Brazil: up to five years in prison for homophobia
Brazil's Supreme Court has ruled that slurs against LGBTQ+ people constitute hate speech. It is now punishable by prison terms of up to five years.
On 23 August the Brazilian Supreme Court, by a 9-1 ruling, recognised homo- or transphobic slurs as hate speech, the latter being a criminal offence in the country. One of the judges, Edson Fachin, described the ruling as fulfilling the "constitutional imperative" to protect LGBTQ+ people in Brazil.
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Slurs against LGBTQ+ minorities are a criminal offence
Hate speech laws have been in force in Brazil since 2010. It can be punishable by two to five years in prison. The law was put into force to protect the black and ethnically mixed Brazilian population. Tuesday's Supreme Court ruling added LGBTQ+ people to the list of protected minorities.
In Brazil, same-sex marriage has been legal since 2013. In 2019, The Supreme Court criminalised violence and discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation. Since 23 August, hate speech against these people is also criminalised.
The LGBTQ+ minority needs this form of legal protection, as they are often the target of attacks and aggression. Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro declared himself a "proud homophobe". As reported by agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br, according to a report by the Observatory of Deaths and Violence against LGBTI+, as many as 273 people from minorities died as a result of brutal violence in 2022 alone.
Source: yahoo.news.com, agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br
