Commentary: Bolsonaro's hateful homophobia echoes here even more than his dimwit denialism does
WLRN 91.3 FM | By Tim Padgett
Published November 25, 2022 at 9:50 AM EST
COMMENTARY: More Americans are rejecting the kind of election denialism Brazil's president is pushing but are more embracing his brand of homophobic cruelty?
I was tempted this week to write about right-wing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro suddenly claiming, like a fuming 4-year-old, that the reelection bid he lost last month, in a perfectly legitimate vote, was stolen from him because the ballot-counting machines were somehow defective.
But I wont. Every election equipment expert on Earth has quickly dismissed Bolsonaros assertion as a lame lie on par with the demented denialism were finally tuning out here in the U.S. So it would be an epic waste of time.
Still, Im glad Bolsonaro diverted our attention to Brazil at this particular moment, because Americans, especially Floridians, should shift their uneasy gaze there for a while. Not because of Bolsonaros election lunacy, but because of another, deadlier legacy that can at least be partly attributed to his shamelessly if not viciously homophobic presidency. And its one that resonates in the U.S. as we try to process yet another hate-driven massacre at an LGBTQ establishment.
Brazil has long been one of the worlds most lethal places for LGBTQ people and is the most lethal for transgender people. That hasnt changed since Bolsonaro took office in 2019, even though that same year Brazils Supreme Court criminalized homophobic and transphobic acts. In 2020 Brazil saw 175 murders of trans people, one of the highest numbers in the countrys history. Last year that dipped to 125, but it still led the world and was hardly a stat to take comfort in since the nation with the second-worst trans-homicide toll, Mexico, registered 65.
More:
https://www.wlrn.org/commentary/2022-11-25/bolsonaros-hateful-homophobia-echoes-here-more-than-his-dimwit-denialism-does