MPF determines whether Bolsonaro government excluded questions on gender identity from the 2022 Census

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The Federal Public Ministry (MPF) in Acre has opened a preliminary investigation into the suspicion that the 2022 Census excluded issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity, which serve to identify the LGBTQIA+ population in Brazil.

According to Globonews, prosecutor Lucas Costa Almeida Dias ordered“the notice in Notícia de Fato (PRDC) to investigate any irregularity in the 2022 Census, in relation to the non-inclusion of the identification fields of ‘gender identity’ and ‘sexual orientation ‘ in the basic and sample questionnaires”.

The census survey, which should have taken place in 2020, was postponed twice due to lack of funds from the federal government. In May, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) ruled that the government is required, by law, to carry out the Census next year. In October, the reserve of the necessary funds to carry out the survey in 2022 was also ensured

“The Federal Government and IBGE, by failing to carry out the study this year, due to the cut in funds, failed to comply with the specific duty to organize and maintain the official national statistics and geography services – article 21, item XV, of the 1988 Constitution. Thus, they threaten the very normative force of the Major Law”, wrote minister Marco Aurélio Mello, in his decision.

Brazil leader of prejudice

For the 13th consecutive year, Brazil is the country with the highest rate of murdered trans people in the world. According to a survey by the NGO Transgender Europe (TGEU), 41% of all cases of murder of transgender people occurred on Brazilian soil.

Between October 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021, 125 transgender people were killed according to the data presented. 96% of people murdered worldwide were trans women or transfeminized people, with 58% sex workers. The average age of murders is 30 years.

According to Antra, the NGO responsible for collecting this information in Brasil since 2017, most of the data were collected through an established network of trans organizations and LGBTQIA+.“No investment or any action was thought of by the state to face violence against the trans population in the country”, points out the association.