The NGO Mães Pela Diversidade is a network of affection and welcome for mothers and fathers in a situation of understanding about their children’s ity and gender identity. The organization emerged in São Paulo, in 2014, from the concern of mothers with the violence and prejudice that their gay, lesbian, bi, transgender children, etc. could suffer. Institutionalized in 2017, it is present in 24 Brazilian states and is a partner of the Public Ministry, OAB (Brazilian Bar ociation) and Public Defender.
In Rio Grande do Sul, she is represented by her mother Renata dos Anjos, who started organizing the group in 2015. She points out that Rio Grande do Sul is privileged to have a very organized LGBTQIA movement with various entities since the 1990s, such as Nuances, Somos and Igualdade, among others.
“So, in 2015 we joined these organizations and became part of the Porto Alegre Free Parade organization that happens once a year. Back in São Paulo, mothers were already part of the organization, also starting in 2015, and we continue to this day, both there and here.” The Pride Parade is one of the most important moments of the year, as it is when the NGO manages to present its work: going to the streets and talking to other mothers and fathers in order to increase the network of affection and raise awareness through information.
The initiatives carried out by the NGO include face-to-face and virtual meetings, once a month, in which actions to combat prejudice are discussed. The group has a front to give lectures in schools because, according to Renata, the reports of parents and students indicate numerous situations of violence in this place. “We have a very large front to give lectures in schools and universities, because we are in 2023 and it is no longer possible for professionals from the most diverse areas to graduate without having a little notion of what LGBT people are, how much prejudice interferes with these people’s lives. So, our idea is to talk, dialogue with society”, he reveals.
The collective is secular, non-partisan and seeks to dialogue with everyone and all institutions. “We are not the LGBT movement, we are partners. Our focus is always on what, private companies, to raise funds for projects, we sell lectures, organize an event in this sense where the NGO can receive some donation. We are partners in the fight for public policies and rights”, says the state leader.
Renata highlights the performance of the T Outpatient Clinics in monitoring the health of transgender people, present at the Santa Marta Health Center (Rua Capitão Montanha, 27, 1st floor, Historic Center), at the Clínica da Família Álvaro Difini (Rua Álvaro Difini, 520, Restinga) and at Hospital de Clínicas. In 2022, according to the Municipal Health Department, 1,643 people were isted.
Another achievement of LGBT rights that the NGO celebrates is the action that equated phobia with the crime of racism in the STF, in addition to the approval in the judiciary of same-sex marriage that, despite not yet being guaranteed by law, until April of this year, had already been accounted for 76,430 same-sex civil unions according to the National ociation of Natural Person Registrars.
Mães Pela Diversidade started out focused on operating in Porto Alegre and the metropolitan region, but during the pandemic, they expanded their network of affection to other locations in the state, such as Charqueadas, Pelotas, Rio Grande, Bagé, Caxias do Sul, Venâncio Aires and Uruguaiana .
Most parents who seek the NGO do not understand what is happening, but they know that the child is suffering and feels different. “We have psychologists and psychiatrists partners to give them all the support, support groups and group psychotherapy to support this family, so that they can welcome their children”, says Renata dos Anjos.
The NGO is on Instagram @maespeladiversidade. “It’s not a joke from the moment you disrespect someone, the whole family suffers, it’s not just the mother, the brothers suffer, the father will always be the fag’s father, the shoe’s father, the transvestite’s father. So, the whole family ends up in a situation of suffering and we want that to end. It makes no sense for people to keep repeating patterns due to lack of information and causing suffering to people”, he expresses.
“In the countryside, people don’t want to be seen and identified as activists and we understand that. You can be part of the group. You don’t have to go there and raise signs and shout, but be there in the group to follow, to be informed, to follow studying, to get hold of the subject”, he says. In this way, they form a small support group, with parents of LGBT people, to strengthen the bonds of friendship and family relationships.