Toni Reis (born in 1964) is the president of the Brazilian

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

organisation called Grupo Dignidade, the general secretary of the national association of Gays, Lesbians and Transsexuals in

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 ...

( Associação Brasileira de Gays, Lésbicas e Transgêneros/ ABGLT) of which he was a founding president in 1995, and a member of the international council of the

Hirschfeld Eddy Foundation The Hirschfeld-Eddy Foundation (Hirschfeld-Eddy-Stiftung) was founded in Berlin in June 2007. It is a foundation focused on human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Name origin The Foundation's name remembers two per ...

. He is a teacher and specialist in

human sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

and

group dynamics Group dynamics is a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group (''intra''group dynamics), or between social groups ( ''inter''group dynamics). The study of group dynamics can be useful in understanding decision- ...

. He possesses a master's degree of

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

and sexuality. Toni Reis is also the

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

n coordinator for ASICAL (Association for Integral Health and Citizenship in Latin America and the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

Work

In 1998 Toni Reis described the situation in his country: "1,600 homosexuals have been murdered in the last ten years, of these 350 transvestites and 61 lesbians." In 2006 he spoke before the Brazilian parliament, where he stated that 250 homosexuals per year are murdered in Brazil. In 2007 he addressed the United Nations, in order to receive councillor status for his organization

Personal

In 2003, Toni Reis obtained a permanent Brazilian residence permit for his life partner, who was born in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, in a landmark court case for Brazil.

References

External links

(in German) Toni Reis' fight against bigotry
1964 births Brazilian LGBT rights activists LGBT Roman Catholics Living people {{LGBT-bio-stub