LGBTQI History: A Sonoma County Timeline 1947-2000
Wednesdays 1:30-3pm. Online via Zoom through SRJC
LifeLong Learning. On Wednesday, January 24 we will
Be talking about the early days of SoCo Gay Liberation
Movement. I look forward to seeing you there! Please contact
me to enroll in this FREE class and receive a Zoom link:
A bill advanced by Florida Republicans on Wednesday would ban teachers and other government employees from displaying a rainbow flag — even wearing one as a lapel pin for a day — but they could hang the full-size flag of any “recognized nation” as long as they want, according to the bill’s sponsor.
Flag displays that depict a “racial, sexual orientation and gender, or political ideology viewpoint” would be banned from any state or local government building, including public schools and universities, under the bill authored by GOP Rep. David Borrero.
Opponents say the bill is inspired by hate. Borrero said it protects children and it would ban even lapel pins representing the flags of the LGBTQ and Black Lives Matter movements.
“Public classrooms should not be the place where our kids go to be radicalized and evangelized into accepting these partisan, radical ideologies,” Borrero said. “It’s wholly inappropriate to be putting those types of flags in front of public school students and in government buildings.”
Asked about other flags, Borrero said those of sovereign states recognized by the U.S., such as Israel, could be displayed in a classroom. Because the U.S. doesn’t recognize Palestine as a nation, this would rule out the Palestinian flag.
The ban wouldn’t apply to students, or to government employees when they’re not at work or in public buildings, Borrero said. But it would extend to lawmakers’ offices, and at least some Democrats said they’ll break the law if the bill is ever signed by DeSantis.
“Are we in Russia? Are we in Cuba? That’s authoritarianism. That’s fascism at it’s best,” said Sen. Shevrin Jones, who is Black and gay and has a “Pride at the Capitol” poster with rainbow colors in his public lobby, along with other pride symbols.
“How I was raised, the rainbow meant hope. … I can promise you it wasn’t that that made me gay,” Jones added. “I’m not taking a damn thing down. I want everybody to see it.”
Florida lawmakers have already passed several anti-LGBTQ laws while Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis runs for president. DeSantis has signed bans against teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. He’s banned transgender health care for minors and created new hurdles for transgender adults, and made it easier for parents to get books with LGBTQ themes removed from schools.
This bill advanced with a party-line 9-5 vote by the House Constitutional Rights, Rule of Law & Government Operations Subcommittee faces an uncertain path, even with Republican supermajorities in the Legislature. It has one more House committee stop before being considered by the full chamber. A companion Senate bill has been referred to three committees and hasn’t been scheduled for a hearing.
DeSantis’ office didn’t respond to an email asking if he supports the legislation.
Democratic Rep. Michele Rayner, who is Black and lesbian, spoke with frustration that anti-LGBTQ bills keep coming up in the Florida Legislature, ignoring more pressing needs such as access to affordable housing and property insurance.
“Once again we’re focusing on things nobody has asked us to focus on,” said Rayner, sitting in her office near a stack of “Protect LGBTQ+ Students” flyers printed over rainbow colors. “I have a Black Voters Matter sign outside of my office. It will remain outside my office regardless of what bill they pass because there’s a thing called the First Amendment.”
Borrero’s bill would also apply to local governments such as the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Wilton Manors, a gay-friendly town of 11,000 where Pride flags fly almost everywhere, including City Hall during Pride Month. A bridge leading into town is framed by rainbow-colored barriers and a Pride flag and a trans pride flag fly year-round above a small park across the street from City Hall.
Robert Boo, CEO of the town’s Pride Center, said DeSantis and the bill’s backers hope to “erase the LGBTQ community” and throw “red meat” to their political supporters while ignoring complicated issues plaguing the state.
“Wilton Manors is the second-gayest city in the country. It is important for Wilton Manors to be able to raise the flags that represent the community’s members,” Boo said. “This may not pertain to middle Florida and they may not want to do that, but I think municipalities should have the ability and freedom to put up the flags that best represent their constituents.”
