Court Upholds Bolsonaro’s Sentence to pay R$150,000 for Homophobic Statements

By Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Most of the judges of the Sixth Civil Chamber of the Rio de Janeiro Court of Law (TJRJ) decided, on this Thursday, to uphold the sentence of President Jair Bolsonaro to pay R$150,000 for moral damages into the Ministry of Justice’s Fund for the Defense of Diffuse Rights (FDDD).

The lawsuit against the then deputy was motivated by homophobic and racist statements he made on the TV Bandeirantes program “CQC”, in March of 2011.

At the time, when asked what he would do if he had a gay son, Bolsonaro said that this would not happen to him because his sons “had a good upbringing.”

On another occasion, when asked by the singer Preta Gil how he would react if one of his sons fell in love with a black woman, he replied: “I will not discuss promiscuity with anyone. I don’t run that risk. My children have had a very good upbringing and did not live in an environment as, regrettably, yours do.”

The deputy even went so far as to say that he would not travel on a plane flown by a minority who had been hired as part of a quota system.

Following the decision by the Rio Courts, Bolsonaro placed embargoes on the court. With three votes to two, the judges decided to uphold the decision and sentence that had been handed down. The President may still appeal the decision.

The lawsuit was brought by Grupo Diversidade Niterói (Niteroí Diversity Group), Grupo Cabo Free de Conscientização Homosexual (Cabo Free Group for Homossexual Awareness and Combating Homophobia) and Grupo Arco-íris de Conscientização (Rainbow Awareness Group).

During the ruling, the judge responsible for the case, Luciana Santos Teixeira, pointed out that “one can not deliberately attack and humiliate, ignoring the principles of equality and isonomy, based on the invocation of freedom of expression.”