Brazil: Candidate Marina Silvas Dubious Position on

Gay Marriage, Abortion

inserbia.info/today/2014/09/brazil-candidate-marina-silvas-dubious-position-on-gay-marriage-
abortion/
Tihomir Gligorevic is a journalist for InSerbia News. He writes extensively on all topics related to Latin
America. - E-Mail: tgligorevic@inserbia.info
SO PAULO, Brazil The Evangelical Christian candidate for the Brazilian presidency, Marina Silva,
revealed a measure to amend the constitution in order to allow same-sex marriage in a recent debate
but immediate attacks by the nations religious institutions and fellow politicians have led her to clarify
her opinions on the topic.
Just before the first presidential debate, Silva was surging. According to a survey published by the
Datafolha Institute on Friday, the aspiring candidate had not only overtaken formerly-second-placed
Acio Neves but had even caught up with incumbent Dilma Rousseff of the Workers Party (PT).
Silva, of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), was tied with Rousseff at 34% each according to
Datafolha, signalling a massive surge for the latecomer as just two weeks ago, the same institutes
prior poll showed Rousseff in first place with 36% of the vote while Silva was behind Neves (21%) with
20%. In the new poll, Neves of the center-right Party of Brazilian Social Democracy (PSDB) has slipped
to third place with 15%.
Even better news came for Silva from Datafolha; in the likely event of a second round run-off vote
between the top two candidates, Silva would defeat Rousseff by a margin of 10% as she would garner
support from Rousseffs opposition. The incumbent would receive 40% while Silva would receive 50%
if the two face off in the second round.
The Datafolha surveys are typically not far off the mark, and if the script follows the polling insitutes
predictions, the quick rise of Silva to Brazils highest office is nothing short of remarkable.
Silva was selected by the PSB to succeed Eduardo Campos, the former presidential candidate and
Pernambuco Governor, after the latter passed away in a tragic airplane accident on August 13.
Campos was traveling from Rio de Janeiro to So Paulo aboard a Cessna 560XLS+ when the jet
crashed in a residential area of Santos, a coastal city some 80 kilometers (50 miles) southeast of So
Paulo.
Amid heavy rain and strong winds, air traffic controllers lost contact with the jet. The 49-year-old
Campos, a husband and father of five, was killed in the crash along with five others including his media
advisor, two cameramen and two pilots.
President Rousseff declared three days of mourning after his death and temporarily suspended her
reelection campaign to fly to Recife for Campos funeral, which was also attended by former leader Luiz
Incio Lula da Silva and the now-candidate, Marina Silva.
Less than two weeks after his passing, the PSB made the expected the decision to carry on the
campaign with Silva, Campos running mate, as their candidate. Her running mate is Luiz Roberto
Beto de Albuquerque, a Federal Deputy for the State of Rio Grande do Sul and current President of
the FSBs Chamber of Deputies Block.
Roberto Amaral, the President of the FSB, said his party was heartbroken over Campos death but
lucky to have such an outstanding replacement candidate in Silva.
In a relatively short press conference, Silva began her speech by thanking God for helping guide the
party through the difficult journey after the death of Campos. It was an unsurprising opening given that
she is a devout Evangelical Christian, a point that some have found issue with because they say that
her faith might lead her to differ from the PSBs stance on certain issues like abortion, same-sex civil
unions and marriages and the separation of Church and State.
Backers, on the other hand, say that she is a politician that just happens to be an Evangelical Christian,
not an Evangelical politician in nature. She is loyal, they say, and she will keep the promises she made
to Campos in regard to political compromise when she accepted the position of running mate.
Regardless, just after the first debate, her positions on certain issues were scrutinized and the question
of the tug-of-war between her faith and political promises came up once again.
As she presented her election platform at the debate event in So Paulo, Silva said she would
introduce into law a constitutional amendment that would legalize same-sex marriage. She wants a
socially just country, and thus, would also eliminate the red tape associated with the adoption of
children by gay, bisexual and transsexual couples.
The revelation was not surprising given Silvas promise to fulfill the wishes of the party by keeping to
the policies of Campos. However, it was members of her own faith, as Silva converted to pentecostal
evangelicalism in 1998, that highlighted the contradictions between the political and religious facets of
the candidate.
