Thabatta Pimenta will represent Rio Grande do Norte state in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputi
SÃO PAULO | Voters in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Norte state on Oct. 4 elected a transgender woman to the country’s Chamber of Deputies.
Natal Municipal Councilwoman Thabatta Pimenta, who is a member of the Green Party, won with 92,743 votes. She is the first trans woman from northeast Brazil elected to the country’s Congress.
Pimenta became emotional when she was speaking to her supporters after she won. Her brother Ryan, who has cerebral palsy, was by her side.
“This victory belongs to the people of Rio Grande do Norte,” she said. “It is a victory built from the ground up … the people themselves rose up, and you saw the result: today they elected the first female travesti federal deputy from northeast Brazil.”
Pimenta will join Erika Hilton, a travesti member of the leftist Socialism and Liberty (PSOL) party who was a sex worker before her election to the São Paulo Municipal Council, and Duda Salabert, a trans woman and fellow PSOL member from Minas Gerais state, in the Chamber of Deputies.
Hilton on Sunday won re-election with 1,596,472 votes, the most any female member of Congress has received in Brazilian history. Dudabert also won re-election with 215,192 votes.
“Thank you Minas Gerais,” said Dudabert on social media after she won re-election.
Five openly bisexual Chamber of Deputies candidates also won their races on Sunday.
• Guilherme Cortez, a PSOL member in São Paulo state
• Dandara Tonatzin, a member of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Workers’ Party in Minas Gerais state
• Anielle Franco, a Workers’ Party member in Rio de Janeiro state
• Maria Marighella, a Workers’ Party member in Bahia state
• Giovana Mondardo, a Brazilian Communist Party member in Santa Catalina state
Fabio Félix, a gay PSOL member of the Chamber of Deputies who represents the Federal District in which Brasília, the country’s capital, is located won re-election with 224,224 votes. Two gay men also won their Chamber of Deputies campaigns.
• Rick Azevedo, a PSOL member from Rio de Janeiro state
• Fabricio Rosa, a Workers’ Party member from Goiás state
Daiana Santos, a lesbian Brazilian Communist Party member who represents Rio Grande do Sul state in the Chamber of Deputies, won re-election with 114,315 votes.
Two lesbian women won their Chamber of Deputies campaigns.
• Rosa Amorin, a Workers’ Party member from Pernambuco state
• Bella Gonçalves, a Workers’ Party member from Minas Gerais who is a member of the Belo Horizonte Municipal Council
Samanda de Lula, a lesbian Workers’ Party member, will represent Rio Grande do Norte in the Brazilian Senate.
Rio de Janeiro Municipal Councilwoman Mônica Benício, who is a PSOL member, came up short in her bid for the Senate. Her then-partner, Rio de Janeiro Municipal Councilwoman Marielle Franco, and her driver, Anderson Gomes, were assassinated on March 14, 2018.
Fabiano Contarato, a gay senator from Espíritu Santo state who is a member of the Workers’ Party, also lost his re-election bid.
“I receive the election results with respect and serenity,” he said on social media. “The popular will is sovereign, and democracy must always be respected.”
Jean Wyllys is a gay former member of the Chamber of Deputies who previously represented Rio de Janeiro state. He resigned in 2019 and fled Brazil after he received death threats. Wyllys this year ran to represent São Paulo state in the Chamber of Deputies, but he did not win his race.
VoteLGBT, an organization that seeks to increase LGBTQ representation in Brazilian politics, noted 529 openly LGBTQ candidates ran in the election. The group on Sunday said 35 of them won their races across the country.
Lula and Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, whose father is former President Jair Bolsonaro, will face off in the presidential election’s second round on Oct. 25.
The Washington Blade will update this article.
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