Gaycation

Ipanema Beach in Rio is the Mecca for tanned,

toned, Speedo-wearing partiers,

and then there's us.

I'm wearing shorts. That's a big deal.

Look at these.

I think mine are whiter.

- I don't know. I think I'm whiter. -

We're arriving in Brazil at the peak of Carnival season,

one of the most sexually liberated parties on the planet,

to explore a country whose relationship with the queer community

is complex and often extreme.

It's a country with some of the most progressive

equality laws in Latin America,

but also has the highest LGBTQ murder rate

in the world.

So Ian and I are here to explore what's going on,

and what it's really like to be queer in Brazil.

Close to 1 million tourists descend on Brazil

for its annual Carnival.

- Got my swimming jeans on. -

We have, like, fall clothes on.

Very nice. You look good.

Taking some pics.

Today is Fat Tuesday. Carnival is happening.

And then tomorrow is Ash Wednesday,

when it ends, and then Lent begins,

which goes until Easter.

And this originally was just like a massive, massive party

to be had so that everyone got all their craziness

and their sinning out of their system before

looking well in the eyes of God.

I don't necessarily think that's

technically the vibe anymore. But that's why Carnival is what it is,

and why everyone's here getting their drink on.

- Living it up. - On the beach.

Living the dream.

Hey, guys. Do you mind if we talk to you for a minute?

- This is my friend Ellen. - Hi.

We hear that Brazil is very open-minded.

You can be whatever you want to be.

And I also get that feeling when I'm here.

But you read about it, and you hear that Brazil

has one of the highest murder rates

of LGBT people in the world.

So we're trying to figure out,

like, the reality of that. Do you... do you know about that?

Is that... is that true?

Happy Carnival.

I can see what makes Rio one of the most

desirable LGBTQ destinations in the world,

especially around Carnival time.

Carnival takes place all over the vast city.

But the main event is held at the Sambadrome,

a mile-long purpose-built Carnival stadium

where tickets are like gold dust.

It's costumes, glitter and glamour.

Carnival attracts the LGBTQ community in droves.

This year, a float celebrating sexual identity

is one of the main attractions in the parade.

You just have to get into the building first.

Everybody should have one.

Go in through here?

I feel slightly

discombobulated in the best possible of ways.

'Cause I think it's gonna be crazy.

But there's all these, like, costumes.

And then it's also, obviously, like, hyper-sexual.

But there's also, like, a familial vibe.

It's like, "How nice would it be if we had something like this?"

Oh, yeah.

I like those, like, dolphin kind of dildo-y-looking costumes.

Got to get me one of those for the boudoir.

Up here? OK. Hi.

Shit, man.

We're walking through the area

where the samba schools congregate to prepare

and get ready and wait to go out down

the main sort of strip that we were just in in the Sambadrome.

The parade is made up of samba schools

that each contribute up to eight floats

and spend around nine months preparing for the event.

Ooh.

Some of the most important people of the night

are the choreographers, who are responsible

for the hundreds of dancers in the parade.

Hi, I'm Ellen.

Hi, I'm Fabio. How are you, Ellen?

Good. So, thanks so much for talking to us.

I'm sure this is an insane night. It's amazing.

It's like nothing I've ever seen.

- It's your first time here? - First time in Brazil.

It's my first day here.

Do you know dance?

I mean, I can ... poorly. Yeah.

- - But I like it.

- Yeah? - Yeah.

I will show you the dancers. Come in here.

Hi.

Wow.

And you can try it if you want.

Oh, man, I don't know.

Put it on my...

Yeah.

Cool! Is it a good look?

- That's what you do? - Yeah, just keep doing this.

- OK, yeah, all right. - Yeah, good.

- Think I'm ready now? - Yeah, very.

What is the influence of gay, lesbian, trans culture in Carnival?

Sure.

I was just wondering, like, the LGBT community,

how it's influenced Carnival and the celebration.

You know, there's a very safe environment,

a very welcoming environment.

When it ends, do people get to live safely?

I think everybody, in especially Rio,

are accepting a lot the gay people.

And we are going to just not be

like a problem or a question.

I think it's a fact, we're born like that.

Despite his optimism,

the world outside the celebration is somewhat harsher.

Just a few weeks before we got here,

the dead body of 25-year-old transwoman Piu de Silva,

one of Carnival's most prominent dancers,

seen here in costume, was found tortured and shot

in a favela near her home.

No arrests have been made in the case,

and the exact motive is unclear,

but many suspect transphobia.

De Silva is just one of the growing number

of transgender victims in Brazil,

a country with the greatest number

of murdered transpeople in the world.

Carnival is an over-the-top extravaganza

and feels very accepting of everyone.

But in speaking to locals later,

the world outside can feel very different.

As the biggest party on the planet winds down,

it's gonna be interesting to see

how Carnival compares to daily life

for the queer community here in Rio.

While in town, I'm meeting my friend Ana Rezende

from the band CSS.

She was born and raised here,

so I'm interested to get her take on being gay in Brazil.

My experience doesn't necessarily reflect

the experience of, like, the rest of Brazil.

Like, Brazil is a huge country

and it's so hard to talk about the average Brazilian,

because the average Brazilian almost

doesn't exist in a way.

I guess I'm part of, like, a very privileged few.

In that wage disparity, I'm, like, probably

- more at the top. - Mm-hmm.

We're sort of, like, protected by our privileges.

You were saying that, you know, here

you feel comfortable, you feel safe, you feel all those things,

but you don't hold your girlfriend's hand walking down the street.

What is that experience for you?

Like, what do you ...

what happens if you were to hold your girlfriend's hand?

It's not normal for people to see that,

so there's a lot of staring,

and there's a lot of, like,

it's as if you're, like, naked

on the streets, and I just don't want to draw that kind of attention to me.

People don't perceive it as normal yet.

To be, like, just a normal woman and happen to be lesbian,

it's like something that I

believe a foreign concept to some people.

Like, I can go out here and hold hands with my girlfriend and

hang out, and it's fine.

But I'm gonna draw a lot of attention and energy

and stuff that maybe I'm not in the mood to do it, you know?

So that's why I don't do it,

which is super sad.

Like, what do you think is gonna happen in Brazil

to help it move forward?

I'm very optimistic about this stuff.

The extreme presence of the evangelicals

and politics and this rise of, like, the right wing

is actually a reflection of the progress

that the gays have been making.

We're actually here,

and we're actually fighting for our rights.

We already can get married.

Now we want homophobia to be criminalized.

And they're like, "Oh,

I didn't know you had to have rights."

Right.

So, there's like this whole...

Oh, you need those crazy human-right things? God damn it.

Day breaks over Rio,

and the streets and beaches have returned to a relative calm,

while the locals get back to doing one of the things they're best at...

looking hot on the beach...

There seem to be people that are just free living.

They're not really worried about

how other people perceive them

or if their body is chiseled or not.