Brazil Marks Their First National Gay Conference By Arresting A Gay Soldier

Moments before president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil was to address his country’s first national gay rights’ conference, Brazilian military police surrounded a Sao Paulo TV station to arrest an army sergeant participating in an interview with his boyfriend.

The ministry of defence says the sergeant is to be questioned about alleged desertion from the military and there is no question of discrimination.

No, none at all! We’re sure the arrest has nothing to do with a certain magazine cover he and his lover just graced. Arm in arm. In a loving and creepy-but-hot, gay twin embrace.

Sgt Laci Marinho de Araujo and his partner, who is also a sergeant in the Brazilian army, featured on the front page of Epoca magazine.

They gave an interview in which they talked openly about living together as a gay couple.

The two soldiers said they had been in a stable relationship for 10 years.

Well, that must be the problem. Everyone in Brazil is supposed to be taking part in a non-stop orgy. Seriously, we had no idea there was even such a thing as sexual mores over there. (Hell, we didn’t even know there was such a thing as an army over there.) But the G-people say no. It has nothing to do with that.

The sergeant, who says [he] is being treated for a variety of medical problems including multiple sclerosis, was recently absent from his unit, and the army says he is accused of desertion.

The sickness part is true. In fact, they moved him from his hospital bed to the capital city of Brasilia. Wow! If there’s a hell, we’re pretty sure there’s a special layer for the kind of people who interrogate sick veterans.

Gay soldier’s fate grips Brazil [BBC]
Eles são do exército. Eles são parceiros. Eles são gays. [Época]