Despite legal protections, Brazil can be one of the deadliest places in the world to be LGBTQ+.
Lorran Oliveria, a 21-year-old photographer, was arrested by police after he was beaten with a broomstick by neighbours who mocked him and his boyfriend.
In a Facebook post, he explained that he had recently moved house with his boyfriend to Itabuna in Bahia, a northeastern state in the country, and that his new neighbours continually mocked them with homophobic jibes.
On the day of the incident, (30 August), Lorran, his boyfriend and three friends were together, when a group of neighbours started mocking their “effeminate gestures.”
His boyfriend, Guilherme Ramos, had had enough and went to confront one of the neighbours, “questioning her if there was any clown there and if we were in a circus, and she was in a circus, and she was very arrogantly screaming.”
In an attempt to mediate the situation, Lorran intervened and put himself between the two, however he began arguing with the woman “and she uncontrollably assaulted me verbally and physically.”
He added: “At all times, I also suffered homophobia and the feeling was powerless, after all, if aggression was the other way around, I’m sure people’s attitudes would be totally the opposite.”
Speaking to G1 about the attack, he said: “She assaulted me. Other family members pushed me, several people in her family pushed me. There was physical as well as verbal aggression. Her brother-in-law always holding my hands.
“Everyone was outraged by this situation. It hit my chest, and it scratched my face. She even took a broomstick to attack me, but was prevented by a sister.”
After the attack, a friend called the police, and when they arrived, Lorran was still “shivering, crying and very afraid.” The police proceeded to handcuff Lorran, but not the woman who assaulted him.
Initially, police were going to put him in the back of a police van, but interventions from friends meant he was able to ride in the back of the police car with the woman who attacked him.
At the police station, he expected to give his testimony, but explained “that’s not what actually happened. They put me inside a room and I was handcuffed, that’s right… The victim was handcuffed! What about the perpetrator of the crimes? It stood in front of the reception with the same debauches my person.
“I gave my statement and was released with a guide to do the body scans of crime and asked me to wait for the process in justice.
“I know this won’t come to anything, but with the help of your shares, maybe I’ll get some lawyer who defends me and this horrible being pays for everything she did.”
He told G1 that he is now on medication, saying: “For homophobic crime we always go through, but physical aggression was the first time. I was never physically assaulted.
“My chest is bruised, my face has three huge scratches, my arm and rib. It’s hurting a lot. I’m taking medication. My face is badly hurt. It hurts a lot.”
He finished by saying: “All of this is very unfair, both with me and Guilherme. The people who have our rights.
“Be treated with normal people that we are. We want to survive, to be respectful. We just want it. That’s why I want to take the mess further. It can’t be like this. We are human beings.”
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