#duda salabert

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazilian trans women parliamentarians categorized as ‘male’ on their US visas

Visas issued by the US government under Donald Trump use the male term, even though the politicians' documents recognise their female gender

On April 15, 2025, Brazilian federal deputy Erika Hilton reported that when she applied for a United States visa, she was classified as a “male” individual. This was a new situation for her, as in 2023, when she was issued another visa by the US, her gender identity was acknowledged as that of a female person.

The Brazilian parliamentarian said she will summon current US President Donald Trump at the United Nations (UN) to answer for transphobia, and search for other channels at Brazil's Chamber of Deputies, at the National Congress, to denounce the episode as “barbarism, an attack on human rights.” On a post on Twitter (now X), she stated:

"What worries me is that a country is ignoring official documents about the existence of citizens, and altering them according to the narrative and wishes of withdrawing rights of the President of the time."

After Hilton's case was made public, Duda Salabert — another federal deputy and also a trans woman — said she is facing a similar situation. Invited for a class at Harvard,  she said she had been informed by the US government that her new visa would also identify her as a male individual.

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[yourdailyqueer]

Duda Salabert

Gender: Transgender woman

Sexuality: N/A

DOB: Born 1981

Ethnicity: Brazilian

Occupation: Politician (Democratic Labour Party), activist, teacher

Note: First transgender person to serve on the city council of Belo Horizonte 

[gwydionmisha]

Brazil Elects First Two Transgender Members of Congress

In Sunday's election, the nation also sent anti-LGBTQ+ President Jair Bolsonaro to a runoff.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil: Despite death threats, trans candidates run in record numbers for Sunday’s council polls

As trans people have set their sights on political office, many have been met with intimidation efforts bent on turning them away, including a candidate in Brazil’s biggest city who survived an assassination attempt last week.

Benny Briolly radiated confidence as she walked through a concrete favela alleyway, dressed in a stunning snow-white outfit, while volunteers enthusiastically waved campaign flags bearing her image.

As a city councilwoman, Briolly is part of a historic wave of nearly 1,000 transgender politicians vying for office across all 26 states in Brazil this Sunday. This milestone marks a significant increase from the previous local elections four years ago, with the number of transgender candidacies tripling.

According to Brazil’s electoral court, which monitors transgender candidates for the first time, this surge in political participation is noteworthy. Trans rights group Antra had tracked candidacies in the past, but this year’s numbers are unprecedented. Unfortunately, many transgender politicians have faced intimidation and hostility, including a candidate in Brazil’s largest city who narrowly survived an assassination attempt just last week.

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[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Most-voted lawmaker in Brazil state under new investigation for transphobia

Pro-Bolsonaro lawmaker Nikolas Ferreira is under investigation by the Federal Police for allegedly committing the crime of transphobia. On October 3 last year, shortly after the general elections, he posted on X (formerly Twitter) an attack on Congresswoman Duda Salabert, a transgender woman who received more votes than any other woman in Minas Gerais state.

“The most voted woman lawmaker in Minas is Greyce [Elias, a congresswoman who received 110,346 votes]. When biology changes, then you can give the title to the other one. Until then: congratulations, Greyce”, he wrote. Ms. Salabert won 208,332 votes in the election. 

The Public Prosecution Office of Minas Gerais state received an anonymous complaint on October 4, 2022, stating that Mr. Ferreira had disrespected the law with his comments. This November, the agency asked the Federal Police to “open an investigation against Mr. Ferreira for the commission of a crime,” according to a document obtained by The Brazilian Report.

Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that conduct that “involves hateful aversion to someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity” is a crime covered by the law which also covers racism.

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[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazilian left celebrates election wins for trans and Indigenous candidates

Successes in congress as progressive standard bearer Lula is favourite to defeat Bolsonaro in second round of presidential vote

Brazil’s election result was a disappointment for those hoping to see a first-round win for the presidential challenger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva but there were still some reasons to be cheerful for the country’s left.

Not only is Lula favourite to win the 30 October runoff – he need only increase his vote share from 48.4% to 50+1 – but diversity got a boost in a few key parliamentary races.

Two trans candidates were elected to congress for the first time in history, two Indigenous women joined them, and several of the allies who helped get Jair Bolsonaro elected four years ago were given the cold shoulder by voters.

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[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Trans Brazil congresswoman-elect: Election is ‘important step for democracy’

Erika Hilton is a former sex worker, member of São Paulo Municipal Council

One of the two Transgender women who won a seat in the Brazilian Congress in the country’s Oct. 2 elections described her election as an “important step for democracy.”

“I am very happy,” Congresswoman-elect Erika Hilton told the Washington Blade after she spoke at a rally in support of former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in São Paulo’s Praça Roosevelt. “We have a history of (lacking) resources and a great need to occupy spaces. This election shows that we plan to make a different history through what we have lived up until this point.”

“I am confident,” added Hilton. “I am worried.”

Hilton, 29, is a Black travesti and former sex worker who won a seat on the São Paulo Municipal Council in 2016. The member of the leftist Socialism and Liberty Party is among the 10 congressional candidates in São Paulo state who received the most votes on Oct. 2.

Belo Horizonte Municipal Councilwoman Duda Salabert, who is a member of the leftist Democratic Labor Party, also won her congressional race in Minas Gerais state. Salabert in a video she posted to her Twitter account noted she received the highest number of votes of any congressional candidate in her state’s history.

Salabert and Hilton are two of the 18 openly LGBTQ+ candidates who won their respective races.

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[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Elected Trans Deputies in Brazil Want Discussion to Go beyond Identity Issues

Congress will have for the first time transgender parliamentarians, Duda Salabert (PDT-MG) and Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP)

"The prejudiced structure wants to limit us to discussing only the so-called identity agendas", says federal deputy Duda Salabert (PDT-MG), one of the first transgender parliamentarians elected in the history of the National Congress.

In an unprecedented feat, Salabert and Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP), two trans women, will occupy seats in the Chamber of Deputies starting in 2023. A councilor for the city of São Paulo (SP), Hilton received almost 257 thousand votes.

Salabert, who is a city councilor in Belo Horizonte (MG), had just over 208,000 votes. The agendas related to the LGBTQIA+ community will be present in the work of the parliamentarians, but they do not intend to limit themselves to those.

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