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João António de Souza Mascarenhas
(October 24, 1927 - 1998) Brazil

de Souza Mascarenhas

Activist

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Born into a prosperous cattle-ranching family in Pelotas, in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, an appropriate birthplace since Pelotas has a reputaton as a gay city in Brazilian folk mythology, he trained as a lawyer and spent some time in Paris after the war before settling in 1956 in Rio de Janeiro. There he spent the rest of his life, although always retaining strong emotional links with his native state.

He worked for a time as an official in the agrarian reform institute but resigned after the military coup of 1964. Apart from a brief return to the civil service following the redemocratisation of Brazil, he lived on his private means, which allowed him to devote much of his time to the gay movement.

Unusually among middle-class Brazilians, where reticence was the norm, Mascarenhas was completely open about his homosexuality, arguing that this was the best defence against blackmail. In 1972 a friend lent him some Brithish gay liberation pamphlets and copies of Gay Sunshine (published in San Francisco), which acted as a revelation. Later he joined the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) and for many years he was the unofficial "foreign minister" of the Brazilian gay movement.

His legal training and knowledge of languages allowed him to follow developments in the more progressive European countries and propose campaigns for the fledging Brazilian movement. His campaigns gradually brought gay issues into the mainstream of Brazilian politics and paved the way for later initiatives, such as the proposal to recognise gay partnership.

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Source: excerpts from: Aldrich R. & Wotherspoon G., Who's Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History, from WWII to Present Day, Routledge, London, 2001

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