Two of the country’s largest transgender rights organizations are merging, telling NBC News that joining forces will allow them to better combat years of conservative efforts to roll back trans rights.
The National Center for Transgender Equality, or NCTE, a group that focuses primarily on federal policy reform, and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, or TLDEF, which works to advance trans rights through litigation, will merge by this summer to become Advocates for Trans Equality, or A4TE.
“We’ll be able to operate with double the influence, double the power,” said Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, the executive director of NCTE, who will assume the same position at Advocates for Trans Equality. “At a time when states are considering a record number of anti-transgender bills, trans voices are needed now more than ever, and we have to be operating at a different scale.”
The merger comes amid what many advocates have described as a crisis for LGBTQ people, but especially transgender people. Conservative lawmakers introduced more than 500 bills targeting LGBTQ people last year, shattering the previous year’s record of 315. The majority of that legislation targeted trans minors, either by seeking to restrict their ability to play on school sports teams or limit their access to transition-related medical care.
Twenty-three states have passed laws barring trans students from playing school sports on teams consistent with their gender identities, as opposed to their sexes assigned at birth, and the same number have restricted or banned trans minors from accessing gender-affirming medical care, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
Andrea Hong Marra, TLDEF’s executive director, who will become the CEO of Advocates for Trans Equality, said TLDEF has grown significantly since she joined in 2018 — from a staff of four to 27 and a budget of about $830,000 to $4.5 million — and has secured a number of significant legal wins for trans people. But, she said, one thought still keeps her up at night: “It’s not enough.”
Then came the wake-up call, Marra said. In February 2022, Texas’ Department of Family and Protective Services began investigating parents who were suspected of having provided their minor children with transition-related care — the first time state officials had ordered such investigations. She said she took Amtrak down from New York City to meet with Heng-Lehtinen at his home in Washington, D.C.
Heng-Lehtinen said they decided “we need something cataclysmic, and that’s how we came up with this idea of merging” the organizations, both founded in 2003.
The merger, Marra said, is not about business. Both organizations’ revenues have grown over the last few years, according to public documents. And all staffers at NCTE and TLDEF will keep their jobs through the merger, Marra and Heng-Lehtinen said.
“This is a values decision,” Marra said. “This is about strengthening our movement and giving trans activists a real opportunity to lead and drive progress towards equality and freedom.”
Heng-Lehtinen and Marra agreed that national nonprofit groups like theirs need to be doing more for trans people and that merging will allow them to do that.
Heng-Lehtinen said NCTE and other groups have secured major wins for trans people in recent years, which, in turn, led to increased conservative backlash. For example, the center worked for years to make the Transportation Security Administration’s screening process more gender-neutral to avoid invasive and humiliating searches that trans people have often faced and criticized. The State Department also began offering a gender-neutral X marker on passports in 2021, and nearly half of states have passed laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodations and housing. Public support for same-sex marriage has also remained high, at 71%.
“We have, little by little, seen the public understand more accurately what it means to be transgender and start to see us as full human beings,” Heng-Lehtinen said. “So the opposition really took note of this and tried to assess how do they roll back that tide, and that’s when they decided to go after trans kids, because they are the least understood out of the whole LGBTQ spectrum. And by attacking trans kids and exploiting the public’s lack of familiarity, they can make inroads to erode public support and LGBT rights writ large.”
The backlash came at a difficult time for NCTE. In 2019, more than half of the staff resigned or were dismissed after they walked out over allegations of union busting and racism, and in 2021, Mara Keisling, the group’s founder and executive director, stepped down.
Heng-Lehtinen said that when he took over, he wanted to address the concerns, which took time and affected the organization’s capacity. He said he worked to help change 100 of the policies in the organization’s employee handbook and overhauled how it approaches transparency and management. NCTE also worked to build close relationships with grassroots trans rights groups in states that face an onslaught of legislation targeting trans people.
