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Misogyny, violence, and the lack of visibility within the LGBT movement itself are some of the biggest obstacles that Brazil’s National Lesbian Visibility Day—celebrated on Wednesday (Aug. 29)—aims to address.
The record number of openly gay Olympic athletes has boosted the acceptance of Brazil’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community amid a backlash over same-sex marriages, homosexuals said.
The winner of Brazil’s first gold medal in Rio last week, judoka Rafaela Silva, highlighted the plight of a lesbian who faced sexual and racist discrimination to rise from a slum to Olympic glory.
Both Rousseff and Wyllys suffered a setback early this year when Congressman Eduardo Cunha was elected president of Brazil’s lower house. Rousseff, politically weakened by a corruption scandal at the state-run Petrobras oil company, was surprised by the unexpected election of Cunha, a conservative member of the ruling coalition and an Evangelical Christian who has spoken out against Brazil’s gay rights movement.
“I was on a cross-country road trip, found myself in Texas, and was frustrated by how many men admitted to never having been tested for STIs before. Unwilling to negotiate my hard boundary (I don’t hook up with anyone who hasn’t been tested within the last six months) but still wanting to scratch a sexual itch, I decided to try having sex with women. I made a very honest Tinder profile stating that I was inexperienced but a very enthusiastic and reliable hookup. It didn’t take long until I matched with a very beautiful lesbian who had a thing for ‘newbies.’ I was so excited to try something new but still a little nervous, so we got stoned and I asked her if it would be okay if I just explored her body. I ended up giving her a full-body massage with oil to see what she liked, and I’ve must’ve gone down on her at least three times. I totally get why men love giving head now. It’s addictive!” —Dana, 31
