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O ContilNet obtained exclusive access to the complaint that the State Public Ministry (MPAC) offered this Monday (26) to the Court of Justice of Acre (TJAC) against the mayor of Rio Branco, Tião Bocalom, for the alleged crime of racism and homophobia.
The opinion signed by public prosecutor Patrícia Rêgo de Amorim states that Bocalom made prejudiced comments during an interview with a local podcast.
Mayor Tião Bocalom/Photo: ContilNet
At the time, the mayor took a stand against the preliminary classification of the cultural project called “Gay Santa”, in the selection process established by the Public Notice of the Municipal Culture Fund nº 01/2021, from the Fundação de Cultura, Esporte e Lazer Garibaldi Brasil (FGB) .
The project proposed a musical representation aimed at the adult LGBTQIAP+ public, during the Christmas celebrations of that year, in Rio Branco, with a focus on preventing sexually transmitted diseases and combating violent practices aimed at this public.
The complaint quotes, in full, the mayor’s speech about the project:
“[…] I’m not homophobic, but I want respect for our Christian-Jewish culture. You see, the Garibaldi Brasil Foundation has resources to pay for projects that society and organizations set up. Various projects, cultural projects […] they select a large number of projects, and the first selection […] because the selection goes through two phases, a first and a second. In the first selection, this project about ‘Gay Santa Claus’ ended up appearing, you know? […] And obviously it’s something that goes wrong. Let’s be honest, who is Santa Claus for? Isn’t it for children? Grown-ups are not after Santa Claus. Whoever is after Santa Claus is a child, how are you going to keep telling children about Santa being gay? You don’t think that’s bad, do you? Sincerely, I hope you respect my culture, I am Christian […] Inside the city hall, there are a lot of people there who work with us and we know that they are homosexuals, and there is no problem, they work properly, in a good way, but they are already adults. But now you’re going to start talking about gay to little kids? […]”.
“[…] Look, my request is that it doesn’t pass. I’m sorry, if you want to file a lawsuit, you can file a lawsuit, but my request is that it not go through. I want them to respect Christian culture, okay? For a child to start talking about these things is disrespectful, understand? I’m sorry, but I think that, at a certain age, people do what they want and we can deal with that in a good way, but not with children. At the time in Acrelândia, they wanted to give condoms to 7-year-old children and I didn’t let them […]”, he continued.
MPAC understands that Bocalom’s stance “disseminated, in a joking tone, a speech that incites collective hatred and stigmatizes the LGBTQIAP+ population, as it links it to outdated social representations related to lasciviousness, subversion and sin”.
“By qualifying the cultural project as ‘something that is bad’ or as a supposed offense to ‘our Christian-Jewish culture’, without even being aware of the entire content of the proposal, and due exclusively to the effect conveyed by the word ‘gay ‘ in the title, the accused committed serious symbolic violence, which reveals contempt for the diversity and dignity of a social group”, he adds.
The body also asks that Bocalom be heard, in addition to witnesses mentioned in the document. It also recommends, under the terms of the procedural law, that the court condemns him to pay pecuniary compensation for collective moral damages in the amount of R$ 350,000.00 (three hundred and fifty thousand reais), “to be allocated to entities that are dedicated to encouraging raising awareness and combating homophobia and transphobia”.
What does Bocalom say?
When contacted by the ContilNet report, Bocalom said he had not yet been informed about the complaint.
“I am not aware of the complaint, but my lawyers are taking care of this situation. The question is: does she [a promotora] offered the complaint and we will resolve the situation in court”, explained the mayor.
