With the Rio Olympics 2016 now here, what information is available about LGBT rights in Brazil? Certainly, Brazilian President Lula de Silva is highly gay-positive, but Brazil has a turbulent history, including recent military dictatorship (1964-1985). Despite the restoration of constitutional federal democratic rule in 1988, Brazil's military is still a law until itself. As for LGBT rights, Brazil's story is mixed. As long ago as 1830, when Brazil was still part of Portugal's colonial empire, Don Pedro I enacted an Imperial Penal Code which did not include 'sodomy.' In 1979, O Lampaio, the first gay Brazilian publication, emerged, and was followed by the formation of Grupo Gay de Bahia (1980) in Salvador, Bahia- this organisation still exists today. Shortly after the restoration of democracy, Mato Grosso and Sargipe became the first Brazilian constituent states to adopt anti-discrimination laws, in 1989. By 2007, Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro and seventy three other municipalities had adopted such legislation. The Brazilian states ofAlagoas,Amapá, Bahia, theBrazilian Federal District, Ceara, Espírito Santo, Goias,Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso del Sul,Maranhão, Minas Gerais,Pará, Paraiba, Paraná, Pernambuco, Piaui, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Rion Grande do Sul,Santa Catarina, Sao Paolo,Sergipe and Tocantins all have antidiscrimination legislation, but a federal antidiscrimination bill is still awaiting passage in the Brazilian Senate.G, Brazil's first home-grown gay porn magazine, opened in 1997. On paper, LGBT equality looks good. In 1995, Deputy Marta Suplicy proposed Bill Project No 1151, which would have arranged for civil unions. The bill has been stalled in Brazil's federal Congress since that time, although Rio Grande do Sol, Roraima and Puaui have all adopted state civil union legislation since 2004. In 2006, the first lesbian and gay male adoptions took place, in Cantandra, San Paolo and Grando do Sol. In that same year, President Lula de Silva inaugurated Brazil Against Homophobia. In 2007, the eleventh Sao Paolo Pride attracted almost four million participants. In 2008, Brazil held its first government-funded national LGBT conference. In 2010, the Superior Court of Justice acknowledged that LGBT couples have the right to adopt children. In 2011, the Supreme Federal Tribunal extended relationship related rights and obligations to LGBT Brazilian couples. In 2011, lower jurisdiction courts tentatively recognised marriage equality, leading to full recognition of marriage equality in the Brazilian Supreme Court in 2013. Brazil also recognises same-sex couple eligibility for immigration benefits. However, not all is rosy. While three-quarters of Brazil's population is Catholic, seventeen percent are fundamentalist Christians, which has caused some headaches. One obnoxious federal deputy, Edino Fonseca, is notorious for advocating federal funding for fundamentalist exgay programmes (2005) and banning reassignment surgery (2006). Poverty is rife, and Brazilian paramilitary groups carry out 'social cleansing' as they do elsewhere in America. According to the BBC, 2680 poor gay men and transwomen have died this way, as have countless street kids, beggars and vagrants. in 2008, a documentary,Sexuality and Hate Crimes,was released, specifically focusing on such carnage in Rio de Janeiro. Between 1980 and 2006, Brazilian LGBT rights campaigners estimate that 2690 LGBT Brazilians died in such attacks and that one hundred and twenty perish each year. However, this is not limited to impoverished LGBT Brazilians, as most independent authorities regard the national police force as violent, corrupt and unaccountable to civil authorities. Nor do state or federal antidiscrimination laws cover transpeople, resulting in considerable numbers of transgender sex workers. on the streets Public figures also face their share of animosity. In October 2004, lesbian Eulina Fernandes was eliminated from a northern Brazilian mayoral contest because she was having a relationship with her female predecessor. In November 2005, Globo television network deleted a gay kiss from the final episode ofAmerica,a popular soap opera. In June 2007, Richarlyson Felisbino, a Sao Paolo footballer, was outed on national television by the manager of a rival team. In January 2008, transwoman Roberta Goes and her partner were deprived of their adopted baby by a transphobic government official. Most significantly, two Brazilian Army personnel, Sargeants Fernando de Figuerido and Marinho de Araujo, have been repeatedly subjected to harrassment, prolonged imprisonment, torture, deprivation of medication and food by the military since they came out in the pages of Epoca magazine in June 2008. Brazil is a land of many paradoxes. Some are benign, others are sinister. It is a complex society and given its status as a rising global player, its LGBT policies will bear close scrutiny in times to come. Recommended: Clive Simmons: "Our Desperate Act"DNA106 (December 2008): 94-97: "Brazil's Troubled Road to Liberation" (97) "Sao Paulo holds Gay Rights Parade" BBC News: 11.06.2007:http://news.bbc. co.uk/2/hi/americas/6738905. stm What About Brazil?http://www. loveseesnoborders.org/brazil. html Grupo Gay de Bahia:http://www.ggb.org.br Wikipedia: LGBT rights in Brazil:http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Brazil Wikipedia: Human rights in Brazil:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Human_rights_in_Brazil Wikipedia: Law enforcement in Brazil:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Law_enforcement_in_Brazil Craig Young - 23rd July 2016