Born: 1954 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Biography:
Míriam Martinho (born 1954) is one of the leading feminists in Brazil and part of the second generation of feminist journalists, who emerged in the 1980s. She was one of the first people to bring lesbianism openly into the fold of feminism and founded one of the first Lesbian-Feminist organizations in the country. She and Rosely Roth gained recognition for staging a protest, known as the Brazilian Stonewall, at Ferro’s Bar in 1983.
Míriam Martinho was born in 1954 in Rio de Janeiro and grew up in the city of São Paulo. She is one of the pioneering figures of feminism in Brazil and the Brazilian Homosexual Movement. The feminist movement in Brazil became fairly active in 1975. After the II Congress of the Paulista Women, there was a split between leftist leaders and feminists. At that time, feminists were supporting the concept of gender, rather than class, as a focus for political empowerment and equality. This division led the feminists to move forward on their own, resulting in the emergence of several feminist organizations with specific themes, including education, health, political empowerment, sexuality, and violence.
Martinho was actively involved in this movement, founding the first lesbian feminist group, Grupo Lésbico-Feminista, in 1979. In 1981, the group disbanded, and some of its members went on to form the Grupo Ação Lésbica-Feminista (GALF), with Martinho and Rosely Roth being the most active members. In 1989, GALF reformed as an NGO called Um Outro Olhar.
In 1981, Martinho began producing an activist newspaper called ChanacomChana as the voice of GALF. The publication aimed to expand the idea of including lesbians in the feminist movement, which was seen as a radical concept at the time. The newspaper circulated through the 1980s, with varying publication frequencies. However, when GALF transformed into an NGO in 1989, the newspaper changed its name to Um Outro Olhar to align with the NGO’s name, shifting its primary focus to LGBT issues with feminism as a secondary focus.
Martinho’s activism reached a significant milestone when she and Roth staged a demonstration on August 19, 1983, known as the Brazilian Stonewall, to protest against Ferro’s Bar in São Paulo. The bar, known for its lesbian clientele, had refused to allow the distribution of ChanacomChana. The protest brought together artists, intellectuals, and lawyers, raising awareness about the injustice and discrimination faced by the LGBT community.
Throughout her career, Míriam Martinho has written for numerous LGBT and feminist journals, contributing expert testimony on the state of the LGBT community in Brazil. Her work has been instrumental in advocating for the rights and recognition of lesbians within the feminist movement and society at large.