Mayor Signs Decree Banning Gays

[BewareofNick]

Brazilian mayor closes town to gays[/font size]

Gay.com / PlanetOut.com Network

Wednesday, December 3, 2003 / 04:13 PM

 

A Brazilian mayor took anti-gay discrimination to a new level on Tuesday by signing a decree that prohibits gay people from moving into his town.

 

The act prevents homosexuals, or "any linked to this class," from establishing residence or staying permanently in Bocaiuva do Sul in the southern Parana state, Reuters reported.

 

Gay rights activists denounced the ban, calling it an unconstitutional, "neo-Nazi" measure. The group Dignity said it will file a court appeal on Wednesday, and a protest in Bocaiuva do Sul is scheduled for Thursday.

 

In the decree, Mayor Elcio Berti said: "This municipality is fighting to support social projects and needs to bring in industries, for which people with strong fists (underlined) are needed to operate production tools."

 

"The decree effectively banishes homosexuals from the town, makes clear that they are useless and thus not welcome," Allan Johan, project coordinator for Dignity, told Reuters.

 

Berti has said he wants to boost birthrates in his town of approximately 10,000. His other attempts to achieve this goal include distributing free anti-impotence drugs and banning the sale of condoms. He also reportedly proposed building a UFO-port to receive aliens.

[Trixie]

It's just too weird not to be true. I wonder what the mayor would think if the aliens who landed had weak, tendril-like fingers, and were sexually indeterminite?

Trix

[Trixie]

That makes me pause to consider... have there ever been any aliens portrayed as huge-membered macho beings? They always seem to be a hybrid between

Michael Jackson and a praying mantid.

Trix

[trilingual]

I recall some old pulp porn featuring eight-foot-tall, hugely endowed aliens! Actually, I think there has been at least some non-porn sci-fi featuring non-wispy aliens, too.

 

The mayor of this town sounds like he got beamed down from some other planet, too. As the article mentions, he's tried a number of other publicity-grabbing things (like the free Viagra and banning condoms). He's something of a national laughingstock in Brazil, but you've got to give him credit: he manages to get publicity for his otherwise unknown and utterly forgettable small town! He may have gone to far this time, though. The town of about 10,000 people is apparently somewhere in the vicinity (or part) of Greater Curitiba, a major metro area with lots of gay people, and Brazil has a big and well-organized gay rights movement these days.

 

This act is clearly unconstitutional in Brazil, so there'll be some legal action about this, you can be sure. The idiot is also putting his job on the line, because in Brazil mayors can be removed for malfeasance and the state or federal governments can move in and take over municipalities that are being badly run. This fool's other stunts weren't illegal; this one definitely is. Besides being unconstitutional, there are other laws it violates. A number of Brazilian states now have explicit sexual orientation anti-discrimination laws, and if memory serves I think Paraná, the state where this town is located, is one of them. If I were are gay resident of that town, I wouldn't exactly be quaking in my boots. The cavalry is on its way! Probably in high drag, this being Brazil with Carnival looming! The local gay rights movement is very creative. The idiot mayor's worst nightmares just may come to life right before his eyes!

[MichiganMan]

In Response to "Is our children learning" GM Bush

That depends on what the definition of is is...WJ Clinton

[+ Hoover42]

Here's more news aboutMayor Berti, reprinted here without permission from the 12-Nov-2003 issue of the Washington Blade.

 

...Hoover

 

Brazilian mayor indicted after banning gays from town

 

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) — A mayor in southern Brazil who signed a decree banning gays from entering his town has been indicted under anti-discrimination laws, the state prosecutor handling the case said last week. “Mayor Elcio Berti stepped beyond any reasonable limit,” said prosecutor Agenor Salgado. “If convicted, he could face two to four years in prison aside from losing his office.” Berti, mayor of the town of Bocaiuva do Sal (population 10,000), 250 miles south of Sao Paulo, signed a decree Dec. 1 “prohibiting the presence in this jurisdiction of members of the class known as homosexuals, who can bring no benefits whatsoever to the town.” A gay rights group called Dignity announced that it would mount protests outside the Bocaiuva do Sul city hall late last week. Berti was unavailable for comment. “The mayor has shut down city hail and disappeared,” said Bocainva do Sal police officer Waldemar Mateus. Even we don’t know where he is.”

[+ Hoover42]

Correction: that reprint was from the 12-Dec-2003 issue of the Washington Blade.

 

...Hoover