Last Friday (25), the Senate's commission of jurists approved a proposal that encompasses prejudice against homosexuals as a crime to be dealt with in court.
According to the new text, people who carried out discriminatory acts based on gender, identity or sexual orientation, and also due to regional origin, can be prosecuted, such as the famous cases of insults against people from the Northeast.
Under current legislation, only people who discriminate against others because of race, color, ethnicity, religion or national origin can be prosecuted.
The change in the code makes discrimination against gays and lesbians a non-bailable crime, not subject to judicial pardon or pardon. The penalty can be two to five years in prison, the same currently applied for the crime of racism. This period can be increased by a third to half if discrimination has been committed against children or adolescents.
"It is an advance because we are expanding the figures of any and all discriminatory figures, complying with the Constitution and updating the existing law", says Gilson Dipp, president of the commission.
Jurists also presented in which situations discrimination is classified as a crime. These include preventing someone from accessing a public or private office, preventing someone from being promoted functionally because they are a woman, homosexual or from the Northeast, and also discrimination through the media and the internet.
"We criminalize homophobia and misogeny", summarized Luís Carlos Gonçalves, regional prosecutor of the Republic. The commission has until June 25th to deliver the project to the president of the Senate, José Sarney (PMDB-AP).
