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A Brazilian presidential hopeful came out as gay this week in a country ruled by a self-described “proud homophobe.”
Eduardo Leite, the governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, made the announcement during a TV interview Thursday with Globo TV.
“I’m gay – and I’m a governor who is gay rather than a gay governor. Just as Obama in the United States wasn’t a black president, but a president who was black. And I’m proud of this,” said Leite, 36, a member of the center-right Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB).
The announcement was treated with a huge outpouring of support in the South American country, both from politicians and LGBT activists.
“You’ve made history,” said Toni Reis, an LGBT activist, in a Facebook posting.
Leite plans to challenge Brazil’s right-wing leader Jair Bolsonaro, who once told an interviewer in 2013 that “Brazilian society doesn’t like homosexuals.”
Last month, Bolsonaro mocked Leite when he said that the governor hid federal resources in his backside. Leite told Globo TV that he was considering filing a criminal complaint against the president because of the remark.
Presidential elections are scheduled to take place next year in Brazil.
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