Bianca Barreto, a Brazilian social media influencer, was sentenced in late July 2026 to two years in prison (open regime) plus R$20,000 in damages for referring to transgender federal deputy Duda Salabert with male pronouns and as a man. On July 29, 2026, Judge Eduarda de Lima Vidal of the 9th Criminal Court of Salvador convicted her of the “intentional and pejorative use of the gender opposite to [a] self-declared identity.” This was treated as “social racism”/transfobia under Brazil’s Racism Law, based on a 2019 Supreme Federal Court (STF) ruling that equated homophobia and transphobia with racism (punishable by prison). The judge held that deliberately using biological sex references to “
Bianca Barreto, a Brazilian social media influencer, was sentenced in late July 2026 to two years in prison (open regime) plus R$20,000 in damages for referring to transgender federal deputy Duda Salabert with male pronouns and as a man.
On July 29, 2026, Judge Eduarda de Lima Vidal of the 9th Criminal Court of Salvador convicted her of the “intentional and pejorative use of the gender opposite to [a] self-declared identity.” This was treated as “social racism”/transfobia under Brazil’s Racism Law, based on a 2019 Supreme Federal Court (STF) ruling that equated homophobia and transphobia with racism (punishable by prison). The judge held that deliberately using biological sex references to “ridicule and disqualify” a trans woman’s social identity in public goes beyond free speech or opinion and refuses to recognize citizenship/dignity.
