Nine percent of the Brazilian population identifies as LGBT+

At least 9.3% of the Brazilian population identifies as members of the LGBT+ community, made up of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, asexual, pansexual, non-binary people, and more.

The percentage may be even higher because 8% did not want to answer, while 81% said they were not part of the group. The numbers are part of the Pride Survey released this week by Datafolha Institute.

Using a methodology similar to the electoral surveys, the work was carried out with 3,674 people in 120 cities in the five regions of the country – representative of the total population – between May and June.

The margin of error is two percentage points higher or lower. The work was contracted by the NGO All Out and the Havaianas brand.

The survey reveals that the proportion of people who identify with any of the letters of the acronym LGBTQIAPN+ is much higher among young people than among older people.

From 16 to 24 years old, the percentage of people identifying as belonging to the community is 18%. It falls to 13% in the 25 to 34 age group. And it drops progressively to 5.3% among those over 60.

The high number of people who did not want to answer can indicate either fear of talking to the interviewer or simply a lack of understanding of the options.

FREEDOM

“The gender issue has been the focus of many debates,” says Paulo Alves, from Datafolha, responsible for the survey.

“Sizing this community is important to guide public policies and the actions of companies and citizens. Naturally, the percentage is higher among the younger ones; it has to do with the freedom to be, express themselves, and speak out.

“The older ones have not even had the chance to think about these possibilities. Brazilian society has changed a lot in the last few years.”

The campaign manager for the NGO All Out, Ana Andrade, agrees with her colleague.

“The dimensioning gives us more assertiveness to charge public policies in a specific way: in this region, the biggest problem is violence; in another, it’s health. That is an important advance.”

The community tends to be more present in metropolitan regions (10.9%) than inland cities (8.2%). The same occurs among people with a higher level of education (11% of those with a college degree).

Most are single (59%) and have no children (70%). The variation among the different regions of the country is also significant. There is 10.1% in the Center-West, 9.9% in the Southeast, 9.8% in the North, 8.7% in the South, and 8.5% in the Northeast.

SILENCE

The work also showed that 62% of the economically active LGBTQIAPN+ population does not usually discuss their sexual orientation or gender identity at work.

Hostility or prejudice within the family is 16 percentage points higher than among the rest of the population. In addition, 17% say they suffer discrimination, compared to 9% among the rest.

For the 81% who said they are not part of the community, Datafolha asked their opinion about the LGBTQIAPN+ population. According to the survey, 85% said they respect LGBTQIAPN+ people.

The percentage drops to 79% when the question is whether the community should have the same rights as the heteronormative population.

And it falls even further, to 53%, when Datafolha asked whether LGBTQIAPN+ people have the right to make public displays of affection.

“We knew we would find discrimination and prejudiced views, but some numbers are very strong,” says Datafolha’s Paulo Alves.

“I AM NOT ASHAMED, BUT I AM AFRAID”

For Bruno Ferreira, a 27-year-old public servant living in Niterói, in the Rio metropolitan area, the data indicating discrimination was not surprising.

“There is this myth that Brazilian society welcomes diversity,” he says. Ferreira has already been approached in line at the movies for holding hands with his boyfriend.

“This comes from a mistaken perception that when a minority population gains rights, the other group is losing rights. And that’s not what happens. No one is losing anything.”

Designer Luiza Ribeiro, 28, who lives in Belém, Pará, agrees. “I am not ashamed to walk hand in hand with my girlfriend, but I am afraid,” she says.

“Mainly because she is a woman. We had already been questioned in an Uber; the driver started treating us differently; there was a tense atmosphere in the car. That agony of being with a person who doesn’t like us.

DATA

Violence is real, and it has been increasing.

In May of this year, a survey conducted by the Observatory of Deaths and Violence against LGBT+ people showed that at least five people from this community had been victims of homicide per week in the country.

There were 262 murders, an increase of 21.9% compared to the previous year.

In May this year, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) released official data about the sexual orientation of the Brazilian population for the first time.

According to the National Health Survey (PNS), 1.9% of the population declared being homosexual or bisexual, while another 3.4% did not want to answer or did not know.

The survey did not propose questions about gender identity, and the numbers were considered underestimated. At the launch, the coordinator of the work, Maria Lúcia Franca Pontes Vieira, praised the initiative.

“Even though the numbers are underreported, I consider it an important step for us to be able to understand the sociodemographic characteristics of this group somehow.”

With information from Correio Braziliense

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error