According to final figures released by ABGLT – the Brazilian national umbrella group for LGBT associations – a total of 183 events were held in Brazil around the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia in 2014. Actions were held in at least 20 states, and in at least 55 towns and cities. Once again, this makes Brazil (along with the United Kingdom) one of the most significant national mobilisations around May 17.

A full panorama of all actions held is impossible, and this report will continue to be updated in the coming days, to reflect the scale and diversity of this year’s events. Below is a snapshot, divided by state, of just some of the amazing actions which marked the Day this year in Brazil.

A full list of events held in Brazil this year is available for download here (.doc, 46kb, in Portuguese), with thanks to ABGLT, to Toni, and especially to Paulinho for compiling it.

ABGLT’s May 17 media release, comprising a Manifesto and list of Activities is also accessible via this link (.pdf, 600kb, in Portuguese).

Bahia

Actions around May 17 in the North-Eastern state of Bahia, were significantly larger than any other Brazilian state this year. Commemorations around the Day spread into a month of events during the month of May, and were co-ordinated by a state-wide coalition of over a dozen community groups, civil society organisations and state institutions. For the second year running this run of events – the ‘May of Diversity Project’ – was backed by the SJCDH (State Department of Justice, Citizenship and Human Rights).

Activists and officials come together for an open congressional session in Salvador, Bahia. May 19, 2014.

On May 19, in honour of the IDAHOT 2014, the Salvador City Legislature held a packed ceremony and public consultation session on sexual orientation and gender identity in policies to promote human rights. The event addressed the need for a national gender recognition act, as well as the labour rights and public security needs of LGBT communities. The event was proposed by the councilor, Florisvaldo Bittencourt (PT). Read the full Portuguese report here.

In the first week of May, the group Juventude Sem Terra – the youth wing of the country’s Landless Worker’s Movement (MST) – organised a march of 3,000 people, in Salvador (pictured). Young activists at the march, affirmed “I’m gay and I’m landless” and that “homophobia exists in the country and in the city”.

Landless Youth Movement calls for an end to homoohobia during Bahia march. Source: MST

In Salvador’s Pelourinho, the show ‘Soul Transformista’ was shown free of charge in commemoration of the Day, on Saturday the 17th. The popular and critically acclaimed piece explores the world of ‘transformistas’ (drag artists), and the difficulties faced by them in trying to maintain the art form, in a city which doesn’t value it. The show was just one of countless cultural and artist events which marked the Day in Bahia this year.

The ‘Soul Transformista’ show was one of many May 17 events held in Salvador. Source: Genilson Coutinho/Divulgação

Rio de Janeiro

In Rio de Janeiro, ABGLT held its Fifth National Conference in the city of Niterói on May 22-25. A video introducing the event can be found here:

Over 250 people attended the event, representing dozens of organisations from the whole of Brazil. A summary and manifesto from the event – which the organisers called “a historic event in the history of ABGLT” – can be found here (in Portuguese).

To close the event, on the 25th, around 100 participants gathered in Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro city, for a public march and ‘die-in’, to call for the passing of legislation criminalising homophobia.

Die-in and march on Copacabana beach front ends the V National ABGLT Conference. Source: Revista Forum

The exhibition, “Eu te Desafio a me Amar” (I challenge you to love me), by photographer Diana Blok also marked the commemorations in the city, with a special viewing at Amnesty International’s offices. The exhibition – which brings together depictions of LGBT experiences and expressions in contemporary Brazil – was also shown in Brasília. An online catalogue of the exhibition can be found here, and you can find out more about the work of Diana Blok at her website.

Photos from the exhibition “Eu te Desafio a me Amar” by Diana Blok – featured in Rio de Janeiro and Brasília around IDAHOT 2014.

The exhibition in Rio de Janeiro also formed part of a broader set of events embracing film screenings and a roundtable discussion on LGBTI freedom of expression worldwide, on SOGI aspects of international human rights activism, and on the emergence of transmasculine communities, and rights demands, in contemporary Brazil. Speakers included Sonia Corrêa (Sexuality Policy Watch), Claire House (IDAHO Committee), Be Neves (UERJ), and Arjen Uijterlinde (Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Rio de Janeiro). A recording of the debate is available viw twitcasting here.

São Paulo

In São Paulo, where May 17 is officially recognised as State Day in the Fight Against Homophobia (since a law was passed recognising the Day in 2011), various community groups and state departments came together for a day of reflection and cultural events around LGBT rights.

State Secretary of Justice and Defence of Citizenship, Eloisa Arruda, at São Paulo May 17 event. Source: Secretaria de Justiça SP

Co-ordinated by the State Department of Justice and the Defence of Citizenship, the day of events was intended to help promote debate about human dignity, independent of sexual orientation and gender identity. The action was supported by various other actors and institutions including gender and racial equality departments, and the Brazilian Lawyares Association (OAB).

