MURDER OF TRANSEXUAL IN PORTUGAL AND THE ON-GOING
ATTEMPT TO SILENCE
IT:
URGENT APPEAL TO INTERNATIONAL ACTION!
THE APPEAL
Towards a terrible murder that more and more is
becoming a hate crime,
towards the biased omition of the sexual and
transphobic component of
the
crime, towards the confused reaction of most LGBT
portuguese
associations
that contributed to the huge amount of mediatic
confusion and
desinformation, because they weren´t able to inform
correctly about the
victim's identity nor about the diference between
homophobia and
transphobia, towards the openly mediatic and political
attempt of
minimization of the crime, of the omition of the
"hate" component in
the
death of a person, who acumulate so many social
exclusions, towards the
attempt to blame the victim, and the public
"silencing" of this case,
we
appeal to the urgent support of all LGBT colectives
and entities all
over
the world:
- to denounce as widely as you can the facts
occured in
Portugal,
specially in the movements and national and
international media;
- to protest - with knowledge to the
portuguese LGBT
associations-
near the portuguese Government, official entities,
political parties
and
media because the way they are dealing with this case
(the contacts are
in
the end of this message). The model letter, also in
the end of this
message,
can be used to do it;
- to manifest near this same entities and
portuguese LGBT
movement
your solidarity with the efforts made to change this
dramatic
situation.
- WE FIND IT FUNDAMENTAL, AT THIS POINT, A
STRONG
INTERNATIONAL
PRESSURE OVER PORTUGAL.
ABOUT THE FACTS
Gisberta, brasilian imigrant, transexual, HIV
positive, having drug
problems, sex-worker and homeless, was found dead on
the 22th of
February
inside a pit 10 metres deep, in an unfinished building
in Oporto, the
second
biggest portuguese city. The crime was confessed by a
group of 14 boys,
between 10 and 16 years old, most of them coming from
a child
protection
institution belonging to the Catholic Church although
financed by the
state.
>From this confession, details of the dreadful act are
being known. The
victim had a deeply fragile health condition, and she
was frenquently
chassed by this boys, with insults and harassment. On
the 19th, a group
of
this boys entered the unfinished and abandoned
building where Gisberta
was
staying, tied her up, gagged and assaulted her with
extreme violence,
kicking her, and beating her up with sticks and
stones. The group also
confessed to have introduced sticks in Gisberta's
anus, whose body
presented
great injuries, and have abandoned her at the scene.
Her body presents
also
cigarette burning marks.
On the 20th and 21st, they have returned to the scene
and repeated the
aggresions. By dawn, from the 21st to 22nd, they
finnally threw her to
the
pit, attempting to hide the crime. The autopsy will
clarify if she was
still
alive. Since her body wasn't floating, yet submerged
in the bottom of
the
pit, indicates that she died drowned.
ABOUT THE REACTIONS AND THE GENERAL TRANSPHOBIA
This case was widely spread by the portuguese media on
the 23rd and
24th in
a biased and erroneous way. While some of the
portuguese media
mentioned the
murder of a "tranvestite", most of them mentioned only
her "homeless",
or
"homeless, sex worker, drug addict " condition.
Gisberta was, also in
some
media, called Gisberto, her (masculine)legal name.
According with this
omition, and even before any details about the murder
or about the
identity
and personal caractheristics of the victim were
knowed, many
newspapers, in
opinion columns, printed articles from opinion-makers
(already knowed
in
Portugal for their personal oposition to LGBT rights),
defendind that
this
couldn't be considered as a "hate crime", and that it
wouldn't be
legitim to
consider any connection with Gisberta's transexuality
amoung the
motivations
to the crime. Usually, the arguments were around the
under age of most
agressors.
