New Brazilian President attacks LGBTI rights on first day in office
Image: Image: Marcelo Camargo/Ag锚ncia Brasil, licensed under Creative Commons 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has used his first day in office to issue executive orders targeting the environment, the indigenous population, descendants of slaves, and the LGBTI community.
The far-right former army captain, whose inauguration has seen a spike in the local stock market after new cabinet ministers promised to loosen gun control laws and privatise state-owned companies, was also criticised for restrictions placed on the press during his inauguration, .
Confirming fears expressed by LGBTI Brazilians that the new administration would roll back their rights, signed an executive order which removed LGBTI concerns from the responsibilities of the Human Rights Ministry, and failed to transfer the responsibility to another agency.
LGBTI advocate Symmy Larrat responded to the order, saying she wasn鈥檛 expecting reasonable treatment from the Bolsonaro government.
鈥淭he human rights ministry discussed our concerns at a body called secretariat of promotion and defense of human rights. That body just disappeared, just like that. We don鈥檛 see any signs there will be any other government infrastructure to handle LGBT issues,鈥� she said.
The new Minister of Human Rights Damares Alves, an evangelical pastor, has said Brazilian families are being 鈥渢hreatened鈥� by diversity policies.
鈥淭he state is lay, but this minister is terribly Christian,鈥� she said during her first address as a minister.
鈥淕irls will be princesses and boys will be princes. There will be no more ideological indoctrination of children and teenagers in Brazil.鈥�
that the new Minister of Education, Ricardo V茅lez Rodr铆guez, would dismantle a secretariat focused on promoting diversity in public schools and universities to combat what he called the previous government鈥檚 focus on creating 鈥渟lave minds鈥� with 鈥渟ocialist domination鈥�, .
Rodr铆guez has been vocally critical of the undermining of 鈥渇amily values鈥�, saying that he won鈥檛 allow international agencies to influence Brazil with the 鈥渁ggressive promotion of gender ideology鈥�, .
LGBTI people across Brazil have expressed fears over what the Bolsonaro administration may do to their hard-won rights, with and many transgender Brazilians attempting to legally change their name and gender prior to his inauguration.
鈥淚 am scared,鈥� Carlos B., a 37 year old man from Rio de Janeiro, .
鈥淲e don鈥檛 know what is going happen. My husband is pushing to move out but I don鈥檛 want to leave my country.鈥�
Bolsonaro is a noted fan of Donald Trump, and the US President following his inauguration address.
Like Trump, Bolsonaro is known for improvising during public addresses, as he did during an inaugural speech when he reportedly omitted a passage promising to promote 鈥渞educing social inequality鈥�, which was included in the written remarks already distributed to the media, .
The new administration鈥檚 actions could have widespread consequences for a number of minority groups in the country as Bolsonaro continues to make good on his campaign promises.
One of the other executive orders he signed effectively halted the demarcation of land for indigenous communities, affecting native Brazilians and Quilombolas (as descendants of former slaves are known), and opening up the possibility of public land being allotted to private business or agriculture.
A network of local civil society groups, Observatorio do Clima, called the order 鈥渙nly the first step on meeting Bolsonaro鈥檚 campaign promises of dismantling environmental governance, stripping indigenous peoples of their rights and opening up indigenous lands for business.鈥�
These executive orders were all signed within hours of Bolsonaro鈥檚 inauguration.
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