Brazil: Journalist Ordered To Pay Damages For ‘Misgendering’

A female journalist was convicted of causing “moral damage” to a male influencer who claims to be a woman.

Left: Rebecca Gaia. Right: Madeleine Lacsko

A Brazilian journalist, Madeleine Lacsko, was convicted of  causing “moral damage” to a trans-identified male influencer, who adopted the name Rebecca Gaia. Ms. Lacsko was found guilty of “transphobia” over “misgendering” for addressing Gaia using the word “cara,” as “cara” means “dear” but also “guy” (a man). The journalist was told to delete her tweets and pay three thousand reais (over $500) to the influencer.

. . . the journalist’s “conduct” – using the word “cara” as a masculine form, was “enough to conclude that there was grave violation of the [influencer’s] personality, resulting in their humiliation in front of other users on social media.”

“The case that happened to me is important for the freedom of expression of women in the public sphere, especially in discussions about gender. I was judicially sanctioned without even having entered into the discussion, simply because I used a vocative that was misunderstood by the people attacking me,” Ms Lacsko continued.

Lacsko has been a journalist for 27 years and also works as a “digital and social reputation risk management consultant.” She is a columnist for the news outlet UOL, a speaker, an author and has focused on the topic of lifelong learning for senior executives, Digital Citizenship and human rights while working as a consultant for UNICEF Angola and as an advisor to Brazil’s Supreme Court.

Source: 4W


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