Priscila, a 22-year old trans woman in Brazil (born Gustavo Brandão Aguilar), was captured on surveillance camera being shot seven times, execution style, earlier this month. It is — and I do not write this lightly, or with malice — to be expected in a country where a LGBT person is slain every other day. After shooting her, the suspects fled in a car. Police do not appear to have any significant leads. Her killing was followed, 20 hours later, by the murder of Valdecir. She was shot in the head and neck. THIS IS WHAT INTOLERANCE LOOKS LIKE:
cybernoelie
Shocking news from Brazil. It’s thanks to some very brave activists there that this news is getting out and thanks further to websites like Queerty that make it an issue for all of us. Some ‘dignitary’ from Iran was interviewed in Brazil a few days ago and came out with unbelievable homophobic vitriol.
My Portuguese is crap but it looks like they arrested one person a couple of days ago:
http://www.em.com.br/app/noticia/gerais/2011/03/14/interna_gerais,215176/adolescente-suspeito-de-matar-travesti-e-detido-e-liberado-em-ribeirao-das-neves.shtml
kaderade
The story is important and yes Brazil’s number of gay related murders is tragic, but I do not believe a photo of this poor woman being splashed on this site furthers the cause. Really it’s tacky gossip column work and a disservice to her memory. Shame.
The sane Francis
Brazil, the #1 conservative fundamentalist Roman Catholic country in the world. It seems that trans-people/fems are the most at risk in Brazil, that many of the homophobic hate crimes target them? I know the conservative Latin communities are very, very rigid when it comes to gender roles. In any case, this is an absolutely awful issue and again shows that we, as a community, are under attack by homophobic forces worldwide and we need to stand up and be heard or these things will continue to happen unnoticed. Worldwide attention to this issue can definitely be the push to see greater protection for LGBT citizens in Brazil. And, they set up an emergency hotline for homophobia and are issuing a directive to stop homophobia in the country, so at least there seems to be a realization of the problem in Brazil.
My thoughts are with the two victims, so senseless. The photo of Valdecir should be shown when talking to people about homophobia and transphobia in Brazil and worldwide. Show people just how destructive and deadly LGBT hatred truly is.
The sane Francis
I think the photo should be shown, Kaderade. So her death isn’t in vain. So people truly recognize what is happening in Brazil, and so people can truly recognize what a serious issue LGBT hate is. THAT is the face of hate. It isn’t pretty, it’s gruesome and it’s emotionally wrecking. But it’s also a reality and something that we can’t run away from any longer.
AAA
Not to be a douche, but if the police have no leads, how can you automatically say this is homophobia? I realize that according to the linked story that a LGBT person is slain there every other day, but do you 100% know she was picked out just because she was transgender?
Pitou
GET RID OF THAT FUCKING PICTURE!!
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME QUEERTY?
Thanks for posting a photo of a dead body without any warning. You’ll surely receive lawsuits from this.
This site becomes fucking garbage more and more each and every day!
Kieran
After Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago was brutally beaten to death by white men in 1955 Mississippi, his mother wanted the black newspapers in Chicago to show the photo of his horribly beaten face so that “the whole world can see what they did to my son”. That grisly photo galvinised an entire generation of young blacks to fight back against racism. Maybe tragic pictures like this can serve a similar purpose.
growup
Show the photo.. why not.. grow up.. why not, so you can feel safe, …. its just like the media not showing the dead bodies returning from war, so we don;t get upset. (we should to push for an end to the war)… everything is so F*#(Y$ing PC
Shannon
May God Bless her!!!! Seriously…..I am so sad right now I literally can cry…DAMN. I wish she could have done the same to THEM…..but people you have to realize Brazil is VIOLENT and DANGEROUS AS HELL!!!!!!! YOU SEE ALL SORT OF MURDERS RIGHT IN THE OPEN….DEAD BODIES ON THE STREET….THEY ARE SICK OVER THERE! STAY AWAY!
Tori
Why is her birth name relevant? Whenever you guys to do a story on trans people , like every other blog or news outlet you post their birth names when it has 0 to do with the story.
Justin Torregano
I don’t think it is appropriate to have a photo of her dead body posted–especially without warning.