At the same time were, and still are, ignored by the
media the press
releases of the portuguese lgbt associations,
including the Panteras
Rosa
and the trans association (@t), clarifying the
"transexuality" and
victims
identity, demanding legal and social measures against
discriminations
and
protection against hate crimes motivated by gender
identity, sexual
orientation, social condition, disease or national
origin, though it
was
vaguelly mentioned a solidarity vigilance (a citizen's
iniciative
supported
by the lbgt associations) in the 24th evening, but,
once again, the
media
ignored the arguments of the associations, asking the
transexuality of
the
victim to be mentioned, as well as the transphobic
discrimination as
one of
probable crime motivations.
Avoiding mentioning "hate crime" with the argument of
the under age of
the
agressors, with the exception of a few politicians
that expressed their
personal opinion, no portuguese political party gave
any declaration
nor
condemned this crime. From the Government, the only
reaction came from
the
minister responsable for this under age institutions,
that simply
stated
"the feeling of shock", without any more words or
comments, and
demanded an
inquiry to the institution where the agressors were.
These, with the
exception of a 16 year boy, already criminaly
rsponsable and who is
alrealy
in preventive inprisionment, were sent back to the
institution and are
in a
semi-liberty regime. None other measure is know to be
taken towards the
agressors. Psicological support for the 10 year old
boys, for example?
No photo of the victim was printed in most newspapers.
The media and
the
opinion-makers focused the "shock" of the crime in the
under age of the
agressors, and not in the death of a citizen. They
gave voice to
insinuations of the responsable priest for the under
age institution,
that
even said publicly that a boy from the institution was
being "abused"
by a
pedophile, and this would be a "extenuating
circumstance". These
declarations didn't lead to the publication of any
reaction. Contrary
to the
current praxis, the data revealed on the 24th about
the victim's
sexual
harassment, aswell the possibility of Gisberta was
still alive when she
thonwed at the pit, were only printed by a Oporto's
newspaper. Only
four
days after the crime was denounced, the media silence
about it is
almost
absolut, and everything signs that it will remain this
way.
Jó Bernardo
Sérgio Vitorino
--------------------------
Saturday, 25th February 2006
Press Release
Panteras Rosa Movement - Combat front against
homophobia
ªt - Study and defence of the rights to gender
identity Association
Murder of Gisberta
Of crime, of hate, of the silencing in course, of our
anger.
Probably thrown into the trench while still alive.
Victim not only of
aggression but also of sexual abuse. Day by day our
indignation grows
with
the way that Gisberta's murder has been published,
commented and
attenuated.
We think it's odd that today's television reports
ignore the shocking
information released by the Portuguese newspaper
"Jornal de Notícias":
there
is an obvious sexual component in this crime. Should
it to be ignored
that
the victim was submitted to a particular kind of
torture, like the
insertion of objects in the anus?
The priest Lino Maia, president of the IPSS's Union,
stated yesterday
that
the boys would have "attenuating circumstances",
because of a presumed
molestation from a pedophile to a colleague. In the
presence of a
murder,
the church tries to blame the LGBT population,
associating it once
again to
child molestation. This declaration only reinforces
the conviction of
discriminatory motivation. The priest tries to excuse
the institution
he
runs and the boys he's responsable for: by saying that
the they did
"justice
with their own hands" to respond to a presumed
victim's non-related
episode,
he is precisely defining a hate crime.
"How was it possible?", asks yesterday's newspaper
'Público'. "How was
it
possible that it hasn't happened before?", we answer
-Don't we know the
child protection system is just the continuation of
abandon and
maltreatment? Don't we know of the violence and social
exclusion and
how it
is promoted in Portugal? Don't we know of the
discrimination towards
homeless people, HIV positives, prostitutes,
homosexuals, gypsies,
immigrants, and specially transsexuals that even in
the Gay community
are
highly excluded?
In 'Público' we may read "more likely an unconscious
act than
premeditated".
What is unconscious and not premeditated in the
transphobic insult and
in
four continuum days of aggression, extreme violence,
torture and sexual
abuse? Of throwing a body in a trench without checking
if it was still
alive?
It's shameful that even today the media don't
recognise the difference
between a transsexual and a crossdresser, homophobia
and transphobia,
sexual
orientation and gender identity. Journalists should
put in serious
question
their professional conscience, their own
preconceptions, the approaches
by
the media to the LGBT rights, with special incidence
over the
transexual
population, the more mocked, and disadvantaged and
misunderstood in the
media universe and society.
