Brazil elects 20 LGBT+ people in the first round of the 2022 elections

Elections in Brazil have returned 20 out-LGBT+ candidates across all levels of government, news welcomed by the Global Equality Caucus as a significant milestone for LGBT+ representation in the country.

A record number of 356 LGBT+ candidates stood for the positions of councillors, governors, senators, state deputies and federal deputies, in nationwide elections held on Sunday 2 October. These brave candidates offered an historic and dignified campaign in the face of rising violence and discrimination against LGBT+ people.

The National LGBT+ Alliance Voto Com Orgulho (Vote with Pride) Program monitored the 2022 election process and identified 356 LGBT+ candidates. Of these, apart from the 20 who were elected, 233 (65 per cent) will serve as alternates.

GEC can confirm that - together with Voto Com Orgulho and other civil society groups - we will be holding an initial convening of new LGBT+ elected officials, to take place in November as part of the Pride Parade in Rio de Janeiro.

High profile LGBT+ candidates elected to office include Fátima Bezerra, who was re-elected as Governor of Rio Grande do Norte, as well as four federal deputies - Erika Hilton, Clodoaldo Magalhães, Daiana Santos and Duda Salabert.

Hilton and Salabert, the first two trans women elected to federal Congress, were among the 50 most-voted candidates in the country.

Numerous other LGBT+ candidates were successful at the state level, including several trans women.

For  Cláudio Nascimento, director of public policies of the National LGBTI+ Alliance, which is part of the Voto Com Orgulho Program team:

“Sunday's vote brought a very important new fact, that of electing, for the first time, trans people as federal deputies in the country that kills trans people the most in the world and an increase in the election of LGBT+ people, with prominence for lesbian, bisexual and trans women for the state legislature making possible greater representation in these spaces. However, the data also shows that the number of LGBT+ people elected compared to LGBT+ people who have come forward and the number of seats in the legislature is disproportionate and shows that we still have a lot to do. We have great difficulty in obtaining adequate support, resources and treatment within political parties, which undermines the political representation capacity of our community's rights agendas. But it is essential to celebrate the growth of our representation. "

Toni Reis, President of the LGBTI+ National Alliance, from the Voto Con Pride Program team, said:

"It is important to recognise the expressive choice of trans people for legislative positions and other LGBT+ people. This is an important and historic figure compared to the previous elections, but we must draw society's attention to the fact that prejudice still harms LGBT+ candidacies and the urgency for political parties to really value and support our candidacies. It is essential to have a quota of resources and television time so that this LGBT+ political representation is greater in the electoral process and in political parties. We will work with the chosen people so that we build strategies of visibility and political organisation so that in the next campaigns we have a greater representation. Thus, on November 25 and 26, we will hold in Rio de Janeiro, during the official programming of the 27th LGBT+ Pride Parade, the first meeting of LGBT+ people and allies elected in this campaign together with LGBT+ councillors, an alliance between the LGBT+ Citizenship Rainbow Group, the LGBTI+ National Alliance and the international organisation Global Equality Caucus."

The Program Voto Com Orgulho is a realisation of the National LGBTI+ Alliance, has the technical association of the Grupo Arco-Íris of LGBTI Citizenship+ and Grupo Dignidade, and has the institutional support of the Red Gay Latino, the Association of the LGBT Pride Parade of São Paulo, the Instituto Sinergia from Minas Gerais, Sleeping Giants, Transparência Eleitoral, Fonatrans - National Forum of Black Trans Persons and the Global Equality Caucus.