If seeing it is at all upsetting to us, one can only imagine how painful it would be for one of her friends, or family members, to come across this posting and be confronted with such an image. I understand the desire to have the world acknowledge what intolerance can lead to. I’m also aware of the parallels that have already been drawn in these comments between this tragedy and that of Emmett Till. The key difference between the 2 is that it was the sole decision of Till’s mother to make images of his body public.
Is there any certainty that Valdecir’s family/loved ones would consent to this? It seems to violate her dignity to decide for her that her last public image will be a photo of her dead body. Surely the intention may be to unite people against hatred, but maybe in this case, the community should be considered second to the individual.
She’s already been victimized. She was murdered. Others decided for her how she would die. Now, others are deciding for her in what manner she will be remembered.
Corrinne
I completely agree with the picture being up. I am a straight woman, and I cannot possibly feel what an LGBT person feels upon hearing/seeing this kind of thing. But for me, it made the issue much more real. I care a lot about this community and do whatever I can to help further your rights.
The picture, to me anyway, just made a much deeper impact. It’s sometimes easy to forget about things like this when I’m going about my daily life. But seeing things like this keeps it much more in the front of my mind, which I appreciate. It hits much deeper than just reading the story and makes a much larger impact.
This is inappropriate.
@Justin Torregano:
Agreed. 100%
How can you post that picture without warning?
People here are arguing FOR that picture being here cause it makes the story “More real.” How about how real it feels for the victims friends and family?
I’m sure both the victim and her close friends and family are thrilled the image of their loved one spreading through out the net isn’t one in which she is shown happy or beautiful. But with gunshot wounds in her head.
I am officially quitting Queerty. It has become the gay, Fox News.
Fear, Fear, Hate, Fear.
Ironically, it’s not the stories reported here, but the manner in which they are presented, which makes me weep for the future of the LGBT community.
You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Lefty
It’s a shame some feel more angry about Queerty posting a photo than they do about the fact that this kind of incident is such a regular occurrence in Brazil.
They need to be reported again and again and the full effect of what is happening in places like this needs to be shown and spoken about again and again.
customartist
I plan on showing the photo to everyone I meet.
Zoe Brain
If I see just one comment saying LGB issues are different from T ones, and they shouldn’t “ride on LGB coat-tails”…. as I’ve seen so many times on this site… I may just lose my cool.
GeriHew
It is really quite wrong to call these crimes homophobic. If a trans person is murdered for being trans that is transphobic murder.
Transsexual is not a sexual orientation. It’s about gender identity, and that is why transgender is now the more accepted term. Trans people can be straight, gay/lesbian, bisexual, or asexual even, just like anybody else.
The men who murdered Priscila could be gay. Some gay men really hate transwomen.
Generalizations
@Shannon: I just returned from Brazil and no, you do no see dead bodies in the street. It is far from the “sick” country you are describing. These deaths are tragic and homophobia and transphobia should be fought all over the world, but don’t generalize an entire country the size of the United States.
Andrew
@GeriHew: True, and it’s good to make this distinction. However, the crime could certainly have been motivated by homophobia if the attacker perceived her as a gay man.
It’s good that Queerty is showing this picture. We don’t need to feel safe and sheltered from horrible news. Mainstream news should follow suit.
Joseph
Great that this crucial issue is getting some attention. But if you’re outraged, horrified, or pissed off about this, please take a moment to take action, this video is actually part of a campaign developed in collaboration with activists in Brazil, to pressure the Brazilian president to support a Hate Crimes / Anti-Homophobia law that is being debated in Parlament (legislation that is actually much more ambitious than anything that exists in the US on the national level). Sign the petition here and spread the word:
http://www.allout.org/priscila
gina
Last time I looked, it’s not lesbians, transmen and bisexuals being murdered in Brazil. The overwhelming majority of those murders are of transwomen… women who can’t get employment in Brazil because they’re so ostracized by their families and communities and turn to sexwork. So, enough with saying LGBT, let’s call it who it really is and impacts… trans women and femme gay men.
