BRAZIL LEADS IN GAY MURDERS

Grupo Gay da Bahia (GGG, Bahia Gay Group), the oldest gay advocacy group in Brazil, published yesterday their yearly report on violent deaths of gay people in Brazil. According to the report, the number of people who are murdered because they are gay is up, 198 murders in 2009, compared to 189 in 2008.

Brazil leads the world in homosexual victims of murders. Mexico comes second (35 deaths) followed by the United States (25 deaths), according to the GGB.

Among the murdered, 117 were gay men (59%), 72 were transsexuals (37%) and 9 were lesbians (4%). Most of the crimes go unpunished (more than 90%).

GGB gathers information about violence against gays in Brazil for the last 35 years. The numbers are compiled from news reports, including print media, broadcast media, and Internet.


Homossexuais assassinados no Brasil em 2009 (in Portuguese; WARNING: contains some graphic images of violence)
Full report on gay murders in Brazil, 2009 (PDF, in Portuguese)

.