Surpassing 2020, dossier points to 316 LGBTQIA+ people violently killed in Brazil in 2021

Between 2000 and 2021, 5,362 people died because of prejudice (Reproduction/Internet)

May 12, 2022

11:05

Priscilla Peixoto – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – Released on Wednesday, 11, the “Dossier of Deaths and Violence against LGBTQIA+ in Brazil” points out that only in 2021, 316 LGBTQIA+ people were violently killed in Brazil. According to the analysis, the death rate had an increase of 33.33%, last year, if compared to the year 2020, when the total number of LGBTQIA+ deaths recorded by the Observatory of Deaths and Violence against LGBTQIA+ was 237.

The document is the result of a collective work of production and systematization of data among institutions, such as Acontece Arte e Política LGBTQIA+, the National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals (Antra), and the Brazilian Association of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transvestites, Transsexuals and Intersex (ABGLT). According to the text, of the 316 deaths, 285 were murders, 26 suicides and 5 from other causes.

The study, carried out by the Observatory of Deaths and Violence against LGBTQIA+, coordinated by Acontece, by the Gay Group of Bahia (GGB), was based on the report concluded in 2020 and on the partial survey referring to the period from January to September 2021, and brings a more detailed dossier, although it still considers the data referring to the subject underreported, in Brazil, and, therefore, it also counts on the help of news published in newspapers, portals, websites and other communication vehicles.

“Since October 2021, Acontece established a partnership with Antra and ABGLT – , in order to add and add to the preparation of this Dossier (…) But it is important to emphasize that, although this number already represents the great loss of people, just because of their gender identity and/or sexual orientation, we have evidence to assume that this data is still underreported in Brazil. After all, the absence of government data and the use of information available in the media point to a methodological limitation of our research,” says an excerpt of the publication.

Data on violence against LGBTQIA+

According to the report, every 27 hours an LGBTQIA+ person was murdered in Brazil in 2021. The publication also informs a percentage that identifies the various types of violence against the LGBTQIA+ population. In terms of homicides, the 262 registered cases represent 82.91% of the total; in terms of armed robbery, the 23 cases correspond to 7.28% of the registered cases. When added together, homicides and robberies add up to 90.19% of violent deaths.

The dossier also highlights other data, such as 91 stabbing deaths and 83 firearm deaths, in addition to suicides committed by transvestites and transgender and gay women, reinforcing the negative impacts directly on the victims’ mental health, due to discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ community. The 26 cases correspond to 8.23% of the deaths.

According to the survey data, 30.38% of the victims are between 20 and 29 years old, 112 victims are black and mixed race, and 127 are white. Slightly more than 48% of the deaths happened at night, that is, 152 cases. By sexual orientation , there were 145 gay men, 141 transvestites and trans women, 13 lesbians, 8 trans men and transmasculine people, 3 bisexuals, 3 other segments not defined, and 4 uninformed who had their lives interrupted.

If placed first, second and third, by municipality, in relation to the number of violent deaths of LGBTQIA+ people in Brazil last year, São Paulo with 13 cases, Salvador with 11 and Manaus and Rio de Janeiro with 8 deaths stand out negatively. By unit of the federation, São Paulo is still in the lead, with 42 deaths, Bahia with 30 and Minas Gerais, in the sequence, with 27 deaths.

Observatory of Deaths and Violence Against LGBTQIA+ in Brazil in 2021

By region, the Northeast presents the most cases with 116, followed by the Southeast with 103, Center-West with 36, North with 32, South with 28, and 1 case of death with an uninformed region. Accessing the dossier, it is possible to find other information such as the victims’ occupation, ‘causa mortis’, places (private or public spaces), period (nighttime, daytime) and other carefully elaborated details.

“Between 2000 and 2021, 5,362 (five thousand, three hundred and sixty-two) people died as a result of prejudice,” the text emphasizes;

Even in a scenario where we have achieved considerable achievements with the judiciary, we have noticed the recurrent inertia of the legislative and executive branches when they omit themselves in the face of LGBTIphobia, which continues to accumulate victims and remains rooted both in the state and throughout society.
We could also observe that, in the last five years, LGBTIphobic violence has gained more space in the media
more space in the media, when we returned to discuss the criminalization of LGBTIphobia and its impacts.

Civil society institutions have (re)organized themselves around international denunciations and attempts to the embarrassment of the State before the international community, since the public power follows an explicit
explicitly and openly against LGBTQIA+ rights, including actions via the Office of the Federal
da União (AGU) to halt the effects of criminalization. That lawsuit was heard in 2019, and since then we remain pending any actions against the impact of LGBTIphobia on the daily lives
of LGBTQIA+ people.

One of the goals of this research is to denounce the omission of the State in recognizing LGBTIphobia as a qualifier and aggravating factor, in cases of hate crimes against the LGBTQIA+ population, especially, when sexual orientation and/or gender identity is a determining factor for the victim’s choice, as well as for the form, intensity and violence with which the cases have been happening.

“Dossier of Deaths and Violence against LGBTI+ in Brazil”