Homicide of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Travestis, Transexuals, and Transgender people (LGBT) in Brazil: a Spatial Analysis

Mendes, Wallace Góes; Silva, Cosme Marcelo Furtado Passos da

doi:10.1590/1413-81232020255.33672019

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ARTICLE • Ciênc. saúde coletiva 25 (5) • May 2020 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1413-81232020255.33672019 copy

Homicide of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Travestis, Transexuals, and Transgender people (LGBT) in Brazil: a Spatial Analysis

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Violence against LGBT people has always been present in our society. Brazil is the country with the highest number of lethal crimes against LGBT people in the world. The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of homicides of LGBT people in Brazil using spatial analysis. The LGBT homicide rate was used to facilitate the visualization of the geographical distribution of homicides. Public thoroughfares and the victim’s home were the most common places of occurrence. The most commonly used methods for killing male homosexuals and transgender people were cold weapons and firearms, respectively; however, homicides frequently involved beatings, suffocation, and other cruelties. The large majority of victims were aged between 20 and 49 years and typically white or brown. The North, Northeast and Central-West regions, precisely the regions with the lowest HDI, presented LGBT homicide rates above the national rate. LGBT homicides are typically hate crimes and constitute a serious public health problem because they affect young people, particularly transgender people. This problem needs to be addressed by the government, starting with the criminalization of homophobia and the subsequent formulation of public policies to reduce hate crimes and promote respect for diversity.

Key words
Homicides; LGBT people; Spatial analysis

Variables		Homicide
		Gender identity/Sexual Orientation
		Homosexual		Transgender		Other^* * Includes lesbians, heterosexuals wrongly taken to be homosexuals, and "T-lovers" (lovers/admirers of transgender people and travestis).		Total
		N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
Region	State capital	891	48.5	522	47.2	73	46.5	1486	47.9
Region	Smaller town/city	947	51.5	583	52.8	84	53.5	1614	52.1
Total		1838	100.0	1105	100.0	157	100.0	3100	100.0
Place of occurence	Home	791	47.5	170	17.3	49	33.6	1010	36.1
	Public thoroughfare	740	44.4	756	76.8	77	52.7	1573	56.2
	Private establishment	128	7.7	58	5.9	20	13.7	206	7.4
	Public establishment	8	0.5	-	-	-	-	8	0.3
Total		1667	100.0	984	100.0	146	100.0	2797	100.0
Type of weapon or method	Cold weapon	626	36.0	241	23.6	58	38.2	925	31.7
	Firearm	431	24.8	509	49.8	63	41.4	1003	34.4
	Beating	327	18.8	147	14.4	20	13.2	494	16.9
	Suffocation	243	14.0	66	6.5	6	3.9	315	10.8
	Other^ Other includes clubbing, stoning, decapitation, running over, impalement, drowning, poisoning, and torture.	114	6.5	59	5.8	5	3.3	178	6.1
Total		1741	100.0	1022	100.0	152	100.0	2915	100.0
Number of blows or shots	1	22	7.4	21	10.2	6	15.8	49	9.1
	2 to 5	146	49.2	117	57.1	23	60.5	286	53.0
	6 to 10	52	17.5	32	15.6	6	15.8	90	16.7
	> 10	77	25.9	35	17.1	3	7.9	115	21.3
Total		297	100.0	205	100.0	38	100.0	540	100.0
Victim's age group (years)	< 15	12	0.8	8	1.1	2	1.4	22	0.9
Victim's age group (years)	15 to 19	105	6.6	97	13.0	22	15.7	224	9.1
	20 to 29	382	24.2	369	49.5	58	41.4	809	32.8
	30 to 39	414	26.2	200	26.8	34	24.3	648	26.3
	40 to 49	372	23.6	66	8.8	14	10.0	452	18.3
	50 to 59	184	11.7	4	0.5	8	5.7	196	8.0
	> 59	110	7.0	2	0.3	2	1.4	114	4.6
Total		1579	100.0	746	100.0	140	100.0	2465	100.0
Victim's race or skin color	Branca	297	51.7	202	54.6	29	50.9	528	52.7
Victim's race or skin color	Parda	235	40.9	138	37.3	23	40.4	396	39.6
	Preta	42	7.3	30	8.1	5	8.8	77	7.7
Total		574	100.0	370	100.0	57	100.0	1001	100.0
Victim's profession	Professional with higher education, teacher or business person	477	44.4	16	3.6	14	31.8	507	32.4
Victim's profession	General services/self-employed	336	31.3	62	14.0	16	36.4	414	26.5
	Sex professional	22	2.0	353	79.5	-	-	375	24.0
	Student, retired, or unemployed	111	10.3	5	1.1	11	25.0	127	8.1
	Priest/religious affiliation	65	6.0	3	0.7	-	-	68	4.4
	Professional with 2º education	46	4.3	3	0.7	-	-	49	3.1
	Military member	15	1.4	-	-	3	6.8	18	1.2
	LGBT military member	3	0.3	2	0.5	-	-	5	0.3
Total		1075	100.0	444	100.0	44	100.0	1563	100.0
Perpetrator's age group (years)	< 15	4	1.2	-	-	2	1.4	6	1.1
	15 to 19	118	35.2	18	21.2	22	15.7	158	28.2
	20 to 29	158	47.2	43	50.6	58	41.4	259	46.3
	30 to 39	38	11.3	8	9.4	34	24.3	80	14.3
	40 to 49	14	4.2	11	12.9	14	10.0	39	7.0
	50 to 59	1	0.3	4	4.7	8	5.7	13	2.3
	> 59	2	0.6	1	1.2	2	1.4	5	0.9
Total		335	100.0	85	100.0	140	100.0	560	100.0
Perpetrator's profesion	Sex professional	36	48.6	6	26.1	3	50.0	45	43.7
	Military member	13	17.6	16	69.6	2	33.3	31	30.1
	Student, retired, or unemployed	12	16.2	-	-	1	16.7	13	12.6
	Professional (higher education)	7	9.5	-	-	-	-	7	6.8
	General services/self-employed	6	8.1	1	4.3	-	-	7	6.8
Total		74	100.0	23	100.0	6	100.0	103	100.0

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[1] Collaborations

WG Mendes: Data collection, tabulation, descriptive and spatial analysis. Writing the text and standardizing the rules according to the magazine. CMFP Silva: Text revision and suggestion of significant parts.