In a report published yesterday (27/07) by the newspaper Folha de São Paulo, journalist Kátia Brasil painted a portrait of homosexual Indians from the Ticuna tribe, located in the Brazilian Amazon. The article reports on the fact that young people from the tribe no longer want to paint their necks with genipapo to deepen their voices, nor do they accept the traditional rules of marriage, where couples are defined during childhood.
The boys who decided to break with this indigenous traditionalism said they suffered a lot of prejudice. They cannot walk alone, as they run a serious risk of being attacked, they are called by the boys of the tribe "half a thing" and they are also targets of stones, cans and teasing.
According to data from the National Indian Foundation (Funai), there are records of gay Indians, in addition to the Ticuna tribe, in the villages of Umariaçu 1, Belém do Solimões, Feijoal and Philadelphia. Darcy Bibiano Murati, 40, from the Ticuna ethnic group, told the journalist that homosexuality is something very new for them, "This is new for us. We didn't see indigenous people like this, now it has quickly grown in all communities. They are boys aged 10, 15 years".
Marcenio Ramos Guedes, 24, and his brother, Natalício, 22, are two young indigenous gays profiled in the article. They say they dye their hair, nails and pluck their eyebrows. They also work as dancers in a typical Ticuna group that performs in the region.
There are also social problems with the family, as Marcenio reported. The boy fought a lot with his father and because of this he left home at 15 years old. He revealed that he worked as a maid. Afterwards, he returned to his parents' house and decided to take on the domestic tasks at home.
Another character portrayed is Ticuna Clarício Manoel Batista, 32, an elementary school teacher and pedagogy student at UEA (State University of Amazonas), in the city of Tabatinga. One of the first to admit homosexuality in the Umariaçu 2 village, at the age of 16. "Some discriminate against me, indigenous people here, non-indigenous people too. I stay silent, I don't say anything. I don't care about them", he says.
