Nearly 1,000 transgender politicians are running Sunday in every one of Brazil’s 26 states. The number of transgender politicans has tripled since the last elections. It’s a momentous social change that’s been accompanied by violence in Latin America’s most populous nation. Transgender Europe, a network of global nonprofits, says that more trans people were murdered here last year than in any other country in the world. The statistics are warped by many nations’ underreporting, whereas Brazil has an active network of advocates, but everyone agrees that the country has a serious problem with transphobia and its frequent eruptions into violence.
