Brazil: A Town Off-Limits to Gays

It's the law in Bocaiúva do Sul, state of Paraná: gays cannot live
there. The city's mayor has just signed a decree banning
homosexuals from ever living in the town. Brazilian gay activists
are outraged and the city's prosecutor has already announced
that his office is weighing legal action against the mayor.

Ernest Barteldes

Over the last few years, we have heard a lot of progress coming from Brazil in what concerns equal civil rights for gay men and women, so it is quite surprising to hear that, last December 3rd mayor Élcio Berti of the small town of Bocaiúva do Sul (pop. 9,000) in the Southern state of Paraná signed a decree banning homosexuals from ever living in the town.

The controversial measure came after the PFL (conservative Liberal Front Party) mayor learned that a same-sex male couple had plans to move there, and that outraged the homophobic politician, who believes that the presence of homosexuals in town would be degrading to the city's morals.

"I have done this for the sake of our population's future. We are not going to allow our children to see two men kissing each other in the street", he said in an interview in the local press. In the decree, he states that the objective of the measure is to "preserve the respect to a nurturing family environment" in town.

The reaction to the measure was immediate. Local activist groups have already taken measures to thwart Berti's ban, who in the past tried to ban cigarettes and condoms in town, distributed Viagra and peanuts in order to increase the town's birthrate and announced plans to build a landing strip for extraterrestrial ships.

"This is a Nazi attitude", said Toni Reis, a member of the Dignidade (Dignity) group, one of various activist gay groups in the state of Paraná. "It is against the Federal constitution and every human rights treaty."

The complaints are not only coming from the activists. According to a recent Reuters report, Joel Carneiro da Silva, a prosecutor for Bocaiúva do Sul has announced that his office is weighing legal action against the mayor.

"In any case, the decree is unconstitutional, null and void. The prosecutor's office is evaluating the situation and possible charges against the mayor," he told Reuters.

"I'm afraid there are so many unconstitutional things going around the country", said Berti when asked about the matter. "I want discipline and respect for the population of the town."

A conviction on charges he discriminated against homosexuals—a punishable crime according to Brazil's constitution—could land the mayor in jail for up to four years and force him to leave office. Various e-mails to the mayor's office were not returned at the time of this writing.

Last Saturday, a group of gay activists led by Grupo Dignidade (The Dignity Group) traveled to the town to demonstrate against the mayor's decree.

"Apparently, he did it to draw media attention, as he has done in the past with other odd things, but this time he messed with the wrong people and with the wrong subject," Roberto Kaiser, president of Inpar gay rights group told Reuters.

 

Ernest Barteldes is an ESL and Portuguese teacher. In addition to that, he is a freelance writer who has regularly been contributing The Greenwich Village Gazette since September 1999. His work has also been published by Brazzil, The Staten Island Advance, The Staten Island Register, The SI Muse, The Villager, GLSSite and other publications. He lives in Staten Island, NY. He can be reached at ebarteldes@yahoo.com