Protesters hold vigil in São Paulo in memory of Orlando massacre victims

A demonstration in the biggest Latin American city, São Paulo, paid tribute to the victims of the Pulse LGBT nightclub massacre in Orlando, US. With banners and candles, several people held a vigil for the people killed by the attack and remembered victims of homophobia around the world.

Called via social media, the Vigil for LGBTphobia Victims began at around 6pm. Psychology undergraduate Bruno Zaidan, 22, an activist with Juntos LGBT, said the Orlando massacre was “clearly motivated by LGBT hatred, something we see everyday in Brazil, where thousands of people are murdered for being LGBT.”

Maju Giorgi, a 50-year-old activist with Mães pela Diversidade (Mothers for Diversity), said other mothers were also at the demonstration to say “our children won't become statistics.” “We're so shocked, it could have happened to one of our children,” she told the reporter.

“Brazil is a world champion of homophobic killings. Last year, 315 LGBT people were killed,” she said. “We'll always feel deeply upset about it all, not only about the single episodes, and we'll be standing up against it all, because four times as many people as were killed yesterday are killed in a year here [in Brazil],” Maju said.

 
Translated by Mayra Borges