RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Thousands of partygoers gathered along Copacabana Beach Sunday for Rio de Janeiro’s annual parade, many scantily clad and covered in glitter.
Rainbow-colored flags, towels and fans were in abundance among the crowd of mostly young people who danced and sang along to the music blaring from the speakers.
Although the atmosphere was festive, some spoke about the threat of violence faced by LGBTQ+ people in Brazil.
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“As the sister of a trans woman, I am terrified,” says Helen Karajá, a 32-year-old bisexual artist.
At least 230 LGBTQ+ Brazilians were victims of violent deaths in 2023, according to the umbrella watchdog group Observatory on LGBTI+ Deaths and Violence in Brazil.
And according to Transgender Europe, a network of global nonprofits that tracks the data, more transgender people — 100 — were murdered in Brazil last year than in any other country.
Certainly, life for gays is safer now than before, says Carlos da Cunha, a 71-year-old hairdresser.
“In the past, people had to go to ghettos to meet people because you couldn’t just be anywhere,” says da Cunha. “Now we can walk down the street without being attacked, without being insulted or humiliated.”
One of the themes of this year’s pride march was sustainability. “Environmental justice will only be possible with racial and social justice, gender equality and sexual diversity,” read a banner attached to a truck.
Brazil has suffered a series of environmental disasters this year, including record droughts in the Amazon rainforest, floods in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul and forest fires across the country.
“If we can’t respect the environment, how can we respect others?” said Alexia Soutinho, a 23-year-old student who identifies as pansexual and lives in the Cidade de Deus favela.
