Carnival in Brazil: Where the Queen is a Trans Woman

Renata Salles has been dancing since she was 22, performing for many of the big samba schools – in the background.

Now she has realized her dream: Salles, 35, a trans woman is the queen of the group »Bangay«, the first queer samba school in Rio de Janeiro.

Almost all participants are LBGTQI, i.e. lesbian, gay, trans or otherwise queer.

For the rehearsals, the hairdresser drives two hours from one end of the city to the other.

After two hours of rehearsal, it's back again, but it's worth it to her: »Bangay is like a cry of freedom for me!

We don't have to hide!

We trans women can be muses and queens too!”

But Salles knows that she still has many prejudices to overcome.

Just two days ago, she was attacked by two strangers on the street in Rio.

'I was in a bank.

When I came out again, two young men started to push me on the street.« Other passers-by then helped her.

Even if the Brazilian metropolis of Rio de Janeiro is a well-known travel destination for gay men, it is still dangerous to be queer here.

More than 250 people died in Brazil last year after anti-LGBTQI attacks.

This is a sad peak worldwide.

Brazil is Catholic and there is a conservative image of men, especially in rural areas.

So dancing in a queer samba school like »Bangay« is quite a bold undertaking.

Two weeks before their big performance, the dancers rehearse their move.

The princesses in the skimpy costumes are trans women.

The king a gay man.

A woman does the singing and the announcements.

In the big carnival parades in Rio, the gender roles are otherwise distributed in a classic way.

When the founder of »Bangay«, Sandra Andréa dos Santos, established the group in 2016, the first performances were tough: »There were people who peed down on us from above, sprayed us with beer.

Some pulled our hair.« They only got more respect when »Bangay« became a real samba school, a year ago.

However, their main goal was not the fight against homophobia.

"We're not a gay pride parade, we're a real samba school," says Tiago Rosa, artistic director of "Bangay."

It's not about tolerance, it's about justice.

Because the great carnival of Rio would not exist without the queer community.

In the samba schools, 80 to 90 percent of the helpers are queer.

The ideas for the cars, the costumes, a lot of them come from them.

"But when the time comes, we often remain trapped in the back rows during the move or aren't allowed to walk at all," says Tiago.

The importance of queer people for the carnival remains invisible.

They are not mentioned in the city's Samba Museum.

But that is slowly changing. For a few years, the samba schools have been paying attention to more diversity among the participants in the Sambódromo, the large, famous arena of the carnival parades in Rio de Janeiro.

Queer samba celebrities will be honored with their own float, including Leci Brandão, a famous Brazilian samba composer, singer and politician who came out as a lesbian.

If »Bangay« has its way, queer people shouldn't be the exception.

You should - like everyone else - appear in the front row.

In any case, Queen Renata Salles sees herself on the right track with her samba group.

At the moment, what the school needs most is money.

She only receives the minimum funding for samba schools from the city, 22,000 real (around 4,000 euros) a year.

Almost everyone here works voluntarily and without a fee.

“We need a good sponsor.

In five years we will be at the big carnival parade in the Sambódromo,« says Salles, »You will still be hearing a lot from us.«

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