Brazil’s Supreme Court rules that homophobia is punishable by prison

In a 9-1 ruling, the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled that homophobic slurs are now punishable by prison. With this, homophobic hate speeches are now on the same legal level as racist hate speech, also already punishable by prison in Brazil.

In his ruling, the lead judge on the case – Justice Edson Fachin – was quoted as saying that it was a “constitutional imperative” to give LGBTQIA citizens equal protection under the law.

The court actually already ruled in 2019 that homophobia is a crime, just like racism.

Hate speech is punishable by prison terms of two to five years in Brazil.