Part of the social communication only referred to
Gisberta as a
"homeless"
person. It's not up to journalists - or anybody else -
to decide if it
was
the "homeless" feature - or another - that motivated
this murder.
Unfortunately, it's up to the prejudice. Gisberta
accumulated multiple
exclusions; none of them can be omitted. She was a
transsexual and
transphobia victim. More than enumerate these
exclusions, for we still
don't
know much on what really happened, to omit some is to
hide probable
explanatory elements of this crime, without
information that supports
it,
and it is a grosse manipulation and reinforcement of
discrimination.
It's outrageous the silence of the political parties,
even with the
predictable argument that it won't be wise to talk
about "hate crime"
with
children involved. The issue is not to "criminalise"
children of under
age.
The state should assume the responsibilities he never
assumed in taking
care
of those that are "young". It should punish those in
the age of being
responsable. But do not mix up "children" with "16
year-old youth" that
know
what killing means and - not forgetting the dramatic
age from most of
the
group - do not attenuate the crime in itself and the
prejudice in it.
The
feelings that generate hate are of the responsibility
of adults and
those
who run the country.
We wont ask ourselves if children are capable of
hating. Portuguese
society
hates, and it's in it that children grow. Anti-LGBT
(and other) hate,
especially transphobia, is a serious social problem
that reproduces
itself
among generations. The real question is, and can oly
be, within the
combat
measures and prevention of the discrimination and
inequalities in it's
whole - in the LGBT specific case, in the recognition
of social rigths
and
equality and social legitimation. Yes, this time the
crime was comitted
by
"young" people. But the transphobic, homophobic
aggressions in Portugal
that
have risen in the last couple of years, were not, and
the invariable
rule
has been its silencing and forgetfulness.
How about the next crime? Will we wait for one
comitted by adults to
stand
up with a position? And to aggravate the laws (not in
function of age)
to
protect against crimes and discrimination based on
social condition,
desease, transphobia, homophobia, etc? To implement
sexual education
against
prejudice in schools? To face the living hell that is
the system of
child
(un)protection in this country? To invest in equality
policies?
ªt. - Associação para o Estudo e Defesa do Direito à
Identidade de
Género
(Association for the study and defense to the rigth to
Gender Identity)
*
Trav. do Monte do Carmo,1 1200-276 Lisbon - Portugal *
Tel. + 351 21
324 03
46 * Fax. + 351 21 324 03 47 * e-mail. a.trans@???
* site.
http://a-trans.planetaclix.pt
Contact: Jó Bernardo + 351 91 760 68 65 /
jo_bernardo@???
Panteras Rosa - Frente de Combate à Homofobia (Pink
Panthers -Combat
Front
Against Homophobia) * Apartado 1323 - 1009-001 Lisbon
- Portugal *
Panteras.Rosas@??? *
www.panterasrosa.blogspot.com
Contact: Sérgio Vitorino + 351 91 941 46 13 /
svitorino@???
SUGGESTION OF PROTEST LETTER
We have just known that Gisberta, brasilian imigrant,
transexual, HIV
positive, drug user, sex worker and homeless, was
found dead on the
22th of
February in an unfinished building in the city of
Oporto, and that the
crime
was confessed by a group of 14 boys, aged from 10 to
16 years old, most
of
them coming from a child protection institution.
We were also informed that the victim had a deeply
fragile health
condition,
and she was frenquently chassed by these boys, with
insults and
harassment.
That on the 19th, a group of this boys entered the
unfinished and
abandoned
building where Gisberta was staying, tied her up,
gagged and assaulted
her
with extreme violence, kicking her, and beating her up
with sticks and
stones. That the group also confessed to have
introduced sticks in
Gisberta's
anus, whose body presented great injuries, and have
abandoned her at
the
scene. That her body presents also cigarette burning
marks. That on the
20th
and 21st, they have returned to the scene and repeated
the aggresions.
