Brazil Archives - Q Spirit

Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Two-spirit Native Americans bridge genders

by Kittredge Cherry | | Calendar, Oct 1-15

Two-spirit Native Americans are honored at Q Spirit for Indigenous Peoples’ Day (Oct 12, 2026). It is an alternative to the U.S. national holiday Columbus Day, which commemorates the arrival of European explorer Christopher Columbus in the Americas on Oct. 12, 1492....

Marielle Franco: Brazilian LGBTQ activist fought for human rights

by Kittredge Cherry | | March 1-15, Saints

Marielle Franco was a queer Afro-Latina Brazilian politician and LGBTQ activist who fought for human rights. She was assassinated on March 14, 2018. Franco identified as bisexual. She and her partner, Mônica Tereza Benício, were planning to marry later that year....

Tibira do Maranhão: First indigenous gay martyr of Brazil

by Kittredge Cherry | | Dec 1-15, Saints

LGBTQ activists in Brazil launched a campaign for the sainthood of Tibira do Maranhão, the first gay martyr of Brazil. The indigenous man was baptized and then executed for sodomy by French missionaries on Dec. 8, 1614. Tibira is the first documented case of a person...

Gay Jesus film office firebombed

by Kittredge Cherry | | News

A Brazilian comedy on Netflix about a gay Jesus is under attack, with the offices of its creators firebombed on Christmas Eve. An online petition to shut down the show got more than 2 million signatures. “I condemn this act of violence and support the right to portray...