Brazil’s Homophobic President Cuts Funding for LGBTQ Movies

by Jeff Taylor

1h ago

Brazil’s self-described homophobic president, Jair Bolsonaro, has pulled funding for movies with LGBTQ themes and characters.

Bolsonaro said in a live stream last week that he would change the process for approving government-funded film projects, calling funding queer films “throwing money away.” This week, on Wednesday, the decision to suspend funding for up to 360 days was announced on the country’s official website, Reuters reports.

The decision means about R$ 70 million ($17.42 million) will be suspended, impacting approximately 80 screenplays, some of which include LGBTQ themes. The government will restructure the committee responsible for allocating funds.

“The first project he called out [during the live stream] was ours, and in such a pejorative and dishonoring way,” Emerson Maranhao told Reuters.

“It’s a surreal sensation. I don’t quite believe it yet.”

Maranhao’s project, Transversais, is a five-part documentary series about the life of five transgender people in Brazil. Bolsonaro also mentioned Afronte, a film series about gay black men living in Brazil’s capital, and two other screenplays.

Marcus Azevedo, one of Afronte’s directors, said he was “disgusted for having a president that is willing to censor cultural projects.”

Filmmakers affected by the move are planning to take legal action to block it.

Bolsonaro has said he would rather have a dead son than a gay one, started his administration by going after LGBTQ people and other minorities, has discouraged gay people from visiting Brazil, and said Brazil and the United States are united on “traditional families” and against “gender ideology” while standing next to President Donald Trump.