How far does our LGBT flag go?
When we swing it in the streets, we ask for respect and, above all, rights – so that we can safely (I said safety ), living in society.
But how much attention does this flag really get?
Undoubtedly, we go further when those who carry it have conquered a place in politics and are willing to claim even the basics, which should already be guaranteed by law.
This year we took an important step in these elections.
The country elected a record number of candidacies declared to be part of the community for the different spheres of the Legislative Power in Brazil.
In all, there are 18 parliamentarians – 13 state deputies, 1 district deputy and 4 federal deputies (the latter, all women).
That means double (I said the double ) of candidates elected in 2018.
According to the NGO VoteLGBT , which mapped both candidacies and elected positions, we also achieved a new record: gender and race among all elected candidacies in our community. 16 are women. Of these, 14 are black.
But have you stopped to think about the importance of minority groups, like us LGBTs, in politics?
“Without diversity there is no democracy”
The short and meaningful phrase is from Evorah Cardoso member of VoteLGBT.
We can’t trace any more in-depth history, but we need more LGBTS, women, blacks and indigenous people making legislation. When we talk about the LGBT population, this is even more serious because the National Congress has never passed any law favorable to the LGBT population. All rights were conquered through court decisions: such as the criminalization of LGBTphobia, the right to marriage, the right to a name.
Evorah Cardoso, member of the NGO Vote LGBT
We still fight for the basics. Laws that can effectively protect us. And the way to conquer more rights is only one: electing representatives who know our pains closely.
And it’s been remarkable for the community.
In these elections we had a significant increase, the LGBT Vote announced that there are 18 LGBT people who were elected, 5 of them trans women and two cisgender gay men, so this is a significant moment for all of Brazil
Renan Quinalha, CNN expert on human rights and diversity
And in these numbers that only make us proud, two trans women make history. Duda Salabert (PDT-MG) and Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP) are the first trans parliamentarians of the National Congress. By the way, Erika Hilton hit yet another historic milestone: she was elected among the 20 most voted for the Chamber of Deputies, occupying the 17th position with 256,903 votes .
Yup. We exist and occupy spaces.
“The LGBTQIA+ representation in these elections demonstrates the strategy that has been designed since 2014, when work began on the 2016 campaign. We had in our heads the idea that we would need to occupy these spaces.” The idea that is working has the help of Keila Simpson president of ANTRA, National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals.
For these trans people, elected to the National Congress for the first time in history, it will not be an easy act, nothing has ever been easy for us. They know they will face many challenges and we will be here in support. If this country is a democratic country, it has to give all the people who live in that country a chance to run for elective positions and the highest positions as well.
Keila Simpson, President of ANTRA, National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals
The number of candidates also made history in these elections. There were 317 LGBTs in the dispute for the positions.
This also proves that there is a political space being opened more and more and with a focus on these changes for us to occupy more and more of this space: national politics.
Considering all Legislative, Executive, Federal, Municipal, State and Union positions, which are the result of elections, LGBTs occupy only 0.16% of political positions. And it won’t be 9 more elected candidates that will change this national proportion. So we have a way to go.
Keila Simpson, President of ANTRA, National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals
The path is long and full of difficulties. But nothing that overcomes the daily battle that we, the LGBTQIAP+ community, need to fight to survive and excel in the most diverse areas of our lives.
So it is certain that one day we will get there.
- Production: Letícia Brito and Talita Amaral
Source: CNN Brasil
