Pride
Photo by Felipe Siston, www.flicker.com/photos/onubrasil/14109016985
Today is the date for the São Paulo Gay Pride parade, the biggest annual pride parade in the world, attracting 3-5 million people per year during non-pandemic years. This year the event is virtual. In honor of this massive, joyful party, today’s translation is an excerpt from a 2017 article that still unfortunately reflects the situation in Brazil. This article by Layane Moisés ran in “Voz das Comunidades” (“Voice of the Communities”; “communities” refers to the poorer neighborhoods in big Brazilian cities sometimes called “favelas”).
“Because we are inserted in a society, we learn and reproduce the customs that we were taught. When someone is not “within the norm” dictated by family, by religion, or by the media, that person is marginalized from a culture that is selective and cruel. The different, even today, is something that causes discomfort, intolerance, and is repressed.
When gays, lesbians, crossdressers, bisexuals, trans men and women, and allies gather for the party, they are not just there to have fun and to enjoy a show. Behind every pride parade there is a cause, which is important to me, to you, to all citizens because they are talking about lives. Nobody can make a value judgment about this. Every 25 hours, an LGBT person is murdered in Brazil.
According to information from the NGO Grupo Gay da Bahia (GGB), through September 20 [of 2017], 277 murders were recorded. For the first time, the average number of deaths related to homophobia passed one per day. [These numbers have only continued to rise in the years since.] … That is, the violence has been increasing and the numbers are worrying.
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It is shameful to know that, in the 21st century, people have to leave their homes to protest and fight for something that is a RIGHT of every citizen. Sexual orientation, gender identity should not be a taboo, much less a motive for killing someone who is made of flesh and bone like everyone else, but unfortunately it is. That’s why there are NGOs and parades, to create more visibility and to show that behind every costume and all the makeup there is a human being who should be respected.”