Rio de Janeiro – In Brazil a scandal has been created by the designation of toilets for the exclusive use of gays and transvestites in samba schools preparing for Carnival.
Unidos de Tujuca, one of the top Rio de Janeiro samba schools, is one of the schools being asked to use segregated toilets. Protesters have claimed this type of segregation resembles that of the forced separation of blacks and whites.
Claudio Nascimento, the head of a government anti-homophobia program, raged to reporters, “(The bathrooms) are carnival apartheid!”
Others argue that they provide a safe area for gays and transvestites. Rio’s Carnival director, Iran Araujo, who also heads cultural programs for the Independent League of Samba Schools, said, “I don’t see any problem. Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders merely have the option to use the special bathrooms, and can still opt to go to the ordinary ones.”
LGBT activists were divided on the issue. A male stylist told the GloboNews television, “It’s a step backwards and encourages discrimination.”
But a transvestite fired back, “I would feel a lot more comfortable using (the) reserved bathrooms.”
Four other samba schools have already discreetly introduced separate toilets and Dona Benta, the administrative head of one of the schools, told the O Dia daily,
“The separate toilets came about through demands from homosexuals themselves, who wanted more freedom.”
Despite Rio de Janeiro being considered one of the most gay-friendly destinations in the world, homophobia remains rampant in Brazil. LGBT murders have risen 62 percent in the last two years. In 2009, 198 LGBT murders were reported.
