There have never been as many murders of homosexuals in Brazil as in 2011. For the sixth consecutive year, there was an increase in crimes against gays. There were 266 deaths last year.
The data comes from Grupo Gay da Bahia, which is based on news about crimes published in newspapers and on the internet. The GGB has been following cases since 1970.
According to the group, this year we should have a new record, as in the first three months of 2012 alone there were 106 murders.
Luiz Mott, founder of GGB, believes that this number should be even higher. The anthropologist criticizes the federal government for not creating a database with crimes against gays.
"This database was foreseen since the National Human Rights Plan 2, of 2002. Neither Lula nor Dilma fulfilled this obligation", says Mott.
The victims of most crimes were gays (60%), followed by transvestites (37%) and lesbians (3%). The state of Bahia led the number of deaths (24), Pernambuco came second (25) and São Paulo (24) third.
"The greater visibility of homosexuals – stimulated by gay parades and the presence of gay and transvestite characters in soap operas – causes greater aggression from homophobes", analyzes Mott.
According to the GGB, 99% of crimes were motivated by homophobia. For the anthropologist, there is also a "cultural homophobia, which expels transvestites to the margins of society, where violence is more endemic" and an "institutional homophobia, when the government does not guarantee the safety of spaces frequented by the LGBT community".
