Tibira do Maranhão is the modern name of a Tupinambá native of Maranhão, executed in 1614, and recently identified by some as a possible case of execution related to homosexuality.
Tibira do Maranhão | |
|---|---|
| Died | 1614 |
| Nationality | Tupinambá people |
| Known for | First execution of a homosexual man in Brazil |
Events
editIn 1614, 2 years after the arrival of French colonizers in Northern Brazil, an unnamed indigenous man was sentenced to death. He attempted to escape the charge, and fled into the woods for several days, but was re-captured by French authorities. Before his execution, the indigenous was baptized by Louis de Pézieux, leader of the French colony, in the name of Saint Dismas, strapped to a cannon, which was fired, killing him. His last words were:[1]
"I'm going to die, I'll never see them again, I'm no longer afraid of Jurupari because I'm a child of God, I do not have to provide fire, flour, water or any tool to travel beyond mountains, where you think you are dancing your fathers. Give me a little petum, however, so that I may die joyfully, with the firm word and without the fear that greases my stomach."[2]
This indigenous man was "one of the first people in the New World to be so executed," according to Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller, contemporary Europeans received the story of his fate as implying that "Indigenous people were immoral and unworthy political subjects" and as justifying "harsh penalties and paternalistic rule" over them.[3]
Modern culture
editIn 1993, Brazilian gay activist Luiz Mott reinterpreted the episode as a homophobic execution, naming the indigenous "Tibira", after a tupi-guarani term for sodomite. In 2014 he started a campaign to get Tibira canonized as a queer saint and recognized as a martyr.[4]
On December 5, 2016, a monument commemorating "Tibira" was dedicated in Maranhão, Praia Grande, during the State Week of Human Rights.[5]
References
edit- ^ Evreux, Yves d' (1874), Viagem ao norte do Brasil feita nos annos de 1613 a 1614, pelo padre Ivo d'Evreux, religioso capuchinho, publicada conforme o exemplar, unico, conservado na Bibliotheca imperial de Pariz (in Portuguese), translated by César Augusto Marques, Maranhão, Wikidata Q109507259
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link), p. 230 - ^ Mott, Luiz (26 May 2014). "O Primeiro Crime Homofóbico no Brasil". historiahoje.com. História Hoje. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
- ^ Lemmey, Huw; Miller, Ben (2022). "Chapter 7: Lawrence of Arabia". Bad Gays: A Homosexual History. London: Verso. ISBN 9781839763274.
- ^ Talento, Biaggio (6 December 2014). "GGB defends the Canonization of "Gay Indian"". A Tarde. Salvador, Brazil. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
- ^ "Government inaugurates headstone in honor of Tibira Indian at State Human Rights Week". ma.gov.br. GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE OF MARANHÃO. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2019.