A light scar remains where the knife entered, nearly imperceptible now in the dimness of Viviany Beleboni's Sao Paulo apartment. Laser treatments have helped it fade.
The attack happened late one night last year. The 27-year-old transgender model was three blocks from her downtown apartment.
"It was people saying they belong to God," she says.
"Tranny," she remembers the assailants taunting. "You gay. You're making a mockery of God. You deserve to die."
They beat her and smashed her phone. She felt the slash of a blade on her left forearm before they fled, leaving her to bleed.
Despite its pink reputation for hosting the world's largest Pride festival in Sao Paulo, the nation long known for the glittering camp of its Carnaval celebrations has seen an alarming spike in violent homophobic and transphobic assaults over the last decade, according to human rights groups.
Against a backdrop of global tolerance and unity around this summer's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro — including at least two highly public same-sex marriage proposals following Olympic competitions — the alleged hate crimes are a jarring reminder of deep-rooted bigotry against sexual diversity in Brazil.
Brazil legalized same-sex marriage in 2013 and same-sex adoption in 2010. But analysts note that the progressive policies have been met with a hard pushback from groups believing the shift from traditional social mores has gone too far.
The anti-gay presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro, who approves of torture and endorsed beating children believed to be gay as a means of turning them heterosexual, has gained in popularity. The conservative congressman polled in fourth place in April, according to Foreign Policy.
A congressional bench known as the "BBB" faction — so called because the conservative legislators are primarily concerned with "beef, bullets and the Bible" — is made up of increasingly powerful politicians representing interests from pro-firearms groups, the farm lobby and evangelical Christians. Cont.
Story from - CBC News
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