Ken
Would it kill you to at least post a warning about your insensitive choice of photo? (No, the capslock caption doesn’t count.)
poiuy trewq
Claiming this as homophobia because of her possibly being perceived as a gay man, and pushing for the anti-homophobia bill seems like exploitation. This is an issue with transphobia and anti-transphobia measures should be taken.
gina
And btw, Queerty, printing the birth names of trans victims is another form of violence.
Kev C
@gina: That is what the data tells us.
1 Transgendered, typically MtoF
2 Gay male, typically “femme”
3 Lesbian, typically “butch”
In order, these are the types are most often murdered. Somewhere on earth today, one or more of these will be murdered. And we know this, not from news reports but from police records. Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, or any country that has high levels of crime and poverty.
If you live in a high crime/poverty area anywhere in the world, and are one of these types, you are in danger. Those are the facts.
missanthrope
@gina:
This 100% truth Gina.
Arianna D.
This is a most horrible violation of human rights and sanctity of life due to rampant transphobia.
The perpetrators deserve the exact same thing to happen to them as well as physical castration.
This is not only misogynist violence toward women, its inhuman genocide of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and the transsexual/transgender allies. Sadly, Brazil, South American and Central American countries (a host of other countries too) are well known for minimizing the murders of trans-WOMYN, lesbians and feminine gay males.
GeriHew
@Andrew: It’s true that homophobia could well be a motive for murdering a transwoman, but wrong to assume that it has to be. And that is what I fear the Brazilian police may be doing.
It’s wrong to assume all transphobic murders are also homophobic murders. Wrong to assume a transphobic murder couldn’t possibly be committed by someone who is gay, lesbian or bisexual – sadly.
Penny Sautereau-Fife
Is there any particular reason praytell why you violate the sanctity of her identity in death by needlessly posting her male birth name which has ABSOLUTELY NO GODDAMN BEARING WHATSOEVER on the story at hand?
sdyue
I am a Wolffian SEXED (de-Müllerianized) Female, much like Priscila, although she may have transitioned with full Re-Müllerianization Surgery or not (to a Neo-Müllerian Sex), she’s still FEMALE.
A Law that addresses only Lethal Homophobia, will simply leave Lethal Transphobia in place, and ignorant folks will still be free to do to other Wolffian (de-Müllerianized) Females or Re-Müllerianized Neo-Müllerian Females as they did to Priscila.
Meanwhile the vast majority of humanity who are Müllerian (de-Wolffianized) Females and Wolffian (de-Müllerian) Males are taught they are all distinctly and only singularly ‘either/or’ Müllerian SEXED or Wolffian SEXED, instead of Müllerian SEXED AND Wolffian SEXED in their pre-birth state.
All humans are fully encoded genetically BI-SEXED: Müllerian AND Wolffian.
Also, Müllerian (de-Wolffianized) Males are aware what Wolffian Females go through, but blend much better amongst Wolffian Males, so often go undetected in the general population, unlike unfortunate Wolffian Females who more often stand out.
Even if Brazil is ‘more open’ to LGBT ‘in general’, all LGB&S (S=Straight) still remain woefully in the dark about human SEX systems, even though doctors ‘know’, but are afraid to speak up.
And this ‘doctors know but remain silent’ aspect is true worldwide… isn’t it about time schools be updated on ‘Sex Ed’ and ADD ‘Gender Ed’ too?
Imagine all the ignorantly cruel humans who are just as Müllerian-Wolffian endowed, and have ONE particular Brain Gender Identity having the desire to kill, mutilate, snuff out others who are equally Müllerian-Wolffian endowed, but have a different Brain Gender as themselves. That kind of ignorance should be addressed, so folks do not treat others as ‘deviant’ when all they are in fact are a variation of a very diverse humanity.
Müllerian-Wolffian based system for DUAL-POTENTIAL SEXES (Two Sets):
http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/En/HowTheBodyWorks/SexDevelopmentAnOverview/SexualDifferentiation/Pages/DuctDifferentiation.aspx
2009 MAY
Brain Gender Identity [BGI] – a presentation by Dr Sidney Ecker, MD FACS (MS Power Point):
http://cs.anu.edu.au/~Zoe.Brain/BGI%203.3.2.ppt
SS/XZ
nel
don’t be so naive! there certainly was homophobia. some men have a huge intolerance for feminine gay men.