Love triangles, broken hearts and a reality TV star, accompanied by an upbeat samba soundtrack. It could only be Brazil’s latest nightly telenovela, which debuted last week. However, Insensato Coracao, or “Foolish Heart,” is set to break the mould by featuring at least six gay characters.
“We are going to take on a contemporary and pertinent issue,” Ricardo Linhares, one of the novela’s creators told Brazil’s R7 news-site, adding that he hoped the soap would help “combat -prejudice and promote acceptance.”
Most Brazilian cities boast gay communities, but homophobia and violence persist. According to the Grupo Gay da Bahia, 198 homosexuals were murdered in Brazil in 2009, up from a figure of 122 two years earlier.
Soap operas often pull in close to 50 million viewers. Other ones have attempted to raise awareness of other taboos such as mental health, drug abuse and alcoholism.
“This is a step forwards,” Julio Moreira, president of the gay rights group Arco-Iris, told Extra newspaper. “Gays have always been portrayed as marginal [characters] or in some negative way. It is important to show diversity and to raise political questions.”
Toni Reis, president of the Brazilian Association of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transsexuals, said Foolish Heart was an important chance to break stereotypes and bring “visibility.”
“It is a chance to show a reality and a vocabulary that can influence Brazilian culture a great deal,” he said.
“Today we are the country with the highest number of gay pride rallies in the world ... but the nightly soap-opera reaches every home in Brazil,” said Reis, who made legal history in 2003 by securing a permanent visa for his British partner.
Reis said Brazil’s television generally presented a “distorted image” of the gay community, with mentions of homosexuality restricted to three types of show: comedy, crime programs and religious channels where evangelical preachers rail against homosexuality.
In contrast, among the gay characters in Foolish Heart are a lawyer, a professor, a journalist and a shopkeeper.
Gay soap fans have long called for an on-screen kiss and in 2005 looked to have succeeded when the local media announced that two male characters would do so in a soap called America.
The scene was eventually cut, however, promoting a kissing protest outside Brazil’s Congress.
Foolish Heart’s creators say viewers hoping for a gay kiss will be disappointed. At a press conference to launch the telenovela, Gilberto Braga, another of its authors, was blunt: “The audience is not ready.”
Reis said the decision showed “a lack of courage and daring. Kissing is a display of affection and not an affront to society. Corruption, violence, accidents: These are affronts and are shown on TV in excess.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number