STF Overturns Decision Authorizing Censorship of Comic Book Showing Gay Kiss

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In a decision rendered this Sunday afternoon, September 8th, Presiding Justice Dias Toffoli of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), overturned the measure that authorized the Rio de Janeiro municipal government to censor works at the Rio Book Biennial.

In his decision, Toffoli states that the “democratic regime believes in an environment of free movement of ideas” and that the image of the kiss between two male superheroes in the comic book “Vingadores – A Crusade das Crianças” does not violate the Statute of Children and Adolescents, the ECA, and therefore does not justify that the works be sealed and collected.

It also says that the decision by the judge of the Rio Appellate Court, that authorized censorship “violates the legal order, and at the same time, public order.”

The decision responds to a petition made by the Federal Prosecutor General Raquel Dodge, which aimed to “prevent censorship of the book of ideas, free artistic expression and freedom of expression in the country”.

Dias Toffoli also followed this line and criticized the way the decision that allowed censorship dealt with the issue of homosexuality.

“He ended up assimilating homosexual relations to content inappropriate or inappropriate to childhood and youth, violating, at the same time, the strict legality and the principle of equality,” he writes.

He continues: “The democratic regime believes in an environment of free movement of ideas, in which everyone has the right to a voice. In fact, democracy is only established and progresses in an environment in which different convictions and worldviews can be exposed, defended and confronted with one another in a rich, plural and resolute debate.”

According to the Justice, there is no way to extract from the ECA “a correlation between publications whose content involves homosexual relationships and the need for a qualified obligation to warn”, refuting the interpretation given by the presiding judge of the Court of Appeals of Rio de Janeiro, who had authorized censorship.

Toffoli’s decision comes after a series of recent twists and turns involving Rio’s mayoralty and the Biennial.

First, the mayor of Rio, Marcelo Crivella, announced on Thursday (5th) on his social networks that the comic book “Vingadores – A Cruzada” showed a gay kiss  and was being sold at the Biennial, which was supposed to violate the Child and Adolescent Statute. It is worth noting that ECA does not cite homosexuality in the legislation.

On Friday (6th), municipal inspectors visited the fair in search of titles considered inappropriate, but left without finding the comic book of the series “Vingadores” or any work with a theme they considered inappropriate.

Hours later, a judge on the Rio de Janeiro Appellate Court issued an injunction that prevented the Rio de Janeiro municiapl government from seizing books on the premises and revoking the event’s charter.

This Saturday afternoon (7th), however, Claudio de Mello Tavares, presiding judge of the appellate court, suspended the preliminary injunction and stated that works that illustrate the theme of homosexuality do indeed violate the Children and Adolescents Statute and, therefore, should be marketed in sealed packaging.

Publishers position themselves after an act of censorship at the Rio Biennial, when Mayor Crivella announced that he would ban the sale of comics with gay kissing.

At the end of Saturday afternoon, city officials returned to the Biennale and circulated through the event in plain clothes to once again look for the  comic book “Avengers – The Children’s Crusade” or other books on sale with LGBT characters.

The city agents stayed for about four hours at the site,  did not speak to the press or disclose if any work was collected.