Lions of the North Gay Movement (Pernambuco State)

The Movement struggles for the recognition of the human rights and promotion of full citizenship for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transvestites, and transsexuals (LGBT), proposing public policies in the areas of education, health, culture, public security, environment, justice, and citizenship and contributing to the consolidation of democracy, reaffirming respect for free sexual orientation and gender identity.

Affiliated with ABGLT, the Brazilian Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Association, and ILGA, the International Lesbian and Gay Association, the movement also has a seat in the State Council for the Defense of Human rights and the Committee to Fight Human Trafficking.

The Movement has also participated in: drafting a municipal bill in Recife (16.780/2002) providing sanctions against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation; debates in teaching institutions, city councils, and the press; and training and follow-up for new gay groups in the interior of the State of Pernambuco.

The group is currently implementing the program Brazil without Homophobia, monitored by the Special Secretariat for Human Rights (SEDH), providing psychological and social support and legal aid for victims of homophobia, awareness-raising and capacity-building activities on free sexual orientation, and filing of complaints with law enforcement and other government agencies.

With the support of the Special Secretariat for Human Rights, the group is conducting the project Working with Differences is Promoting Education, through the State and Municipal school system in Recife. With funding from the Ministry of Culture, the group is conducting the Different Culture initiative, focusing on Theater of the Oppressed and Dance.

The Project

With the project “Prison Units without Homophobia, Lesbophobia, or Transphobia”, the Movement aims to significantly reduce the discrimination against LGBT inmates (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transvestites, and Transsexuals) in the prison units in Pernambuco.

The work is a continuation of the activities conducted since 2007 in the Women’s Penal Colony and the Professor Aníbal Bruno Penitentiary.

In the penitentiary, gays, bisexuals, and transvestites share cells, according to a prison administration policy. The so-called “Pink House” (as the pavilion painted this color is known) could potentially serve as an example of sensitivity towards the LGBT population, but its existence actually stems from the difficulty on the part of heterosexual inmates in sharing living spaces with homosexuals (resulting in numerous clashes and moral and physical aggression against gays, bisexuals, and transvestites, even to the point of sexual violence).

In the penal colony, verification of case files showed that the main problem is a latent deficiency in ensuring appropriate and timely hearings for inmates. Hearings are scheduled by the Pernambuco State Executive Secretariat for Resocialization (SERES).

The movement’s proposal is to change this situation by strengthening this population’s homosexual identity.

The proposed actions include: verification of relations between the prison units’ technical staff and inmates; monitoring compliance with the Penal Process Law, as well as the LGBT reality inside the units; preparing an in-depth diagnosis of issues related to family, social, and institutional homophobia; allowing moments for listening to, reflecting on, and working through improvements in human relations in the prison units, based on psychosocial intervention, with Healthcare and Comprehensive Citizenship Group Therapy; and developing orientation for the prevention of STD/HIV/AIDS, conducting various awareness-raising activities and distributing preventive materials.