He said the organization will also release more information about the results of its U.S. Transgender Survey soon. In 2016, the organization released its first U.S. Transgender Survey, the largest survey of trans people, which has been used by Congress and the Supreme Court. The group intended to release the second version of the survey in 2020, but the release was delayed by the internal strife and then the coronavirus pandemic. The survey was also delayed, Heng-Lehtinen said, because it received so many responses — more than triple the roughly 28,000 it received in 2015.
Bringing the organizations together, Marra said, will allow Advocates for Trans Equality and the movement for trans rights in general to better weather the kinds of storms trans people are facing.
“I think that this merger is going to create greater hope for not just the activists that give 125% each and every day, but also the kiddos and their parents at home in their communities across the country that are looking for the national voice for trans rights,” Marra said.
On Wednesday, the unions for the two nonprofits — NCTE United and the Union of Legal Workers for Trans Liberation — shared a joint statement on Instagram saying they are “excited to join forces” but noted that neither union was “involved in any planning of this merger.” The statement said management staffers were offered salary increases and bonuses if they chose to stay or three months severance pay if they chose to leave but “management has yet to propose any such benefits for the union.”
The unions added that they are concerned the combined organization “may intend to continue the practice exhibited by TLDEF and NCTE management of prioritizing management and executive level hires while ignoring staff needs for programmatic union positions.”
In response to the statement from their unions, NCTE and TLDEF said in a joint email statement that they have started working with the unions now that their intent to merge is public.
“We want bargaining to work as it should, and are committed to working with the unions as employees have a crucial role in shaping the new organization, Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE), and fostering a workplace that is fair and just,” the email said, in part.
Republicans in West Virginia have upped the hostility among those on the right toward transgender people. There, the LGBTQ+ community is currently grappling with significant legislative challenges that have the potential to impact the rights and lives of transgender individuals drastically.
Multiple draconian bills were introduced in the state’s legislature this week, with advocates drawing attention to their severe implications. One forces mental health professionals to “cure” transgender people from their gender identity, and another categorizes transgender people as “obscene material,” essentially making transgender individuals’ existence in many public spaces illegal, independent journalist Erin Reed, who specializes in transgender-related legal coverage, reports. Yet another criminalizes their presence near schools.
“Trans people know they are — there is nothing to ‘cure.’ The truth is, trans people of all ages are living happy, complete, and joyful lives — this contradicts the false narrative created around our community by extremist politicians,” West Virginia activist Ash Orr told Reed. “This piece of legislation attacks our most basic values of privacy and control over our own bodies, and is based on misleading or even outright false ideas.”
Orr added: “This is a blatant attempt to criminalize and erase the trans community of West Virginia.”
Senate Bill 194 is particularly alarming. This proposed legislation seeks to impose a total ban on gender-affirming care for transgender individuals up to the age of 21. It also mandates that therapists and social workers in the state attempt to “cure” transgender identity. This bill extends the reach of a previous ban on gender-affirming care for those under 18, passed in 2023, and categorizes being transgender as a “sexual deviation.” Additionally, it broadens the definition of minors to include individuals up to age 21.
Conversion therapy, the discredited practice of attempting to change somebody’s sexual orientation or gender identity, has been rejected by scientists and declared harmful and dangerous. Also, it should be noted that science does not support the notion that being LGBTQ+ can be reversed. Just as gay, bisexual, and lesbian people can’t be “cured” of homosexuality, transgender people cannot be “cured” of being trans — and do not need to be.
The bill not only targets medical professionals involved in providing gender-affirming care but also extends to mental health care professionals and counselors. Under the provisions of this bill, any form of medical or therapeutic intervention aimed at facilitating gender transition for individuals under 21 years of age would be deemed unlawful.
