A far-right politician, Jair Bolsonaro, who will become the Brazilian next president, has called himself a ‘proud homophobe’.
On the night of the Brazilian election, Bianca Gama cried as it became clear that the country’s next president would be Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right politician whose career has been marked by homophobia.
As the official result was announced, Gama’s girlfriend Priscilla Cicconi turned to her and said: “You were right. We should get married – before he takes office. Let’s do it.”
Gama and Cicconi were not the only ones to make such a decision: faced with a homophobic president-elect with close alliances to evangelical and Catholic churches, LGBT people in Brazil are rushing to claim hard-earned rights such as marriage equality and name and gender changes.
One notary association said that so far this year there had been a 25% increase in same-sex marriages in Brazil, and a 42% increase in São Paulo, the country’s largest city, compared to last year.
The rush to marry before Bolsonaro is sworn in on 1 January has become an act of resistance against the president-elect, who has described himself as a “proud homophobe”.
Bolsonaro’s vice-president, Hamilton Mourão, has said that while he believes marriage is only between a man and a woman, the incoming government does not intend to change the status of same-sex marriages.
Nonetheless, Maria Berenice Dias, the Brazilian Bar Association’s director of sexual diversity, has recommended that couples who want to formalize their union do so before the end of the year “as a precaution”.
On Sunday, after seven years together, Cicconi, 28, and Gama, 25, followed that advice.
At a no-frills community center near their home in São Paulo’s hardscrabble periphery, Cicconi (in khakis, suspenders and a bowtie) and Gama (in a sparkly white wedding dress), walked down the aisle surrounded by about 40 tearful friends and family members.
Among the guests applauding the couple were 17 strangers who volunteered to help arrange the wedding, organizing everything from a three-course lunch, to wedding photographs and live music afterwards.
The volunteers were part of an online movement to help hundreds of low-income, same-sex couples get married before the end of the year. “They are our angels,” said Cicconi.
Many couples are paying it forward and volunteering at other couple’s ceremonies: the wedding photographers, Fernanda Pinacio and Vanessa Cafasso, had also decided to get married before Bolsonaro’s inauguration, and offered their services to Cicconi and Gama for free.
“It’s such a hard moment for LGBT people in Brazil, but we’re supporting each other – and we will make it through,” Cafasso said.
The celebration dinner was prepared by chef Cris Mota, who volunteered after she and her partner got married in October.
“It’s an incredible feeling to share a piece of our happiness in claiming our right to marry,” she said while preparing a pork ragu.
Meanwhile, Bolsonaro and his allies would probably not have enough support in Congress to pass a law banning same-sex marriage, said Quinalha. “But it’s not written in stone,” he said.