Grupo Gay da Bahia, a gay rights advocacy group in Brazil, reports 338 murders of LGBT people in 2012 – meaning roughly one LGBT person is murdered every 26 hours in the South American nation.
The group estimates that Brazil is responsible for 44% of all homophobic murders in the world and the numbers from 2012 represent a 27% increase in murders from 2011.
According to the report, 188 gay men and 128 trans individuals — including 2 transsexuals killed in Italy — were murdered last year, with lesbians accounting for about 5% of all cases.
Of the 338 reported murders, only 89 assailants were found; the remaining 73% of cases saw no arrests.
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Murder in the Brazilian trans community is particularly high as trans people are often forced into prostitution to make a living.
Grupo Gay da Bahia maintains that their numbers are not completely accurate since gay-related hate crimes are not always reported. Brazilian activists are calling for tougher hate crime legislation and for both homophobic and transphobic attacks to be treated as seriously as those motivated by race.
MuscleModelBlog.com
I’m actually very surprised by this. According to Wikipedia, the Guinness Book of World Records considered the Sao Paolo Pride Parade to be the biggest in the world in 2006. I’ve always thought that Brazil was one of the more open South American countries…perhaps Brazil has a dark side…
Fael
@MuscleModelBlog.com: Not exactly, it’s like any other country, some states are more gay friendly while others not so much. These numbers were really high last year, but actions are being taken. São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are very receptive, for example, SP legalized gay marriage last Friday. Other countries are MUCH worse, as Russia and African countries.
jar
It would be interesting to know what percentage of the overall murder rate these incidents reflect. That would not diminish the shock and disappointment at this rate of crime for LGT Brazilians, but it may provide some additional perspective. Unfortunately, Brazil is a tough country, crime-wise, which is a shame because it is a beautiful country with a warm people.