Duda Salabert (L) and Erika Hilton. (Screen captures via campaign videos)
Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers will be on assignment in Brazil through Oct. 11.
BRASÍLIA, Brazil | Two transgender women won Oct. 2 seats in the Brazilian Congress.
Voters in São Paulo elected Municipal Councilwoman Erika Hilton, a Black travesti and former sex worker who is a member of the leftist Socialism and Liberty Party. Voters in Minas Gerais state elected Belo Horizonte Municipal Councilwoman Duda Salabert, who is a member of the leftist Democratic Labor Party.
Salabert in a video she posted to her Twitter account noted she received the highest number of votes for any congressional candidate in Minas Gerais’ history. Salabert also highlighted she received death threats during her campaign.
“I am the first trans person elected to the National Congress,” she said. “We won the election, despite the attacks from leftists, attacks from Christian fundamentalists and death threats from the extreme right.”
Sou a 1ª Trans eleita do Congresso Nacional! A Deputada Federal mais votada da história de M.G ! Mesmo com ataques de setores da esquerda, ataques dos ciristas e das ameaças de morte da extrema direita, ganhamos a eleição! pic.twitter.com/AQXfEhK9nW
— Duda Salabert 1212 (@DudaSalabert) October 3, 2022
Hilton also received threats during the campaign.
“Erika and Duda showed true courage in their campaigns for Congress,” said LGBTQ Victory Institute Global Programs Director Alhelí Partida in a press release.
Hilton and Salabert are two of the 324 openly LGBTQ candidates who ran in the presidential, congressional and state legislative and governor elections. Eighteen of them, including Hilton and Salabert, won their respective races.
Fábio Félix, an openly gay member of the Socialism and Liberty Party, who is a member of the Federal District’s Legislative Chamber, won re-election with the highest number of votes of any of the candidates running for seats in the body that governs Brasília, the country’s capital. Eduardo Leite, the openly gay governor of Rio Grande do Sul who is a member of the Social Democratic Party, will face off against Onyx Lorenzoni, a member of President Jair Bolsonaro’s right-wing Liberal Party who is his former chief-of-staff, in an Oct. 30 runoff.
“While we hope their success is a sign of better days, Brazil remains an incredibly tough place to engage as an out leader – where homophobia, transphobia, death threats and worse are common,” said Partida. “In 2018, we lost one of our own, Rio de Janeiro Councilwoman Marielle Franco, assassinated by anti-LGBTQ and anti-women attackers. While her loss continues to be devastating, she has become an icon and the fuel needed to inspire more courageous LGBTQ Brazilians to raise their voices.”
Bolsonaro will face off against former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Oct. 30.
