For about six years, same-sex marriages have been allowed in Brazil. But since right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro has been in office, the situation for homosexuals is increasingly deepening. Rio de Janeiro's Mayor Marcelo Crivella now wanted to take advantage of this mood.
The former evangelical bishop confiscated a Marvel comic from the Avengers series at his city's book fair. The reason: There are two kissing superheroes pictured. He wanted to protect children from "sexual content", it was said by the politician. The case went to court.
First, a court approved the banishment of the anthology, which has been on the Brazilian market since 2012 - in the luxury version, which was now on sale at the Book Fair, for three years. The protest, which then flared up, joined the federal prosecutor Raquel Dodge. She argued that it was against freedom of expression and free exchange of ideas to ban books with LGBTQ content, as the mayor had intended. The conservative politician, anti-abortionist and creationist Crivella announced that he would take action against it.
Fans of the Marvel comics were not deterred by this. The affected Avengers book was sold out in no time. In addition, Felipe Neto, a famous YouTube creator, purchased about 14,000 books of LBGTQ content and distributed them at the show - as a token of protest. He had the titles wrapped in black foil and provided them with the warning: "This book is inappropriate".
Esta capa da #Folha deste sábado (7). Acesse https://t.co/OUrEFevL3e para ler mais. #folha #folhadespaulo #fsp pic.twitter.com/wru197Gpzi
- Folha de S.Paulo (@folha) September 7, 2019The Brazilian daily "Folha de S. Paulo" also took position: it printed the kissing superheroes on the front page of the Saturday edition.