President Trump, Secretary of State Joe Pompeo and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley tweeted congratulations this week to Brazil’s new far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, a self-proclaimed “proud homophobe” who once said he would rather have a dead son than a gay son.
Bolsonaro also once said a female politician was too ugly to be raped and, during the recent presidential campaign, suggested that his opponent should be shot.
But that didn’t stop Trump, Pompeo and Haley from tweeting effusive congratulations to Bolsonaro, who took office Jan. 1.
“Congratulations to President @JairBolsonaro who just made a great inauguration speech – the U.S.A. is with you!” Trump wrote today.
Congratulations to President @JairBolsonaro who just made a great inauguration speech – the U.S.A. is with you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2019
“Great meeting President @jairbolsonaro to reinforce our shared commitment to democracy, education, prosperity, security, and #humanrights. Look forward to working together to support those suffering in #Cuba, #Nicaragua, and #Venezuela under the weight of dictatorships,” tweeted Pompeo.
Great meeting President @jairbolsonaro to reinforce our shared commitment to democracy, education, prosperity, security, and #humanrights. Look forward to working together to support those suffering in #Cuba, #Nicaragua, and #Venezuela under the weight of dictatorships. pic.twitter.com/GQ5SP24Rl7
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 2, 2019
Haley started a new Twitter account on Tuesday by tweeting her own praise for Bolsonaro. “Congratulations to Brazil’s new President Bolsonaro. It’s great to have another U.S.-friendly leader in South America, who will join the fight against dictatorships in Venezuela and Cuba, and who clearly understands the danger of China’s expanding influence in the region,” she wrote.
Congratulations to Brazil’s new President Bolsonaro. It’s great to have another U.S.-friendly leader in South America, who will join the fight against dictatorships in Venezuela and Cuba, and who clearly understands the danger of China’s expanding influence in the region.
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) January 2, 2019
In 2011, Bolsonaro told Playboy magazine he would “be incapable of loving a homosexual son.” “I won’t be a hypocrite: I prefer a son to die in an accident than show up with a mustachioed guy. He’d be dead to me anyway,” Bolsonaro said.
Bolsonaro has also suggested that parents should beat their gay children until they are heterosexual. In 2013 he said, “Yes, I’m homophobic — and very proud of it.”
In a 2013 interview with Stephen Fry – which the British actor called “one of the most chilling confrontations I’ve ever had with a human being” – Bolsonaro declared that “homosexual fundamentalists” were brainwashing children to “become gays and lesbians to satisfy them sexually in the future.” Bolsonaro declared: “Brazilian society doesn’t like homosexuals.”
Bolsonaro was also criticized in 2014 after suggesting a female colleague was too unattractive to “deserve” to be raped. “She doesn’t deserve to be raped, because she’s very ugly,” Bolsonaro said. “She’s not my type. I would never rape her. I’m not a rapist, but if I were, I wouldn’t rape her because she doesn’t deserve it.”
On his first day in office, Bolsonaro issued executive orders rolling back environmental protections and removed LGBT concerns from Brazil’s new human rights ministry.
LGBT groups in Brazil are deeply concerned about the Bolsonaro presidency. “This is a major worry for us,” Rivania Rodrigues, a member of the Pernambuco LGBTQ Forum, told NBC News. “This is not just a question of partisan politics: It’s a question of survival.”
Rodrigues said that anti-gay harassment has risen in Brazil ever since Bolsonaro started leading in the presidential polls. “There’s always someone shouting from a car, ‘You are all going to die now,'” she told NBC.