The bill mandates severe penalties for practitioners violating these regulations, including the revocation of licensure and substantial civil penalties. Furthermore, Senate Bill 194 aims to prevent any state funds from being utilized, directly or indirectly, for gender transition treatment. The bill also includes whistleblower protection clauses, ensuring that individuals who report violations are safeguarded against discrimination.
Senate Bill 195 presents another troubling development. As reported by Reed, this bill classifies transgender individuals as “obscene” and proposes to bar “transgender exposure, performances, or display” to minors. This could effectively criminalize the public presence of transgender individuals, as avoiding being perceived as transgender by a minor would be nearly impossible.
The bill’s broad scope extends to adjusting the definitions and penalties within the existing legal framework, with particular emphasis on expanding the definition of indecent exposure to include transgender representations. Notably, the bill contains language considered a slur against transgender people.
Senate Bill 197 further exacerbates the hostile legislative environment for transgender individuals in West Virginia. This bill, which aims to prohibit “obscene matter” from being within 2,500 feet of a school, effectively criminalizes the presence of transgender people near schools or in front of minors, classifying it as indecent exposure. Coupled with Senate Bills 194 and 195, the proposed legislation forms a triad of measures that collectively threaten to significantly curtail the rights and freedoms of the transgender community in the state. Moreover, these bills not only broaden the scope of what is considered unlawful but also intensify the penalties involved, including increased fines and extended jail time for violations.
The implications of these bills are extensive and deeply concerning. They not only threaten the mental and physical health of transgender individuals but also signify a dangerous erosion of LGBTQ+ rights in West Virginia.
Their implications also extend beyond West Virginia, potentially leading to similar legislation in other states as Republicans continue their attack on one of the most marginalized communities in America.
“The rise in legislative attacks aimed at our community is concerning, but it shows the desperation of lawmakers and extremists who are against transgender rights,” Orr said.
Cheryl King hosts an original spin on Valentine’s Day – Blue Valentines. This celebration of love and its opposite will feature stories of love gone wrong (and right). Join us for comedy, burlesque, song and dance routines, and magic as we celebrate couplehood and singlehood. Featuring new comedy routines from the mind of Cheryl King, plus new sexy routines from Malia Abayon, Titus Androgynous, The Phoenix Dancers, singer/songwriter Karenna Slade, and The Forbidden Magician. Adult-oriented material, for those 18+. Parental guidance is suggested. Tickets $20 in advance, $25 at the door
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined for now to weigh in on the contentious issue of bathroom access for transgender students by rejecting an Indiana school district’s appeal.
The court left in place an appeals court ruling that required a middle school in Martinsville, Indiana, to allow a transgender boy to use the bathroom that corresponds with his gender identity.
The student, identified in court papers as A.C., who has since graduated from John R. Wooden Middle School, is now in high school, where he is able to use his preferred bathroom.
The Metropolitan School District of Martinsville had wanted the justices to conclude that it is not required to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choosing.
At issue was whether either the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which says that the laws apply equally to everyone, or Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education, protects transgender students in that context.
The court’s decision not to intervene means that litigation in lower courts nationwide will continue, with judges reaching differing conclusions. The Supreme Court is likely to weigh in on the issue at some point.
In 2023, the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the school district, upholding a federal judge’s injunction that allowed several transgender students to use their preferred bathrooms.
The court noted that A.C., then 13, has identified as a boy since he was 8 years old and has for years used a male name, used male pronouns and adopted a “typically masculine haircut and clothing.”
The Biden administration has issued guidance saying that Title IX protects against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, meaning transgender students would be protected.
That approach has been contested in cases arising both from bathroom access and school sports. Last year, the administration proposed a new rule for transgender student athletes that would allow for some restrictions in competitive high school and college sports.
The Supreme Court in a surprise ruling in 2020 authored by conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch said in a 6-3 vote that federal law that bars sex discrimination in employment protected LGBTQ people, a ruling that angered conservatives. The new cases raise the question of whether the same reasoning applies to Title IX.
