Marielle Franco was a queer Afro-Latina Brazilian politician and LGBTQ activist who fought for human rights. She was assassinated in March of 2018. Franco was bisexual. Franco was raised Roman Catholic in Rio de Janeiro. She entered politics and became a member of the Rio de Janeiro City Council about a year before her assassination.
She was a human rights advocate and a critic of police brutality. “Fight like Marielle Franco” (Como lute Marielle Franco) can be seen on T-shirts. After Franco was killed in a drive-by shooting, thousands protested in the streets across Brazil. Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned her assassination. “To be a black woman is to resist and survive all the time,” Franco said in a 2018 interview. May her memory be for a blessing. May we all fight like Marielle.
