Jean Wyllys (born Jean Wyllys de Matos Santos on 10 March 1974 in

Alagoinhas Alagoinhas is a city in the Brazilian state of Bahia. It is located at around . It was founded in 1852. In 1974, the city was made the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Alagoinhas The Roman Catholic Diocese of Alagoinhas ( la, Dioecesis ...

, Bahia,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

) is a Brazilian lecturer, journalist and politician who rose to fame after winning the fifth season of ''

Big Brother Brasil ''Big Brother Brasil'' (commonly abbreviated to ''BBB'') is the Brazilian version of the Big Brother reality franchised television show based on the original Dutch television series of the same name, that was created in 1997 by John de Mol. I ...

''. He was also notable as being Brazil's second openly gay member of parliament and the first congressman who was a gay-rights activist.''Jean Wyllys, Brazil's first openly gay MP, takes fight to the religious right''
Guardian, retrieved 27 January 2012 He has been compared to

Harvey Milk Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised in N ...

for his work. In 2019, citing death threats, he gave up on his Congress seat.

Life

Wyllys was born in

, in the north-eastern state of

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

, one of seven children. His mother was a washerwoman and his father a car painter who suffered from alcoholism. Wyllys attended a boarding school which gave him the opportunity to get a better education than the average child in his village. Wyllys later moved to

Salvador Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to: * Salvador (name) Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music ** ''Salvador'' ( ...

and completed his degree in journalism at the

Federal University of Bahia The Federal University of Bahia ( pt, Universidade Federal da Bahia, UFBA) is a public university located mainly in the city of Salvador. It is the largest university in the state of Bahia and one of Brazil's most prestigious educational institu ...

. He first rose to fame after becoming the finalist in the Brazilian reality television show, ''

'' in its fifth season in 2005. He was the first openly gay participant in the show, which caused a lot of controversy amongst fans and participants alike. Wyllys described his victory as being of "great political relevance ..I said I was a homosexual and I still won the programme in a country that is

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...

Political career

In 2010 Wyllys was elected a federal MP, representing the Socialism and Freedom party, with an average of 13,000 votes. His election was only possible, considering the number of votes he had in 2010 elections, through the so-called "voto de legenda" (party vote), a constitutional mechanism that allows candidates who don't have a large number of votes to be elected through votes of another highly voted candidate of the same party. In Wyllys's case, the votes of another congressman of

Socialism and Liberty Party The Socialism and Liberty Party ( pt-BR, Partido Socialismo e Liberdade , PSOL ) is a left-wing political party in Brazil. The party describes itself as socialist and democratic. The party leader is Juliano Medeiros and the federal deputies I ...

, Chico Alencar, who was one of the most voted in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, helped in his election. Upon occupying a seat in the Brazilian Congress, Wyllys brought his

LGBT movement Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Some focus on equal rights, such as the ongoing movement for same-sex marriage, while others focus on liberation, as in the ...

activism to the scene. He started working on his political platform, which was primarily focused on the fight for

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 33 ...

. In so doing, he ended up confronting prominent Brazilian right-wing figures, such as pastor

Silas Malafaia Silas Lima Malafaia (14 September 1958) is a Brazilian Pentecostal pastor, author and televangelist, who also has a degree in Psychology. He is the leader of the Pentecostal church ''Assembleia de Deus Vitória em Cristo'' (Assembly of God Victor ...

, a famous televangelist and national president of the

Assembly of God The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination."Assemblies of God". ...

Churches, and

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and retired military officer who has been the 38th president of Brazil since 1 January 2019. He was elected in 2018 as a member of the Social Liberal Party, which he turn ...

, a congressman (later elected president) who became Wyllys's nemesis in the Brazilian Congress. Wyllys came to the point of spitting at congressman Bolsonaro during the voting of President Dilma Roussef's

impeachment Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...

. In Congress, Wyllys proposed three controversial pieces of legislation, including the regulation of prostitution, the legalization and government regulation of marijuana production, and the government financing of sex reassignment surgeries and

hormonal treatment Hormone therapy or hormonal therapy is the use of hormones in medical treatment. Treatment with hormone antagonists may also be referred to as hormonal therapy or antihormone therapy. The most general classes of hormone therapy are oncologic ho ...

for

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

teenagers and adults. Wyllys' defense of

minority rights Minority rights are the normal individual rights as applied to members of racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or gender and sexual minorities, and also the collective rights accorded to any minority group. Civil-rights movements ofte ...

and his very existence as an

openly gay Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

congress member and human rights activist have made him a public enemy of conservative political forces in

. Living in a country with such a high rate of homophobic crimes as Brazil, Wyllys began to receive

death threats A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a deat ...

. These became more recurrent after his political enemies began a slanderous campaign against him by posting and sharing in social media, including Facebook, images with quotes attributed to him, portraying him as being openly a paedophile. Among other false remarks attributed to him was one which stated that the Bible was "a joke" and that Christians and Bible followers were "clowns". This was widely circulated. Nevertheless, people in social networks still shared them, strengthening the ongoing hate campaign against Wyllys. To repair his image damaged by the orchestrated campaign, he created a section on his official webpage where he refutes all the quotes attributed to him. Although his political image in the public sphere had been tarnished by the slanderous campaign, Wyllys ran for congress once again in 2014 and kept his seat in parliament with more than 100,000 votes, being the seventh most voted-for representative from Rio de Janeiro. In 2015, it was announced that Brazilian independent filmmakers were planning to produce a documentary about Wyllys's political career and activism. The documentary was released in 2016 with the title "Entre os Homens de Bem" (Among Virtuous Men). The documentary focuses on the political arena in Brazil and addresses topics such as

gay marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

and LGBT rights, and features Wyllys and his conservative opponents. In that same year, Wyllys was included in the "Top 50 global personalities with an outstanding commitment to diversity" list.

Resignation

Wyllys was re-elected to a third term as deputy in the 2018 election. However, the campaign took a toll on him. His close friend, Rio de Janeiro city councillor

Marielle Franco Marielle Franco (; born Marielle Francisco da Silva, 27 July 1979 – 14 March 2018) was a Brazilian politician, sociologist, feminist, socialist and human rights activist. After earning a master's degree in public administration from the Fl ...

, was fatally shot in March 2018. In January 2019, just days before the February 1 swearing-in of the

56th Congress The 56th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1899, ...

, Wyllys released a note from overseas stating that he would not return to Brazil due to alleged death threats and that he would not assume his position as congressman. He told the ''Folha de São Paulo'' newspaper that he did not want to live four years under close security watch. His replacement in the Chamber of Deputies will be David Miranda. Soon after news of Wyllys' resignation broke, President Bolsonaro reacted on Twitter, by posting the phrasis "Great day" followed by a "

thumbs-up A thumb signal, usually described as a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, is a common hand gesture achieved by a closed fist held with the thumb extended upward or downward in approval or disapproval, respectively. These gestures have become metaphors i ...

" emoji. His son,

Carlos Bolsonaro Carlos Nantes Bolsonaro (born 7 December 1982) is a Brazilian politician, the second son of the 38th President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro. He graduated in Aeronautical Science from Estácio de Sá University and has been an Alderman of the Muni ...

, also tweeted: "Go with God and be happy".

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyllys, Jean 1974 births Living people Big Brother (franchise) winners Gay politicians Brazilian LGBT journalists LGBT legislators Brazilian LGBT politicians Brazilian LGBT rights activists Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil) from Rio de Janeiro (state) People from Alagoinhas Socialism and Liberty Party politicians Workers' Party (Brazil) politicians Exiled politicians Brazilian exiles Big Brother (franchise) contestants Big Brother Brasil