The Supreme Court in 2021 declined to take up a case about the question of whether transgender students can use school bathrooms that correspond with their gender identities as court battles have continued around the country. On a related issue, the court last year allowed a transgender girl in West Virginia to participate in girls’ sports.
LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, the only national organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ+ leaders to public office, endorsed 14 more out candidates for federal, state and local office around the country. LGBTQ+ Victory Fund has endorsed 82 candidates for the 2024 election cycle.
LGBTQ+ Victory Fund endorses the following candidates:
Elevated to Spotlight status:
Steve Hansen (he/him)
Mayor of Sacramento, CA
Primary: 3/5/2024
General: 11/5/2024
Ethan Weaver (he/him)
Los Angeles City Council, District 4, CA
Primary: 3/5/2024
General: 11/5/2024
Malcolm Kenyatta (he/him)
Pennsylvania Auditor General
Primary: 4/23/2024
General: 11/5/2024
Matthew Park (he/him)
Knox County Commission, District 9, TN
Primary: 3/5/2024
General: 8/1/2024
Non-Incumbent Candidates:
Fidencio Gallardo (he/him)
Los Angeles Unified School Board, District 5, CA
Primary: 3/5/2024
General: 11/5/2024
Monica Martinez (she/her)
Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, District 5, CA
Primary: 3/5/2024
General: 11/5/2024
Nicholas Coppola (he/him)
Delray Beach City Commission, Seat 3, FL
General: 3/19/2024
Nikson Mathews (he/they)
Idaho House of Representatives, District 16B
Primary: 5/7/2024
General: 11/5/2024
Aime Wichtendahl (she/her)
Iowa House of Representatives, District 80
Primary: 6/4/2024
General: 11/5/2024
SK Rossi (they/them)
Montana House of Representatives, District 82
Primary: 8/6/2024
General: 11/5/2024
Lupe Valdez (she/her)
Dallas County Sherif, TX
Primary: 3/8/2024
General: 11/5/2024
Dustin Gettel (he/him)
Salt Lake County Council, At-Large, UT
Primary: 3/30/2024
General: 11/5/2024
DJ Nichols (he/him)
Oshkosh Common Council, At-Large, WI Primary: 2/20/2024
General: 4/2/2024
Incumbent Candidates:
James Coleman (he/him)
South San Francisco City Council, District 4, CA
General: 11/5/2024
Stephen Whitburn (he/him)
San Diego City Council, District 3
Primary: 3/5/2024
General: 11/5/2024
Sarah Malega (she/her)
Lake Worth Beach City Commission, District 1, FL
Primary: 3/19/2024
Laura Bellis (she/her)
Tulsa City Council, District 4, OK
Primary: 6/18/2024
General: 11/5/2024
Ann Johnson
Texas House of Representatives, District 134
LGBTQ+ Victory Fund
LGBTQ+ Victory Fund works to achieve and sustain equality by increasing the number of out LGBTQ+ elected officials at all levels of government while ensuring they reflect the diversity of those they serve. Since 1991, Victory Fund has helped thousands of LGBTQ+ candidates win local, state and federal elections.
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Gender dysphoria diagnoses in the United States increased in all but one state in recent years, suggesting that a growing number of transgender people are seeking health care.
Gender dysphoria “refers to psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity,” according to the American Psychiatric Association.
Not all transgender people experience dysphoria. Treatment can include social shifts, such as wearing different clothing or going by a different name, or medical affirmation, which can involve puberty blockers, hormone treatment, and surgery. Medical treatment — gender-affirming care — typically requires a diagnosis from a health care professional before patients can receive it.
Despite a growing number of states seeking to ban gender-affirming care for minors and restrict the care for adults, more people are beginning to seek it by receiving a diagnosis, a recent report from Definitive Healthcare found.
