Brazil's new right-wing President Jair
Bolsonaro has removed government infrastructure that handled LGBT
issues.
According to the
AP, Bolsonaro acted just hours after his inauguration, signing an
executive order that removed LGBT concerns from being considered by a
new human rights ministry. Bolsonaro named no other federal agency
to take over such issues.
Bolsonaro, who once proclaimed himself
to be a “proud homophobe” and campaigned on a pledge to defend
“the true meaning of matrimony as a union between man and woman,”
was sworn in on January 1.
President Donald Trump tweeted his
congratulations. “The U.S.A. is with you!” he messaged.
Damares Alves, an ultraconservative
evangelical pastor, has been appointed as human rights minister.
“There will be no more ideological
indoctrination of children and teenagers in Brazil,” Alves told the
AP, referring to the new administration's policies.
Symmy Larrat, an LGBT activist, told
the AP: “The human rights ministry discussed our concerns at a body
called secretariat of promotion and defense of human rights. That
body just disappeared, just like that. We don't see any signs there
will be any other government infrastructure to handle LGBT issues.”
Scores of gay and lesbian couples
rushed to marry ahead of Bolsonaro's inauguration.
(Related: In
Brazil, gay couples worry incoming administration will strip away
marriage rights.)