Brazil will be joining countries around the world to criminalise discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender.
The Washington Post is reporting that majority in the country’s supreme court will be voting to make homophobia and transphobia crimes even though there are fears that the country’s right-wing president might roll back on the rights of LGBT people.
Six of the judges in the Supreme Federal Tribunal voted in favour and the 5 other judges will vote on the 5th of June. The results will not be changed and it will be implemented as soon as the justices have voted.
Reuters reported that the cases were brought by Brazilian rights group ABGLT and the Popular Socialist Party.
Currently, the senate is dealing will a bill that will criminalise discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity with sentences that might be up to 5 years in prison. The judges in the court ruled to frame the ruling like the country’s racism law that came into effect in 1989.
Homophobia is a major concern in Brazil even though same sex marriage is legal. LGBT watchdog group Grupo Gay de Bahia reported that in 2017, at least 445 LGBT Brazilians died as victims of homophobia – a 30% increase from 2016.
