Sophia Barclay, 25, says she is convinced of one thing. “Not only will the right vote for me, they will also make me the most voted transvestite in Brazil.”
Last week, the influencer announced on social media her pre-candidacy for deputy for Novo-SP. In the photo, she appears with her fist raised and a brooch with the Brazilian flag on her blazer.
The digital house has fallen. The publication accumulated more than 120 thousand likes, but also triggered a barrage of criticism.
Sophia began to be accused of inconsistency for presenting herself as a “right-wing trans” in a field associated with opposition to the rights of the trans population, such as access to specific health policies, the recognition of gender identity and the fight against discrimination.
Reactions came from all sides. Progressives stated that the Brazilian right has a history of denying people like her, Sophia, which would make their electoral bet on this ideological spectrum contradictory. Conservative sectors also came out on top, questioning her identity and saying that she “does not represent the right”.
Most of the negative comments come from the left, mocking their position. These are punctuations along the line “which pronouns should I refer to you with, by those on the left or on the right?”, or the insinuation that she would be like a tree that supports deforestation, a cockroach in favor of insecticide.
Defenders are also there. A man says he is “right-wing” and sympathetic to a trans candidacy with a conservative background. Some followers suggest that Sophia could be a counterpoint to (PSOL-SP), who in 2022 became, together with Duda Salabert (PDT-MG), the first trans deputy in the country.
Sophia has already referred to Erika as a “Shakira from Shopee” interested in taking over the space of “biological women”. One of its flags also goes against the trans movement: criminalizing the idea of the “trans child”.
The agenda, the pre-candidate tells the Sheet“was ideologically kidnapped” and became a political weapon. “Often it fails to represent real people to serve the interests of groups and narratives that do not admit divergence. I defend individual rights, not identity militancy or cultural impositions.”
Unforgiving towards the left, Sophia is more careful when talking about ideological peers. He says he would love to exchange ideas with the deputy (PL-SP), with the trans community. In a symbolic episode, which earned him condemnation in court, he wore a blonde wig on Women’s Day 2023 to, in a speech to Congress, state that “women are losing space to men who feel like women”.
The influencer says that her fight “was never to force anyone to think like me, but to ensure that we can live in a society where respect exists, even in differences.” As for Nikolas, “a young man with an exemplary vision”, he wants to talk to him soon, “because I believe in dialogue as a tool to move forward”.
Sophia was born in Guarulhos (SP) and says she grew up “in a dysfunctional family environment, marked by conflicts, physical and psychological aggression”. He left home at the age of 15 “in search of peace and the possibility of being happy, especially as he faced persecution within his own home.”
Baptized in the Christian Congregation of Brazil, an evangelical denomination with a very conservative profile, she says that faith “played an important role in my formation”. She does not feel constrained by the church, which physically separates men and women in its services. Sophia sits in the women’s section.
The gender transition took place in 2021, during the pandemic. She says that it was always clear to her “that prostitution was not the only possible path for trans women”. She says she worked selling chips on the street, in telemarketing and, finally, as a digital influencer.
On the internet she exposed “a painful experience”: she was a victim of sexual abuse as a child, “unfortunately discredited by my maternal family”.
Another report that projected her: having said that she had a relationship with the player Neymar and the surfer Pedro Scooby together. After being sued, she ended up withdrawing what she said. “At the time, I was induced to say those absurd things by my former manager. I was an easily influenced person”, says the influencer.
A political career only recently attracted her. He opted for the right because he believed that this pole “offers more solid paths to development, autonomy and dignity, without transforming the citizen into a dependent on the State.”
Sympathy for (PL) only came after the 2022 election, in which he voted null for president. “I was studying politics and forming my own thoughts, without following herds or ready-made narratives.” So he opted for Bolsonarism.
“Yes, I started supporting Bolsonaro. He made me wake up, made me see more clearly the political and institutional scenario we are living in. I believe in his innocence. Bolsonaro is an example of a president who governed for everyone, without labels, without dividing the population.”
Bolsonaro, who has already said that he would “beat up” his son if he started “getting a bit gay”, and that for him there are only “men and women”, became a compass for Sophia Barclay. “Today I follow his principles and his stance as a political reference.”