That
by dawn, from the 21st to 22nd, they finnally threw
her to the pit,
attempting to hide the crime. That the autopsy will
clarify if she was
still
alive, since her body wasn't floating, yet submerged
in the bottom of
the
pit, indicates that she died drowned.
This case was widely spread by the portuguese media on
the 23rd and
24th in
a biased and erroneous way. While some of the
portuguese media
mentioned the
murder of a "tranvestite", most of them mentioned only
her "homeless",
or
"homeless, sex worker, drug addict " condition.
Gisberta was, also in
some
media, called Gisberto, her (masculine)legal name.
According with this
omition, and even before any details about the murder
or about the
identity
and personal caractheristics of the victim were
knowed, many
newspapers, in
opinion columns, printed articles from opinion-makers
(already knowed
in
Portugal for their personal oposition to LGBT rights),
defendind that
this
couldn't be considered as a "hate crime", and that it
wouldn't be
legitim to
consider any connection with Gisberta's transexuality
amoung the
motivations
to the crime. Usually, the arguments were around the
under age of most
agressors.
We have also known that at the same time were, and
still are, being
ignored
by the media the press releases of the portuguese lgbt
associations,
including the Panteras Rosa and the trans association
(@t), clarifying
the
"transexuality" and victims identity, demanding legal
and social
measures
against discriminations and protection against hate
crimes motivated by
gender identity, sexual orientation, social condition,
disease or
national
origin, though it was vaguelly mentioned a solidarity
vigilance (a
citizen's
iniciative supported by the lbgt associations) in the
24th evening,
but,
once again, the media ignored the arguments of the
associations, asking
the
transexuality of the victim to be mentioned, as well
as the transphobic
discrimination as one of probable crime motivations.
It becomes clear that, by avoiding mentioning "hate
crime" with the
argument
of the under age of the agressors, with the exception
of a few
politicians
that expressed their personal opinion, no portuguese
political party as
such
took a stand nor condemned this crime. From the
Government, the only
reaction came from the minister responsable for this
under age
institutions,
that simply stated "the feeling of shock", without any
more words or
comments, and demanded an inquiry to the institution
where the
agressors
were. These, with the exception of a 16 year boy,
already criminaly
responsable and who is alrealy in preventive
inprisionment, were sent
back
to the institution and are in a semi-liberty regime.
None other measure
is
known to be taken towards the agressors. Psicological
support for the
10
year old boys, for example?
- We find odd that no photo of the victim was
printed in most
newspapers. The media and the opinion-makers focused
the "shock" of the
crime in the under age of the agressors, and not in
the death of a
citizen.
They gave voice to insinuations of the responsable
priest for the under
age
institution, that even said publicly that a boy from
the institution
was
being "abused" by a pedophile, and this would be a
"extenuating
circumstance". These declarations didn't lead to the
publication of
any
reaction. Contrary to the current praxis, the data
revealed on the 24th
about the victim's sexual harassment, aswell the
possibility of
Gisberta
being still alive when she was throwed at the pit,
were only printed by
an
Oporto's newspaper. Only four days after the crime was
denounced, a
sudden
media silence about it is almost absolut, and
everything
- Uma situação de desrespeito pelos direitos
humanos mais
elementares, que não podemos qualificar apenas de
inadmissível num país
da
União Europeia em pleno século XXI.
Facing a terrible murder that configurates as a most
likely hate crime,
facing tendencious omitions of the sexual and
transphobic component of
the
crime, facing an aparent mediatical and political
attempt of
devalorizing of
the crime itself, facing the omition of the "hate"
component in the
death of
a person that acumulated so many social exclusions,
facing attempts to
responsabilise the victim, and publicly silencing this
case, we came
this
way to express:
- our complete solidarity with the victim and
the portuguese
activists that are trying to clear the facts and
honour the memory of
Gisberta, and demading prevention and combat measures
against the
discrimations, without excludind protective
legistation against the
transphobic, lesbophobic, homophobic and biphobic
discrimination and
violence;
- our demand of respect for the positions
defended by the same
activists and efectivation of the measures that they
have been
defending as
urgent;
- our complete incomprehension of the way the
portuguese
political
responsable and media are dealing with the crime, of
the manipulation
of the
facts and the absence of adequate answers to the
described situation.
