Protest in Copacabana commemorates the deaths of 144 transgender people in the country.
On Trans Visibility Day, celebrated this Sunday (29), 144 black crosses were planted in the sand of Copacabana Beach, one for each transsexual or transvestite killed last year because of prejudice, throughout the country, according to a survey by the NGO Rede Trans Brasil; the organization's president, Tathiane Araújo, says that the number makes Brazil one of the champions of deaths of trans people in the world; according to her, exclusion begins at home, when parents refuse to recognize the identity of someone who does not identify with the sex assigned at birth, which is the case for trans people.
Isabela Vieira - Reporter for Agência Brasil
In February 2016, the trans woman known as Cicarelli, 36 years old, was brutally murdered in João Pessoa, with more than 20 stab wounds, stoning, and even had her ear cut off in a dispute between drug traffickers over a drug spot in the capital of Paraíba.
On Trans Visibility Day, celebrated this Sunday (29), Cicarelli was one of the trans people remembered in a demonstration on Copacabana Beach, in the south of Rio de Janeiro. 144 black crosses were planted in the sand, one for each transsexual or transvestite killed last year because of prejudice, throughout the country, according to a survey by the non-governmental organization Rede Trans Brasil.
According to Tathiane Araújo, president of the Trans Brazil Network, this number makes Brazil one of the countries with the highest rates of transgender murders in the world. She says the murders reflect the vulnerability into which these people are pushed. The exclusion, she explains, begins at home, when parents refuse to acknowledge the identity of someone who does not identify with the sex assigned at birth, which is the case for transgender people.
“The family closes the door, the school closes the door at a crucial time in life, which is adolescence, then the person has difficulty finding work and because they lack qualifications, this becomes a social problem. We need to make it clear that exclusion is our main risk factor,” stated Tathiane, who also pointed out the lack of public policies for the inclusion of this group.
On the margins, transgender people live in constant fear of death or of being victims of "corrective rapes," many of which occur in bathrooms, explains Adriana Rodriguez Souza, coordinator of the Trans Network in Rio. "Machismo doesn't accept 'no' from a trans man or a lesbian, who end up raped and killed." Another struggle for transgender people, according to Adriana, is for the use of bathrooms compatible with their gender and... social name.
The full report from Rede Trans Brasil with the number of victims of transphobia – prejudice that victimizes trans people – with information on the circumstances of the deaths and recommendations to the Public Authorities will be released tomorrow (30), when the document will also be delivered to the Organization of American States (OAS), in Rio. The survey was based on newspaper reports and cases investigated by the organization.
The general coordinator for the Promotion of the Rights of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transvestites and Transsexuals at the National Secretariat for Human Rights, Marina Reidel – representing the Ministry of Justice at today's demonstration – acknowledged that Brazil is still not a safe country for transgender people and said that the government has the hotline 100 to receive complaints. However, according to Marina, ending violence against transgender people requires education, an issue that has been hampered by legislative processes.
“Violence is a cultural issue. As a teacher, I recognize that education needs to be rethought in this aspect, but last year and the year before, we had great difficulty dialoguing with the legislatures, and the issue of gender was left out of the education plans.” Marina, who is a trans woman, also believes that there is a lack of services for the population in the states and municipalities.
To discuss the current situation and public policies, the National Council for Combating Discrimination and Promoting the Rights of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transvestites and Transsexuals will meet this week with government agencies in Brasília.