Just hours later, the highly influential pentecostal pastor and author Silas Malafaia, a controversial
figure known for his virulent opposition to homosexuality, abortion and other social issues, chimed in.
Silvas political platform is a shameful defense of the gay agenda, he said and in the process, shared
the statement to his nearly-one million Twitter followers.
Brazil is the largest Catholic country in the world and will be for quite some time, but that population is
dwindling, according to the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE). Catholics comprised
over 90% of the population in 1970 but by 2010, that number had fallen to 65% (143 million people)
and their numbers are still falling.
On the other hand, pentacostal evangelicalism and similar sects have been growing quickly since the
early 1960s through the booming urban migrant community and by 2010, Protestants (mostly
evangelical and pentecostal) were nearly 23% of the population or about 44 million people, making
them a very important political ally.
Silva, as a pentecostal evangelical herself, immediately drew large swaths of the population and this is
likely the explanation for her surge in the polls. However, just as her membership in the faith draws
support, it also draws pressures to adhere to the faiths politically and socially conservative values.
Indeed, less than 24 hours after she presented her plans for same-sex marriage and adoption, Silvas
campaign released a statement that said the media misinterpreted her proposal, which also contained
measures that would criminalize homophobia, and that said proposal also contained a mistake.
The real goal of the candidates proposal was to guarantee the rights to civil unions for same-sex
couples, the campaign said, referring to a much more basic arrangement that brings certain benefits to
couples but a measure that does not amend the constitution and does not carry constitutional
protection.
While some evangelical supporters were placated, albeit only slightly, by Silvas change of opinion,
other figures highlighted her position on social issues that clashes with her adopted partys platform.
Jean Wyllys, a professor, prominent gay activist and member of the Chamber of Deputies on behalf of
the opposition Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL) for Rio de Janeiro, said that it only took a
message from Pastor Malafaia for Marina Silva to forget the promises she made at a nationally-
televised event less than 24 hours before to deny her own political agenda.
On the topic of abortion, the PSB has sought more freedom and choices for women, along with
expanded reproductive health rights. Silva, on the other hand, has already affirmed that she will not
seek to make any changes to the nations current law on abortion, which makes the procedure legal
only in cases of rape, risk to the mothers health and fetal anencephaly.
Thus, the law forces almost one million Brazilian women to undergo precarious and clandestine
abortions annually.
In the past, Silva has said that she is personally not in favor of abortion and instead, would focus on
sexual education and policies that prevent unwanted pregnancies. As political units, referring to the
Green and Sustainability Network parties she previously led, the parties voted in favor of the existing
law after internal debates.
When she ran for President in 2010 (and finished third), she said that making any changes to the
existing abortion law is the prerogative of Congress and has previously supported a public debate
and referendum on the issue, a position criticized by feminists because of the nationwide influence of
religious groups and subsequent anti-abortion sentiments; any progressive referendum on abortion
would fail and Silva knows this, they say.
The second debate and subsequent polls should reveal if Silvas religious and political sides clash and
how the populace reacts. Silva is no stranger to political scrutiny, however, as she has previously
served as Senator on behalf of f her Amazonian home state of Acre from 1995 to 2011 as a member of
Rousseffs Workers Party (PT) and with her history of focusing on social justice, sustainable
development and environmental conservation, she was appointed Environment Minister by then-
president Lula da Silva (PT) in 2003.
After continually butting heads with figures in Lulas cabinet over environmental issues, Silva resigned
from her post in 2008 and switched her political affiliation, leaving the PT and joining the Green Party
(PV) in 2009.
The following year, she announced her candidacy for the presidential election of 2010, finishing third
with a surprisingly high 20% of the vote behind runner-up centrist Jos Serra (32%) and the winner,
Rousseff (47%).
Silva founded a new party in February of 2013, the Sustainability Network party (Rede
Sustentabilidade) but the party came up about 50,000 signatures short of the necessary 492,000
required by the Brazilian constitution for a party to be lawfully registered as an official political party.
Over 100,000 signatures, double what she needed, were dubbed invalid by the Supreme Electoral
Court of Brazil, and her appeal of the ruling was denied.
Because of this development and also because of a Brazilian law that demands candidates be officially
affiliated with a party one year before the election (October of 2014), Silva joined the PSB along with
several of her closest allies from her Rede Sustentabilidade party.