Influencer goes to prison for ‘misgendering’ politician in Brazil

(LifeSiteNews) – A Christian Brazilian influencer was sentenced last month to two years in prison for “misgendering” a trans-identified politician.

Bianca Barreto was convicted under Brazil’s “social racism” law that criminalizes “homophobia” and “transphobia.” The 9th Criminal Court of Salvador ruled July 29 that she is guilty of the “intentional and pejorative use of the gender opposite … (to a) self-declared identity.”

As Reduxx reported, the sentence stems from a 2024 video posted online by Barreto in which she criticized Duda Salabert, a member of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies. Salabert, a man who identifies as a woman, is a member of the leftist Socialism and Liberty Party.

In Barreto’s video, she discussed an earlier “transphobia” case involving Salabert and Member of Parliament Nikolas Ferreira. The conservative MP, who is also a member of the Chamber of Deputies, was a rival of Salabert in a 2020 local election in Belo Horizonte and said in an interview that he would refer to his opponent with male pronouns.

“He is a man. That’s what’s on his birth certificate, regardless of what he thinks,” Ferreira said in an interview at the time.

Salabert filed a criminal complaint against Ferreira, referring to the 2019 judgment by Brazil’s Supreme Court, which classified “homophobia” and “transphobia” as crimes of “social racism.” While the criminal case was later dismissed on procedural grounds, Ferreira was forced to pay Salabert R$30,000 ($5,885 USD) in 2023 in a separate civil lawsuit.

Barreto said in her 2024 video that Salabert is “a guy who says he’s a trans woman, but he’s married to a woman and has a son or daughter.”

She said that whatever “she does in her private life is not my problem. Now, it will always be a problem when these people try to impose things on us that are not real, that are a product of her imagination. By ‘her’ I mean the person, because a man is a man, a woman is a woman, and that’s it.”

Salabert then filed a criminal complaint against the Christian influencer as well.

Barreto argued her content was part of legitimate political discourse and that she did not encourage hate or violence against gender-confused individuals.

The judge claimed that it was “marginalization” to refer to a man who thinks he is a woman with male pronouns. He argued that the recognition of self-declared gender identity is mandatory in Brazil since the 2019 Supreme Court ruling because it is an “inseparable element of personality rights and the dignity of the human person.” The judge furthermore said that “the deliberate use of biological sex at birth to ridicule and disqualify the social identity of a trans woman in a public arena is not merely an exercise of opinion; it is an act that refuses to recognize her citizenship.”

Barreto will serve her sentence in a form of house arrest, with her movement being restricted, and she will have to check in with a judge or police officer regularly. She also has to pay damages of R$20,000 (around $3,800 USD).

Her legal team announced that it would appeal the decision because they believe it “does not correspond to the legal understanding of the defense regarding the facts and evidence contained in the case file,” and that therefore “all applicable appeal measures will be taken within the legal timeframe, with the aim of submitting the matter to the competent authorities for review.”

Her lawyers also argued that this reading of the law violates fundamental rights guaranteed by the Brazilian Constitution such as freedoms of expression, conscience, belief, and religious manifestation.

Clarice Saadi of Brazilian women’s rights advocacy group MATRIA told Reduxx that the country is experiencing a wave of censorship at the hands of transgender activists.

“Bianca Barreto’s conviction represents another step in a growing series of court decisions that are imposing on society — and especially on women — the obligation to refer to men as women under the threat of criminal sanctions, something that is only happening in Brazil,” Saadi stated.

“Referring to someone as ‘sir’ or using masculine pronouns for a man is a basic rule of language and should not be treated as an offense. These are ordinary forms of address in Portuguese and refer to the objective perception of a person’s sex. If stating that a male person is a man can be treated as a crime, then the State is punishing people for describing reality,” the women’s rights activist continued.

“The State should not require everyone to adopt a particular view of sex, gender identity, and language, nor should it turn the acknowledgment of reality into a criminal offense,” she concluded.