Brazil Creates National LGBT Council

Brazil already provides free SRS for its trans citizens, so it wasn't surprising to hear that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Human Rights Secretary Paulo Vannuchi signed a December 9 decree creating the National LGBT Council.

The newly created National LGBT Council will "formulate and propose guidelines for government actions, at the national level, aimed at combating discrimination and promoting and defending the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transvestites and transsexuals." 

The National LGBT Council is comprised of employees of 15 governmental organizations and representatives of 15 non governmental organizations and was an outgrowth of the deliberations following the June 2008 National LGBT Conference.   A National Plan To Promote LGBT Citizenship and Human Rights was also compiled with 166 recommendations made to implement the national plan to improve the lives of GLBT Brazilians

The Brazilian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Association  (ABGLT)  welcomed the news of the council's formation.

"The creation of the council is something ABGLT has been pressuring for and is a victory for civil society and the Lula government," said Toni Reis, president of the otrganization. "It shows respect for the deliberations of the 1st National LGBT Conference, held in June 2008, and will be a means of ensuring social watch over the implementation of the 166 actions contained in the National Plan to Promote LGBT Citizenship and Human Rights."

Glad to hear that at least one nation on the planet is motivated to protect the human rights of its GLBT citizens.    

Meet Lea T, Another Out Trans Model

Trans models aren't unique to the fashion world. Ask Caroline Cossey, Lauren Foster, Teri Toye, Jenny Hiloudaki and Tracy Africa Norman.

Tracy was doing her modeling thang back in the 70's but wasn't getting the news coverage as a trans pioneer.

Isis King has the looks and potential to get to that level if she's only given the opportunity to walk on New York runways. But even cis African American women have trouble cracking the vanilla ranks of the runways, and I'm willing to bet that next month's fashion shows in New York and elsewhere will see disproportionate numbers of Eastern European glamazons on the catwalks.

Now comes word that Givenchy has a trans model in their fall campaign and the media is all over it.

But Brazilian model Lea is just part of a long line of glamorous trans women who have been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right moment in time.

28 year old Lea happens to be the personal assistant for Givenchy's creative director Riccardo Tisci, and modeled at Givenchy's haute couture show.

Requests for her shot through the roof and she's about to get her opportunity at becoming a trailblazer. She'll have the choice of either making it to supermodel status like fellow Brazilian Gisele Bundchen or not because she's studying veterinary medicine in Milan.

Whatever Lea decides, her opportunity to do so will come under the unblinking eyes of media scrutiny.

A Movie That Doesn't Tick Us Off- 'Paulista'

Note to Israel Luna: a movie opened in an LA film festival recently that will give you more than a clue about the proper way to represent transpeople in film.

Lost in the uproar about TOTWK is the opening of a movie featuring a trans character that unlike that jacked up film, has garnered rave reviews. It also features 'gasp', a transwoman actress playing her transwoman character in a non-stereotypical fashion.

The Brazilian made movie directed by Roberto Moreira is called 'Paulista'. Ir focuses on the lives and exploits of several young people living in a Sao Paulo apartment building and looking for love.



One of the interesting characters in 'Paulista' is played by transwoman Maria Clara Spinelli.

She plays an attorney named Suzana, who tentatively begins to open her heart to another attorney named Gil at her firm. But she faces the 'when do I tell him' dilemma common to all transwomen who find themselves falling in love with cismen.

Once she does, Gil has a hard time getting past her trans status and allowing himself to fall in love with the person in front of him.

Spinelli has gotten rave reviews for her portrayal of Suzana on the film festival circuit and even picked up a best actress award in the process.

Wouldn't it be nice if more US filmmakers actually hired trans actors to play transpeople in films as has been done in other nations?

It's the reason I want to see 'Stealth' when it finally gets released.

But I'm digressing. If 'Paulista' hits my local indie film theater back in H-town, I'm definitely planning on seeing it.

Drama At The Miss Brazil Gay 2009 Pageant

One of the many reasons I love GLBT pageants is that some of the contestants will be drop dead gorgeous, the talent numbers make the cis pageants look tame by comparison, and every now and then you get some serious sore loser drama.

At this year's Miss Brazil Gay 2009 pageant, winner Ava Simoes had her wig and tiara snatched off her head by Miss Sao Paulo while doing a television interview.



I guess Miss Sao Paulo was really pissed about losing.

Talk about embarrassing for the reigning queen. But that's why you obey the first commandment of pageantry: Thou shalt secure thy wig so it won't come off.

Introducing Faiza

I wrote a post a few days ago in which I asked the question, where are the positive Black Brazilian transpeople?

Well, ask and ye shall receive. Gina sent me the link to Dr. Lynn Conway's (love her) TS Successes website (although it's noticeably thin on African American transpeeps) that featured Faiza's story.

She's a woman after my own heart as a TK (teacher's kid). She's an English teacher in Brazil and I'm looking forward to one day getting to know her.

Where Are The Positive Black Brazilian Transwomen Role Models?

Brazil has a population of African descended people of about 100 million, which is more than the combined population of African descended people in the Caribbean, the US, Canada and Central America.

Based on Lynn Conway's 1/250 ratio of transgender births the estimated potential population of Black Brazilian transsexuals in Brazil is 400,000. But most of the transwomen that we've heard about who have garnered international attention from Brazil are people such as Roberta Close or recently Patricia Araujo, who just walked the runway at a Rio fashion show.

Unfortunately it seems as though the same pattern that we have of invisibility of Black transpeople in the United States has replicated itself in Brazil. Yeah, you see Black transpeople in Brazil, but unfortunately, just like what happened here in the States, they are disproportionately the subjects of adult websites.

So the question I ask as a concerned citizen of the Diaspora, where are the Brazilian transwomen of African descent who are positive role models? Where are the ones who have transitioned and are contributing to Brazilian society and why haven't their accomplishments and achievements been told to the rest of the world?

I know they must exist, it's just they haven't had their moment in the media sun yet.