Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court reportedly moved to make homophobic slurs punishable by imprisonment.
The 9-1 decision makes sexual orientation-based discrimination equal to racist hate speech,
Violators could reportedly receive a sentence between two and five years if convicted.
The history
In 2017, at least 445 LGBT Brazilians died “as victims of homophobia,” with 387 being murders and 58 considered suicides. In the same year, the country approved the use of “gay conversion therapy.”
And in 2019, the same court ruled that hate speech toward the LGBT community is a crime. Though this ruling did not cover specific individuals, the country currently enforces other hate speech protections for HIV-positive individuals that could carry a sentence between one and four years.
Article 20 of the Brazillian Penal Code states that practicing, inducing, or inciting discrimination “based on race, color, ethnicity, religion, or national origin” is punishable by one to three years in prison and a substantial fine.
Social media reaction to the ruling was mixed as commenters connected speech rights with LGBT advocacy.
“Brazil is a great country why would they do something like this?” a commenter asked on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
By BNN