Virginia, Indiana, and Utah were the states with the greatest increase in diagnoses between 2018 and 2022 The only state to see a decrease was South Dakota, which banned gender-affirming care for minors in 2023.
South Dakota lawmakers had attempted to pass legislation banning care in 2020, which the report stated likely had “the dual chilling effects of reduced access to sympathetic providers and the self-directed seeking of care in states where long-term access was protected.”
The report also noted that “other states with bans on gender-affirming care for youth have seen year-to-year dips in gender dysphoria diagnoses, too,” though this does not necessarily indicate that less transgender residents are seeking care, but rather “possibly indicating that shifting social and political climates have pushed young patients and their parents to seek diagnoses in states that are friendlier to trans people.”
For patients under the age of 18, gender dysphoria diagnoses increased from 17.5 percent to 20.4 percent during the four-year period. The report notes this could be reflective of transgender identities becoming “more accepted by society,” in spite of the legislators pushing health care bans.
The Williams Institute estimates that 1.6 million people in the U.S. are transgender, nearly 20 percent of them being between the ages of 13 and 17. Among transgender youth, 35.1 percent (105,200 total) live in states that have restricted access to gender-affirming care, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
The family of a transgender volleyball player has added a South Florida school district as a defendant in a federal lawsuit that challenges a 2021 state law banning transgender girls from playing on female sports teams, claiming school officials have placed the family in danger.
Attorneys for the family filed an amended complaint Thursday that adds the Broward School Board, the school district’s superintendent and the Florida High School Athletic Association. The school officials had been named as defendants when the lawsuit was initially filed in 2021 but were dropped the next year, leaving just the Florida Department of Education and Education Commissioner Manny Diaz as defendants.
“While we can’t comment on pending litigation, Broward County Public Schools remains committed to following all state laws,” district spokesman John J. Sullivan said in a statement. “The District assures the community of its dedication to the welfare of all its students and staff.”
U.S. District Judge Roy Altman, a Trump appointee, ruled in November that state officials had a right to enforce a 2021 law that bars transgender girls and women from playing on public school teams intended for student athletes identified as female at birth but allowed the family to file an amended complaint.
The law, which supporters named “The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” was championed and signed in by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for president and has leaned heavily into cultural divides on race, sexual orientation and gender.
The transgender student, a Monarch High School 10th grader who played in 33 matches over the past two seasons, was removed from the team in November after the Broward County School District was notified by an anonymous tipster about her participation.
According to the lawsuit, the student has identified as female since before elementary school and has been using a girl’s name since second grade. At age 11 she began taking testosterone blockers and at 13 started taking estrogen to begin puberty as a girl. Her gender has also been changed on her birth certificate.
The girl’s removal from the volleyball team led hundreds of Monarch students to walk out of class in protest. At the same time, Broward Superintendent Peter Licata suspended or temporarily reassigned five school officials pending an investigation, including the girl’s mother, an information technician at the school.
The Associated Press is not naming the student to protect her privacy.
The initial lawsuit didn’t identify the student or her school, but the amended complaint said the family lost all privacy when the school district began its investigation. The student’s mother issued a statement at the time calling the outing of her daughter a “direct attempt to endanger” the girl.
The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ rights organization, has been supporting the family.
“The reckless indifference to the well-being of our client and her family, and all transgender students across the State, will not be ignored,” the group’s litigation strategist, Jason Starr, said in a statement last month.
The administration led by Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has made important progress in the protection of the Amazon, women’s rights, and other rights during 2023, but has failed to tackle the chronic problem of police abuse or defend human rights consistently abroad, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its World Report 2024.
“President Lula ends his first year in office with a mixed record on human rights,” said César Myñoz, acting Brazil director at Human Rights Watch. “He reversed some anti-rights policies of his predecessor, but significant challenges remain, including the use of excessive force by police, which disproportionately affects Black Brazilians, and a foreign policy that fails to promote human rights in a consistent manner.”
