Military Police in Indaial, Santa Catarina, Brazil, arrested a 48-year-old woman at her workplace on Monday, November 2, on suspicion of transphobia, after a 28-year-old supervisor who identifies as a woman complained about remarks concerning use of the women’s bathroom.
Officers gave her “voz de prisão” (a verbal order of arrest) around 7 a.m. in the Benedito neighbourhood and took her to the Civil Police in Blumenau. What she said is in dispute.
The two sides disagree on what was said. According to the supervisor, the woman called the colleague “um homem vestido de mulher” (our translation: “a man dressed as a woman”). According to the woman, she “só disse que a líder era uma pessoa transgênero” (our translation: “only said the leader was a transgender person”).
The headline of local station RC FM quotes the words “Você não deveria estar aqui” (our translation: “You should not be here”). The page does not say who actually spoke them.
The case was registered “em tese” (provisionally) as transphobia under Brazil’s racism law. The Supreme Federal Court extended that law to homophobia and transphobia in 2019, by 8 votes to 3.
Article 20 of the law sets a penalty of “reclusão de um a três anos e multa” (our translation: one to three years’ imprisonment and a fine) for practising, inducing or inciting discrimination or prejudice.
One outlet, Portal RBV, gives a range of one to five years. The law’s text says one to three.
An arrest is not a conviction.
Reduxx, an English-language outlet, also reported the case. Witnesses reportedly declined to give statements, and no camera footage was reported.
No officer or police chief is named in any report, and the person who decided to record the case as transphobia has not been identified.
It is also not known whether she has been released, or whether a formal arrest in the act (flagrante) was recorded. One outlet says she was arrested “em flagrante,” and others do not use the term.
