I couldn't help but get back from my recent trip to New York wondering about how bullying is affecting gay teenagers here in Brazil. While I am still looking for statistics and reliable source of information, I feel it is my duty to post about the attack on a gay couple of students of the University of São Paulo (or USP) at a party this past weekend.

On the night of October 22, 21-year-old Biology student Henrique Peres Andrade and his boyfriend were  holding each other at a university party in the Morumbi neighborhood in São Paulo when three guys approached them, harrassed them, threw a drink at one of them, and physically attacked them until security came. According to an official statement by Henrique published here (in Portuguese), the security guards watched the three guys kick and punch them, and only tried to stop them after a large crowd gathered around them. The couple had to be escorted by security out of the party in fear that the three guys who attacked them would be waiting outside after they were asked to leave the premises.

The center for Biology at the University of São Paulo has issued an official statement in favor of the couple and the project of law which criminalizes homophobia that still has not passed. The three attackers have not yet been identified.

If you speak Portuguese, please read the entire article about the case at G1 and A Capa.