Brazil’s new fascist president, Jair Bolsonaro, wasted no time to crack down on minorities and signed executive orders targeting the queer community literally as fast as he possibly could. The ‘proud homophobe’ used his first day in office to sign the orders. They will affect queer people, indigenous groups and descendants of slaves.
Just hours after his inauguration Bolsonaro removed LGBTI issues from consideration at the new human rights ministry. He did not name another agency tasked to handle queer issues. The new human rights minister and former evangelical pastor, Damares Alves, has previously said ‘the Brazilian family is being threatened’ by inclusive policies.
“The state is lay, but this minister is terribly Christian,” she said in her first address as minister. “Girls will be princesses and boys will be princes. There will be no more ideological indoctrination of children and teenagers in Brazil.”
Bolsonaro’s actions against the queer community and other minorities come as no surprise. He has previously said he would rather have dead son than a gay son. He also said parents should beat their children back to being “normal” if they suspected them of being gay.