“The date is important to call attention to the need for affirmative policies to confront homophobia and transphobia – discrimination suffered by travestis and transsexuals… The fight against prejudice is a daily struggle, but on this date we get to raise public awareness that we need to have concrete actions which reduce indices of criminality which are still persist against LGBT communities.” – Heloisa Gama Alves, Co-ordinator of Policies of Sexual Diversity in São Paulo.

Minas Gerais

Activists and supporters from the city’s LGBT community came together for a march in the centre of the state capital, Belo Horizonte, on Saturday May 17. Activists called for public policies to guarantee community safety, promote health and education, and a call for laws to promote equal rights. Organisers underscored that on May 10, 2014, two travestis in the Pampulha region of the city were killed in hate motivated attacks. And that, already in 2014, 136 lives have been taken through hate crimes targeting the LGBT community in Brazil – which remains a global “leader” for lethal LGBT hate crimes.

LGBT rights march through the streets of Belo Horizonte on May 17, 2014. Source: Em.com.br

Around the world many initiatives took place to highlight how the fundamental right to freely discuss issues around sexual and gender rights, is systematically being violated by the great majority of states.

As a matter of fact, our calculations reveal that 70% of the people in the world are not allowed by law to discuss, or even receive objective information on, matters related to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Global Call to leaders of the world

Developed in association between IFEX, Article 19 and the IDAHO Committee, and with the support of Amnesty International, the mobilisation included a Global Call to Leaders of the World which was signed by 170 organisations globally and supported by a “Thunderclap” action which reached 1,5 million people.

The call to mobilise on the issue of Freedom of Expression was also heard by the United Nations.

UN human rights experts, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media issued a joint statement which underlines how “Free expression and association is key to eliminating Homophobia and Transphobia”

Activists in dozens of countries spoke up and spoke out for LGBTI Free Expression on May 17

Around the world, many activists joined the call by organising conferences, debates, and seminars on LGBTI Freedom of Expression – from London, to Nairobi, to Rio de Janeiro. Countless demonstrations were organised with free expression at their core – including dance flashmobs, sing-ins, kiss-ins, body & face painting, street art, photography and arts festivals.

Even in the most hostile and contradictory contexts, many activists made the choice to take to the streets to defend LGBTI rights, and to highlight the erasure and silencing of communities in the public sphere. In 13 cities in Russia, activists took to the streets in the largest nationwide demonstration in favour of LGBTI rights since the federal government approved a law limited “homosexual propaganda” last summer – a case which has sparked international outrage.

In the Ukraine, activists decided to confront the distortion of their most basic demands for human rights (as propaganda, or as a tool for extending “Western influence”), in the context of significant political instability and repression. Against the odds, they organised a rainbowflash balloon release on May 18; a day later than planned, due to security concerns.

In Georgia, activists were similarly unable to take action on the 17th itself, due to security concerns and lack of protection guarantees from the Georgian state. After 4,000 supporters of the right-wing & fundamentalist Georgian Orthodox Church departed from Tbilisi city centre, activists painted rainbow street art around the city, and – on the 18th – left more than 100 shoes at the site of last year’s attacks; a way of marking their presence nevertheless, and speaking back to the silencing and repression of LGBTI communities in Georgia.

In some parts of Southern and East Africa, as well as in many parts of Latin America & the Caribeean, whole street festivals and weeks of events were held around the Day, with many actions focusing on LGBTI Freedom of Expression, or accomplishing it – at least for fleeting, but highly symbolic moments.

Although in some parts of East and South-East Asia – as in China – activists faced significant repression in the lead up to the Day (including, in China, arrests of several activists for even planning a May 17 event), many communities were able to join the commemorations. Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines saw particularly large scale mobilisations this year – many of them connecting with the global focus on LGBTI Free Expression.

We will be updating this page in the coming days, as we gain a clearer picture of the scope and nature of the, some 1,000+, actions which took place around the IDAHOT 2014.      

Further reading:

• IDAHO Committee – Full background info & campaigning kit on the IDAHOT 2014 Global Focus Issue: Freedom of Expression. Download here (pdf, 2mb).
• Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights: “Anti-propaganda laws”, the new criminalisation of homosexuality
• Article 19: Traditional values? Attempts to censor sexuality: Homosexual propaganda bans, freedom of expression and equality.
• Human Rights Watch: The Trouble With Tradition
• PEN International: Resolution – The Russian Federation (79th World Congress in Reykjavik, Iceland, Sept 9-12, 2013)
• Index on Censorship/Mathew Brown: Shut the Duck Up
• American Civil Liberties Union: Banned Books Week 2013 – Books about LGBT Families Remain Targets of Censorship