- A situation that, being confirmed,
represents a total
desrespect
for the most elementar humam rights, that cannot be
qualified only as
unnaceptable in a country of the European Union, XXI
century.
CONTACTS FOR SENDING PROTESTS:
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC
belem@???
MINISTER'S COUNCIL PRESIDENCY write on-line at
http://www.portugal.gov.pt/Portal/PT/Geral/Contactos
(limit 4000 c.)
GOVERNMENT
Primeiro Ministro pm@???
Secretário de Estado Adjunto do Primeiro-Ministro
gseapm@???
Ministro de Estado e da Administração Interna
gabinete.ministro@???
Secretário de Estado Adjunto e da Administração Local
gseaal@???
Ministro de Estado e dos Negócios Estrangeiros
ministro@???
Ministro dos Assuntos Parlamentares map@???
Secretário de Estado da Juventude e do Desporto
sejd@???
Ministro do Trabalho e da Solidariedade Social
gmtss@???
Secretário de Estado da Segurança Social
gabinete.sess@???
Secretário de Estado do Emprego e Formação
Profissional
gseef@???
Secretária de Estado Adjunta e da Reabilitação
gabinete.sear@???
Ministra da Educação gme@???
Secretário de Estado Adjunto e da Educação
se.adj-educacao@???
Secretário de Estado da Educação se.educacao@???
Ministro da Saúde gms@???
Secretário de Estado da Saúde gses@???
Ministra da Cultura gmc@???
Secretário de Estado da Cultura gsec@???
Governo civil porto info@???
CATHOLIC CHURCH
Secretariado Diocesano de Pastoral Juvenil (SDPJ)
juventude@???
Bispo Auxiliar do Porto
domantoniocarrilho@???
Bispo Diocesano do Porto domarmindo@???
PARLIAMENT
GABINETE DO PRESIDENTE DA ASSEMBLEIA DA REPÚBLICA
gabpar@???
POLITICAL PARTIES - PARLAMENTARY GROUPS
Grupo Parlamentar do Partido Socialista
gp_ps@???
Grupo Parlamentar do Partido Social Democrata
gp_psd@???
Grupo Parlamentar do Partido Comunista Português
gp_pcp@???
Grupo Parlamentar do Partido Popular
gp_pp@???
Grupo Parlamentar do Bloco de Esquerda
blocoar@???
Grupo Parlamentar do Partido Ecologista "Os Verdes"
PEV.correio@???
LGBT COLLECTIVES
Associação Ursos de Portugal info@???
ILGA Portugal ilga-portugal@???
Opus Gay anser@???
rede ex aequo rede@???
Clube Safo clubesafo@???
PortugalGay.PT info@???
não te prives naoteprives@???
Grupo Lilás revista_lilas@???
Panteras Rosa Panteras.Rosa@???
ªT. a.trans@???
PRESS E TV'S:
Impresa ( Expresso, Visão) impresa@???
Contacto para Imprensa Clix imprensa@???
Jornal Público publico@???
Jornal de Notícias noticias@???
Diário de Notícias - dnot@???
Rádio TSF - write on-line (small blue button at the
left side - "fale
connosco") -
http://tsf.sapo.pt/online/primeira/default.asp
Correio da Manhã - direccao@??? ;
reportagem@??? ;
geral@??? ; geral@??? ;
redaccao@???
Agência LUSA - agencialusa@??? ;
dinformacao@??? ;
redaccao@??? ; nacional@???
RTP - write on-line:
http://www.rtp.pt/wportal/participe/formulario.php
TVI - write on-line (at the link for "direcção de
informação - aqui"):
http://www.tvi.iol.pt/artigo.php?id=373399#
SIC/ SIC-NOTÍCIAS contacto@??? ; atendimento@???
__________________________________________________
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