Two Brazilian
army sergeants were arrested Tuesday inside a TV studio
outside Sao Paulo after acknowledging on a TV show that they
are gay and in a long-term relationship, according to
BrazzilMag.com.
Sergeants
Fernando Alcantara de Figueiredo and Laci Marinho de
Arau;jo were also interviewed in an issue of
Epoca, a Brazilian magazine, that hit stands last
week. In the article, they discussed being gay in the
Brazilian army.
"We did not want
to talk about our private lives. However, if you are
single and have been in the army for seven years, everybody
starts questioning you, and you become a target of
jokes and laughter. All we want is to be free,"
Arau;jo told BrazzilMag.com.
The pair was
filming a segment for a national talk show called Super
Pop when police arrived at the TV studio in
Barueri, a city in the greater Sao Paulo area.
"They are going
to kill me -- even the Army Promoter of Justice
Claudia Rocha Lama is aware of that. They have tried to do
this for a very long time," screamed Arau;jo,
according to local newspaper Folha de S. Paulo.
According to the
paper, TV host Luciana Gimenez replied, "What do you
want me to do? You came here of your own free will."
A report
Wednesday morning on the news program Bom Dia
Mulher (Good Morning, Woman) claims the
sergeants have also been accused of being army deserters.
(The Advocate)