[Sister Alvear]

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva likes to portray his administration as a Socialist government favoring interests of less developed nations and not accepting American and European influences. Nevertheless, he has imitated their worst examples. His Workers’ Party has employed actions no past government of Brazil did: it has facilitated the introduction of pro-homosexuality laws, and it has been a strong advocate for affirmative action based on racial preferences for minority groups. So for the first time, Brazilian society sees a president acting in a totally new political way.


His actions are not original to Brazil. American and European societies have, under the pressure of special interest groups, known such political experiences for a number of years. Interestingly, in the racial issue, advocates of affirmative action in Europe and in the U.S. are swift to point to and condemn the slavery of blacks by whites in the past and exploit such situations to their extreme political advantage, but they are equally swift to neglect, excuse, or hide the past and current violent slavery of blacks by blacks in some African countries, including modern-day Sudan. So the notion of affirmative action, as originally employed in the developed nations by special interest groups and as copied by countries like Brazil, is a form of ideological oppression that will eventually lead to other forms of oppression, including from the gay-ideology activists.


There should be no doubt that the current Brazilian president has a gay agenda. Twice, Lula expressed his support of the homosexual movement. In June 2005, he sent a letter to the gay parade of Brasilia, saying, “any way of loving is worthwhile.” In June 2006, he reaffirmed such support, by sending to the gay parade of São Paulo the following message:


Fellows,


It is with satisfaction that I answer the kind invitation to address the participants of the 10th GLBT Pride Parade, in São Paulo. I want to greet the organizers of this event and transmit — to all who battle to promote the dignity and the defense of the rights of gays, lesbians, and transgender people — words of encouragement, faith and trust in the results of the efforts that, in partnership, we have been developing, since the beginning of our administration, with the goal to change the reality that we had received.


Our government was established with the firm purpose of combating the threats to the people’s rights based on any kind of prejudice: of origin, race, ethnicity, age, religious belief, political conviction, or sexual orientation.


With that purpose, we have strengthened the Special Secretariat for the Human Rights, which instituted, during our administration, Brazil Without Homophobia, a program to combat violence and prejudice against GLBT and to promote homosexual citizenship. That program has been necessary because all people should be made conscious of human rights, which include the free expression of sexual orientation. People may only be made conscious through publicly integrated politics that include affirmative actions, especially in the educational area.


Human rights education encourages people in a formal and informal way to contribute for the citizenship construction, for the knowledge of those rights, and for the consequent respect to plurality and diversity, not only sexual, but ethnic, racial, cultural, sporting, and religious.


However, schools should not be the only source promoting those ideas: the media should also get involved in this effort, for they have an enormous power for penetrating the society. The media and information outlets, through their programs and images, assume a fundamental role in the human rights education as they are committed to the propagation of ethical and citizenship values.


Because of their role as public opinion shapers, the press, radio, and TV professionals should be a source of production and broadcasting of contents related to tolerance and acceptance of multiple differences, and ultimately, the respect to the human person with a view to establish a culture of peace and love toward the neighbor and build a fairer, kinder, and more solid society.


Our government is firmly determined to defend those values and it wants to continue, especially counting on the cooperative action from the organizations that bring together gays, lesbians, and transgender people to achieve that objective, and it will remain open to welcome other contributions, as in the area of STD prevention.


I want all to know that we remain at your side in this fight. A few days ago, in the Third High Authorities Human Rights Meeting of Mercosur, in Buenos Aires, Brazil suggested the introduction of two items for consideration: the theme of torture and cruel and degrading treatment and the fight against prejudices for sexual orientation. Another initiative came from the Special Secretariat for the Human Rights, launched on June 9, in the State Legislature of São Paulo, the Brazil Without Homophobia program, during solemn session where the legislative authorities from São Paulo celebrated the GLBT Pride Day on the solicitation of State Deputy Ítalo Cardoso [from PT].


I want this parade to result, as has been happening with other similar events, in peace and happiness, with a view to being an important sign of the increasing visibility of the homosexual movement and a sign of consequent gathering of forces in the fight against resistance and prejudice.


Receive my fraternal hug.


President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva [8]


Of course, the Lula support is not limited to words only. The Brazil Without Homophobia program counts on a federal budget of 125 million Real (about 60 million dollars) for 2006. For a nation that has experienced great economic hardship, such an amount is not insignificant. Gay parades, seen by the government as cultural events, also receive grants in the millions.


Such support has produced striking results. In 2005, Brazil was the world champion in gay parades. In 2006, the São Paulo gay parade was the largest in the whole world.


However, the Lula administration has not been aggressive only in its pro-homosexuality domestic push. It also has an international agenda, and it has shown its domestic policies to other nations. Before the United Nations General Assembly, Brazilian Ambassador Frederico Duque Estrada Meyer said Brazil had the program entitled Brazil Without Homophobia, which outlined actions to strengthen public and non-governmental institutions for combating homophobia; capacity-building for professionals involved in promoting the rights of homosexuals; disseminating information of rights and promoting homosexual self-esteem; and stimulating complaints on violations of rights”.[9]


In the Organization of the American States, Brazil introduced a resolution for the establishment of a future Inter-American Convention against Racism and All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance. The resolution was approved in 2005. Its most important ambition was its leading role in a world campaign, in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), to characterize any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation as violence against human rights.


During the April 2003 meeting of the UNCHR, the Brazilian government (supported by Canada and the European Union) introduced its Resolution on “Human Rights and Sexual Orientation.” This resolution recognizes homosexual conduct as a human right. Obviously, Brazil, Canada and the European Union knew that the great majority of international public opinion was against the attitude of giving special rights for individuals practicing homosexuality.


The resolution was a surprise to the Brazilian Congress in Brasilia, which learned about it only some time after the Brazilian delegation in the UN had already presented it. It was a surprise also to the evangelical leaders, for before the 2002 presidential elections, Lula had made the commitment in a meeting with important ministers and bishops not to let his government promote issues favoring abortion and homosexuality. Yet, the Brazilian delegation in the UN, which represents the Brazilian government’s interests and views, has defended just these issues, under a carefully veiled language of “reproductive rights” and “sexual orientation”.[10]


Representative Dr. Elimar Damasceno requested directly from the Brazilian government an explanation for its resolution in the UN. He noted that it “deals with a subject where there are no approved laws in our country and where there is no consensus in our society, because of its religious and cultural consequences”.[11] The Foreign Affairs Ministry in Brasilia officially refuted Rep. Damasceno,


...in response to your last question on “who has authorized the [Brazilian] representatives [in the UN] to present the mentioned Proposal of Resolution,” it is proper to point that... the politics of Brazil in the human rights issues are explicitly favorable to the promotion and protection of the minority rights. [12]