Is Gay Bashing Becoming More Popular in São Paulo?

Two more gay men were attacked in Sao Paulo, Brazil's major tourist areas, Paulista Avenue Oct. 8. According to Edison Bernardo DeSouza of BrazzilMag, a gay couple was kicked and punched several times after a female friend of theirs rebuked the flirtations of the attackers.
"They said we were crazy f****ts and that we should die before spreading diseases around," one of the victims, Marcos Paulo Villa, told Bandeirantes TV. One of the victims (pictured here) had bruises, cuts, and a broken foot.

DeSouza reports that this is not the first time that gay men have been attacked in this busy district of Sao Paulo. "Paulista Avenue has seen several attacks against blacks and gays in the past and very little has been done to prevent such violence," DeSouza says. "Neo-Nazi groups usually are able to bully and attack minorities and walk around freely without police surveillance." Bandeirantes reported that bullying gays is becoming an alarmingly frequent activity in the district.

The recent victims, who have been together for four years, filed a report at the 78th police district, but they say police aren't investigating the attack. "The police officers did not even care. According to them, this was probably a punk or skinhead related crime, and they just left it at that."

About 50% of the cases involving violence against LGBT folks in Sao Paulo occurred in the Paulista Avenue area. According to the Secretariat of Human Rights, which works in tandem with the Brazilian government, 83% of the victims were gay, 10% bisexual, and 4% heterosexual. In 22% of these cases the aggressors are never identified.

A particularly bad incident last year involved two gay men who were attacked by a group of six men who used stones and an iron lamp to assault the victims.