the Dilma Rousseff government of being "the biggest financier of gay activism." The campaign was directed against him, and Marina Silva, the PSB candidate who recently yielded to pressure from the evangelical pastor, was also affected. Read more in Altamiro Borges' article on [website/platform name]. Miro's blog:
Marina Silva, the hitchhiking candidate who poses as a victim, will still regret the support she received from Pastor Silas Malafaia after backtracking on her defense of homosexual rights – just four tweets later. This week, the fundamentalist once again spewed his prejudice on social media. He accused the Dilma government of being "the biggest financier of gay activism," holding it responsible for the end of celebrations of national and mothers' days in schools. Immediately, internet users reacted and the hashtag #menosodiomalafaia reached the top of Twitter on Friday (12). The "tweetstorm" silenced the reactionary pastor and, incidentally, ended up affecting the candidacy of the former Green Party member.
According to Estadão, the “religious leader” anticipated that he would demonize “gay activism” on the internet. “The strategy, however, ended up backfiring, and the hashtag #menosodiomalafaia, criticizing the initiative, became one of the most talked-about topics on the social network... On Friday, around noon, the president's official profile posted a message on Facebook calling on activists to react to the pastor's offensive. 'Let's all go to Twitter to show that the country does not accept hate speech, homophobia, and ignorance,' it said. The hashtag #menosodiomalafaia remained among the most talked-about topics all afternoon. The pastor even tried to react with the hashtag #roubalheiraePTtudoaver (corruption and PT are all related), but failed to reach the trending topics on Twitter.”
The immediate reaction of internet users – which the pro-PSDB newspaper tries to present as an orchestrated action – showed that society does not tolerate the growing wave of prejudice and hatred in the country. This conservative offensive, unfortunately, is not only present on the internet. On Wednesday (10), the waiter João Antônio Donati, 18 years old, was cowardly murdered in Inhumas, in the metropolitan region of Goiânia. Investigations indicate that he was a victim of homophobia. His body was found in a vacant lot. The young man had several plastic bags and papers placed in his mouth. Nothing was stolen. The sick obsession of “pastor” Silas Malafaia may have contributed to yet another barbaric crime!
Minister Ideli Salvatti, of the Secretariat of Human Rights, has already announced that the government will contact the Federal Police to investigate the case. After citing other homophobic crimes – such as the fire that, in the early hours of Thursday, destroyed the stage of the Gaucho Traditions Center (CTG) in Santana do Livramento (RS) – she also said that the government should unblock the debate on the criminalization of homophobia. "The commitment to this issue will be maintained in a possible second term, especially since there has never been opposition to it," she stated. In a recent press interview, President Dilma Rousseff also firmly positioned herself in defense of the criminalization of homophobia.