In the 740-page World Report 2024, its 34th edition, Human Rights Watch reviews human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In her introductory essay, Executive Director Tirana Hassan says that 2023 was a consequential year not only for human rights suppression and wartime atrocities but also for selective government outrage and transactional diplomacy that carried profound costs for the rights of those not in on the deal. But she says there were also signs of hope, showing the possibility of a different path, and calls on governments to consistently uphold their human rights obligations.
President Lula reversed some of the disastrous anti-environmental policies of his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, during whose term deforestation in the Amazon rose by 53 percent. From January 2023, when Lula took office, to November, Amazon deforestation dropped 50 percent, compared with the same period of 2022, according to preliminary data.
President Lula also broke with Bolsonaro’s anti-Indigenous rights stance, resuming titling of Indigenous lands and appointing the first Indigenous leaders to direct a newly created Indigenous Peoples Ministry and Brazil’s Indigenous affairs agency. In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court also rejected an attempt to block Indigenous people from obtaining title to their traditional lands. Yet, Congress reacted by approving a bill—and later overturning a presidential veto of the bill— that runs counter to the ruling.
Lula’s administration also improved Brazil’s targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions and sent Congress the Escazú Agreement, a regional treaty requiring governments in Latin America and the Caribbean to protect environmental defenders and guarantee access to information and public participation in environmental matters.
But the government failed to contain the destruction of wooded savanna, known as the Cerrado – where deforestation increased by 41 percent by November, according to preliminary data – and has plans to significantly increase both oil and gas production in the coming decade. In December, President Lula announced at the annual United Nations climate conference, COP 28, that Brazil plans to join the OPEC+ group of oil-producing nations as an observer.
The Lula administration introduced a bill to ensure equal pay for women and repealed a regulation that required health professionals to report to police rape survivors seeking to terminate pregnancies. It also resumed an initiative to promote sexual and reproductive health education.
While the Lula administration created a new Racial Equality Ministry, it failed to take decisive measures to tackle the police violence that has taken a disproportionate toll on people of African descent in Brazil. Police have killed more than 6,000 people every year since 2018 – more than 80 percent of them were Black in 2022. From January through June 2023, police killings went up in 16 states, compared to the same period of 2022, data collected by the nongovernmental group Brazilian Public Security Forum show.
Over the last decade, Human Rights Watch has documented serious flaws in investigations led by state police forces known as civil police, including an inquiry in 2023 into the killing of 28 people during an operation by São Paulo police.
While governors oversee state police, the federal government has authority to coordinate the efforts of states and municipalities, develop nationwide public policies, and ensure that federal public security funding is conditioned on reductions in police killings. The Lula administration is reviewing Brazil’s national plan on public security. The plan should include targets and concrete measures to curb killings by police nationwide, Human Rights Watch said. Critically, that plan needs close coordination with the Attorney General’s Office, which should improve police oversight and ask prosecutors to lead investigations into police abuses, instead of letting police investigate themselves.
A key measure to ensure judicial independence and the protection of human rights is having an attorney general who makes decisions based on the law, instead of political interests. In Brazil, that independence has been traditionally preserved by the presidential practice of choosing from a list of three candidates elected by prosecutors across the country. But Lula followed Bolsonaro’s negative example by handpicking a name not on that list.
Brazil’s foreign policy has been inconsistent on human rights under President Lula. His administration advocated for stronger protections for the right to education, and pushed for humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza amid the escalating hostilities in Israel and Palestine.
However, President Lula called concerns about the undermining of democratic institutions in Venezuela a “constructed narrative,” despite the long list of authoritarian actions and abuses by the Nicolas Maduro government.
“President Lula promised that he would bring Brazil back to the world stage,” Muñoz said. “He should use Brazil’s new world profile, including membership in the UN Human Rights Council, the BRICS, and presidency of the G20 in 2024, to promote human rights and condemn abuses regardless of geopolitical interests or the ideology of the government responsible for violations.”
