Lorran Oliveira was left beaten, humiliated, and was then arrested after he was attacked by a homophobic neighbor during an altercation, according to Pink News.
Oliveira and his boyfriend, Guilherme Ramos, were standing outside of their residence in Itaúna with his friends when a neighbor started mocking their gestures. Ramos confronted the neighbor who started screaming and eventually became violent. The neighbor’s brother-in-law pinned Oliveira down to the ground while the neighbor started pelting him with a broomstick. For what? Existing as a gay man in Brazil?
Oliveira had bruises on his torso and scratch marks on his face. His friend called the police who did nothing to stop the neighbor from hurling slurs at him. Oliveira was then arrested and was hurled into the back of the police van, while his neighbor and her brother-in-law sat in the front giving their testimonies to the police. Oliveira was treated like a criminal even though his friends and boyfriend pleaded against his arrest.
At the police station, he was handcuffed to an iron bar while the assailants stood at the front desk and provided their testimonies. Oliveira was released only when it was time for him to provide his testimony. This arrest left Oliveira “shaking, crying, and very afraid.”
Brazil’s state police agency, Polícia Militar, said about the two main individuals involved in the altercation that “they both claimed to have been victims of mutual aggression, they were taken to the municipal police station.” But who beat whom with a broomstick? Who pinned whom down to the ground?
Sadly, this is not at all surprising as we are aware that Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, is notoriously homophobic and has claimed to be proud to be so. Bolsonaro’s cruel criticism of LGBTQ most likely played a hand in this attack as Brazil was found to be the deadliest country for transgender people, Wouldn’t it stand to reason that that is most likely true for LGB people, too?
This incident is yet another spotlight on the bitter truth of the lives of LGBTQ people in Brazil – many people hold unwarranted animosity towards them which is neither right nor fair. Nobody should be afraid to just exist. Nobody should have to live in fear.
Source: Pink News