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RIP Jessica Ananias | Photo: Facebook
A trans woman was gunned down in Brazil last night (2 July).
Jéssica Ananias was shot in the head outside a bar in the Entroncamento sector in Araguaína, in central Toncantins.
She was killed by a client, according to local media.
Friends told military police she was a sex worker.
Trans woman killed in Brazil
A frequent customer, who arrived at the scene on a black motorcycle, accused her of stealing his phone.
When Ananias said it was stolen by someone else, the shooter then demanded her phone.
When she refused, he shot her in the head.
No one has been arrested.
World’s most ‘dangerous place to be transgender’
Brazil is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be transgender.
Research regularly puts it as the country with the highest numbers of trans murders.
A recent study released in June found Brazil registered 141 murders of LGBTI people so far in 2019
There are signs of progress, but also signs of a downturn, of LGBTI rights in Brazil.
Brazil makes homophobia and transphobia a crime
The Brazilian Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in June that homophobia and transphobia should be criminalized.
Eight out of 11 justices voted to treat homophobia in the same way as racism under Brazilian law until the country’s Congress can pass a new law.
Brazil elected homophobic politician Jair Bolsonaro as president this year.
Known for his far-right policies and anti-LGBTI, misogynistic, and racist comments, some people call Bolsonaro ‘the Trump of the Tropics’.
LGBTI activists have warned Bolsonaro will usher in a new wave of terror for Brazil’s LGBTI community.
Many LGBTI Brazilians who said they were fearful for their rights and safety under the rule of the openly homophobic Bolsonaro.
‘I would be incapable of loving a homosexual child’ Bolsonaro once said.
‘If your son starts acting a little gay, hit him with some leather, and he’ll change his behavior’ he also said.
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