For 14 years, Brazil has led an embarrassing international ranking: we are the country that most kills trans and transvestites. This January 29, National Trans Visibility Day, security is one of the most important points for this population. Who claims it is the lawyer Robeyoncé Lima, the first trans, black and northeastern to get to insert the social name in the Order of Lawyers of Brazil (OAB). She was interviewed by the Bem Viver program this Saturday (28).
“Confronting violence against the trans population and the LGBTQIA+ population in general is fundamental, so that we can leave this shameful top ranking, the country that kills the most transvestites and transsexuals in the world”, he said.
Pioneering is nothing new in Robeyoncé’s life. She is at the end of her term as a state co-deputy for Pernambuco. Elected in 2018 by the collective Juntas, she was the first trans to reach the Legislative Assembly of the northeastern state.
In the last elections, she tried to run for Federal Deputy. She received over 80,000 votes, but was not elected. Even so, she sees herself represented by Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP) and Duda Salabert (PDT-MG), who will assume their mandates on the 1st and will be the first trans women in the National Congress.
“May we also take advantage of this moment to make these women, who will be there speaking on our behalf for the first time: us speaking for ourselves. May we be able to give this support here from the outside, too, supporting , also, the Lula government in relation to these issues”, he adds.
Read the full interview below:
Brasil de Fato: On this National Day of Trans Visibility, we would like you to talk a little bit about the historical importance of the struggles of this population and what you see as the main agenda at this time.
Robeyoncé Lima: Since 2004, we have had this date, January 29, as an allusive date in honor of trans people, to remember the moments of struggle, the main guidelines, the main demands. Not only in the health area, but also in terms of public safety, employability, income, the right to live and be happy, and the issue of fighting violence.
Brazil is the country that kills the most transgender and transvestite people in the world even today. Since 2004, when this date was officially formalized, we make a point of always problematizing, not only on the date, but throughout the year, the exclusion and marginalization that the trans population lives until today.
Your trajectory as the first trans lawyer in Pernambuco and the first trans state deputy in the Northeast shows the importance of the lack of access that you talk about. What did it mean for you to be in this place of helping to open doors?
The fact that only in 2017 I was the first trans lawyer in the state of Pernambuco already shows many signs, and the lack of visibility and exclusion that many others like me are still experiencing to this day is very notorious. Why aren’t there other trans female lawyers? Other trans teachers, trans engineers, doctors, nurses…
I think that the notoriety I had in 2017, when I joined the Brazilian Bar Association, was notoriety in the sense of victory, not only mine, but also the transsexual and transvestite movement itself, but it is also characterized as a denunciation. It shows how much society still needs to move forward so that we can occupy more and more spaces.
The group of transsexuals and transvestites is a vulnerable group, and needs special attention from the state in relation to several issues, whether in public safety, education, health, employability, income, housing, the issue of coping to discrimination and prejudice.
How do you see the role of the state, especially through federal and state governments, in terms of guaranteeing the right to life and access to basic and fundamental rights for this population?
We still face a very big difficulty today, which is the very murder or extermination of the transsexual and transvestite population. Brazil, for more than ten years, has been the country that most kills transgender and transvestite people in the world, and we have all rights hampered, including the right to life itself. Our right to identity is taken away, our right to live and exist is taken away, our right to education, our right to quality public health is also taken away.
It seems to me that the most basic thing is precisely to guarantee the living conditions so that the person can live and also survive in a scenario of exclusion and vulnerability that we still experience today. Ninety percent of the transsexual and transvestite population lives from prostitution, because there is no other alternative or option for these people. Society closes its eyes to such a current and constant problem, which is not new today, but a long time ago. There is this demand, there is this need for special attention to this population.
Now, in terms of legislative progress, we still have a lot of difficulty, but we have achieved some victories and achievements within the scope of the judiciary, through the Federal Supreme Court, which recognized the same-sex stable union and recognized the possibility of changing the name without having to take legal action; the STJ (Superior Court of Justice) recently recognized that transsexual and transvestite women can make use of the Maria da Penha law.
Now, all of these are understandings that we have, that the Supreme Court and the STJ have guaranteed. In terms of more consolidated, more prepared, firmer legislation, we still haven’t advanced much in terms of making laws, because unfortunately we have a National Congress that is quite conservative and does not admit that guidelines related to the transsexual population and transvestite or the LGBTQIA+ population in general can advance and be approved to guarantee the rights of this population.
This January also marks the beginning of a new federal administration, which has a history of having a more sensitive and attentive look at this diversity agenda. When we talk about trans visibility, what are the actions that you point out as priorities for this population during the Lula government?
I think, as fundamental and structuring, the issue of public security. Combating violence against the trans population and the LGBTQIA+ population in general is fundamental, so that we can get out of this shameful ranking, the country that kills the most transvestites and transsexuals in the world.
Another factor, also allied to this, is the question of inclusion in the labor market, through incentives for employability, and also incentives for companies to hire trans people. This also necessarily implies an accessible and inclusive school for trans people, because if the person cannot study, most likely he will not get a decent job, either. This ripple effect needs to be eliminated.
It seems to me that there is an urgent need to hire or place these people in the job market, but also thinking in the long term, in providing quality education so that in the future they may have more alternatives than prostitution, which is the only is now available to the majority of the transsexual and transvestite population.
I come from a policy from the time of the Lula government, in which it was through the Federal Government, during that administration prior to the Temer government, I come from a Lula-Dilma administration, in which it was possible, for example, for me to enter the university public; graduate; it was possible, for the first time, for someone in my family to have a higher education degree. How transformative this is in many people’s lives. How this can transform the lives of many transsexuals and transvestites.
It is enough to have an effective political reform in the sense of valuing public services and actions, also encouraging this population to enter and remain in these educational institutions, because in the same way that you have the right to enter a university, you also have the right to remain in it and manage to graduate without having to drop out of the course, without having to drop out of the course because you have to work or take care of your son or daughter, since you are a single mother.
It’s a whole project, a whole process of structure that must be very well consolidated so that we can grant opportunities, not only for these people, but also, even, opportunities to transform the world, through trajectories as remarkable as these, which they can even be examples for many other people who will come in the next generation.
From this point of view, I would like you to talk about what you see as a priority agenda at this moment, and also the challenges for movements, organizations and people in defense of the lives of transvestites and transsexuals.
I think that the management of this Lula government needs to constantly dialogue with the two trans people who entered the National Congress for the first time, Erika Hilton and Duda Salabert, for the first time in the history of Brazil – see, one more example of how much this transsexual movement and a transvestite is vulnerable, excluded. Only in 2023 will we have trans parliamentarians in the National Congress here in Brazil.
May we take advantage of this place of speech that we finally have in the National Congress; that we can maintain this dialogue of construction and also of strengthening these two trans women, transvestites, there in the National Congress. They are even suffering death threats, having to wear bulletproof vests and everything.
May we also take advantage of this moment to make these women, who will be there speaking on our behalf for the first time: us speaking for ourselves. That we can give this support here from the outside, also supporting the Lula government in relation to these issues
It is not in the Lula government that LGBTQIA+phobia or transphobia will end. We are not going to achieve this in four years, but we can use, yes, instruments and tools that the federal government will be making available to us, so that we can face this violence and reduce this violence as much as we can, considering that we cannot eliminate transphobia, which is structural and has existed for many years in the country in four years, we will have to work hard to reduce this as much as possible.
Editing: Rodrigo Durão Coelho
