Author: Elida Miranda, Emilly Mel and Harley Henriques
We begin this text by saying that affirming the right to life is necessary, that initiatives to support and support existences are also necessary, initiatives that leave the paper and go beyond a speech. In a country marked by inequality and prejudice, who are the people who can live the right to life fully and integrally? When you are LGBTQIA+ in Brazil, the chances of you being killed or dying by suicide are greater than for the general population, just because you are who you are or express your sexuality. This is the result of necropolitics over LGBTQIA+ bodies, materialized through LGBTIQphobia, which selects who can live, but, in the same way, who should and can die.
When an internet video called “Trolling the mother I'm a lesbian horrorstory” went viral a few years ago, where a teenager “jokes” about coming out as a lesbian to her mother and, in addition to being furious, she almost violently attacks her at the breakfast table, having to be forcibly removed by her husband, we realized that a joke that seems silly to cisgender heterosexual people, costs the lives of many LGBTQIA+ people in this country. Here is the data that supports this statement: We are the country that kills the most trans people in the world, what kills the most LGBTQIA+ people, an LGBTQIA+ person is 3 times more likely to be killed in Brazil in addition to having a greater risk of suicide, in addition to the fact that in the pandemic the rate of violence against trans bodies increased by 33% and that the life expectancy of a trans person in Brazil is 30 years old. Against facts, there are no arguments, that's what an old saying goes. However, even with facts, the fight is still for life.
Looking at this data, the feeling that can be felt is that this is fateful and nothing can be done. However, it is at this moment that the reader is mistaken. There is a lot of (re)existence and LGBTQIA+ lives are inventive! And combined with this, comes the question that we are not alone, that we are not alone. There is a text by Angela Davis that proposes that we should rise as we climb. He reveals to us how we should help each other, hold hands and lift each other up. When the idealization, and soon after the implementation of the Positive Fund's LGBTQIA+ Fund, came to light, the feeling was the same: of rebuilding ourselves as we rise, or as the theme of the fund itself highlights: of (RE)existing!
The LGBTQIA+ Fund was born from a Fundo Positivo meeting held in 2018 with the main LGBTQIA networks in that country, where they already affirmed and endorsed the Fundo Positivo as a great ally and support force for the LGBTQIA+ movement in Brazil. What happened then was to consummate this partnership in an integrated and real way, obtain financiers, launch a notice and wait for Civil Society Networks and Base Organizations to access this notice and join the LGBTQIA+ Fund, not only on this journey, but also in the same way, in a fruitful partnership. Currently, in addition to the Networks and CSOs, there are 15 projects covered from all regions of the country, and even entering the interior of Brazil.
December 10th is International Human Rights Day
December 10th is remembered as a day to allude to and commemorate “International Human Rights Day”, as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created and adopted by the UN in 1948. In its more than 30 articles, the declaration highlights rights that guarantee the necessary dignity for people to live: freedom, education, health, culture, information, adequate food and housing, respect, non-discrimination, among others.
Observing the proposal of the LGBTQIA+ Fund, it is clear that it is in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as based on a specific notice for this population, we aim, through project financing, for the rights mentioned above to become real and accessible. and not vilified by this population. That these rights are not just a signed agreement, but that they materialize in the sphere of life and real existence of LGBTQIA+ people in Brazil.
As the title clearly states, (Re)existence has become a political act not only for life but also for resistance to the daily genocide of this population, and the LGBTQIA+ Fund, a strategic part of the Positive Fund, not only supports but also finances this idea.
Emily Mel Fernandes de Souza, master in Psychology from the Postgraduate Program in Psychology at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, where she also studied Psychology. It is part of the Atransparência/RN association, linked to the fight for citizenship of trans people from Rio Grande do Norte. She is currently Coordinator of the LGBTQIA+ Fund (Positive Fund). She is a trans person and is the first to graduate from the undergraduate and Master's degrees in Psychology at UFRN.
Harley Henriques do Nascimento, founder and General Coordinator of Fundo Positivo, activist in the area of HIV/AIDS for 30 years, when he founded Gapa BA. Business administrator, with a master's degree in Management and Sustainability for Civil Society Organizations from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). Ashoka fellow and leader Avina. He has worked in the field of resource mobilization for civil society organizations for over 20 years.
