Candidate accused of homophobic campaigning

Marta Suplicy: "From my mouth you will not hear any prejudice"

Campaign adverts aired by a mayoral candidate have drawn stinging criticism, writes Tom Hennigan in São Paulo

BRAZIL'S RULING Workers' Party is at the centre of a political storm, accused of stirring up homophobia in a desperate bid to avoid defeat in the battle for control of the city of São Paulo.

Campaign advertisements in support of the party's candidate Marta Suplicy - known to all simply as "Marta" - airing on television since Sunday have asked of her opponent Gilberto Kassab: "Is he married? Does he have children?"

Kassab (48) is a bachelor who has never discussed his private life. As the incumbent mayor, he holds a 17-point lead over Marta ahead of a run-off round on October 26th. He surprised everyone by winning the first round of voting after Marta led opinion polls right through the campaign.

In Brazil, politicians' personal lives are typically left private by the media and opponents. São Paulo is one of Brazil's most cosmopolitan and gay-friendly cities, home of the world's biggest annual gay pride parade.

The attacks have drawn stinging criticism from gay rights groups and activists, many of which are linked to the Workers' Party, long considered one of Brazil's most progressive political movements and with a history of supporting gay rights.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Committee formed to rally support in the gay community for Marta's candidacy released a statement on Monday denouncing the advertisements as "wrong and unacceptable".

The controversy is all the more surprising as Marta is a former sex therapist and was one of the first politicians in Brazil to align herself with the gay community.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's office has been quick to distance itself from the advertisements and Marta's campaign. Advisers have briefed the press that the president did not know about the advertisements in advance and did not approve of them. In an interview last month, he came out strongly in favour of gay marriage.

Though involved in several prominent scandals, the Workers' Party has until now avoided personal attacks on opponents' private lives in high-profile electoral contests, more typically being the victim of campaigns of innuendo.

Marta, who previously served as São Paulo's mayor between 2001 and 2004, tried to defuse the controversy, telling journalists: "I am against prejudice; from my mouth you will not hear any prejudice."

She also claimed that no other politician in the past decade had their private life scrutinised to the extent she had, a reference to the media storm over her 2001 divorce from a popular Workers' Party senator and subsequent marriage to a French-Argentine politician.

"It is ironic that Marta should stoop into the gutter like this after the press attacks she suffered over her divorce," said University of Brasília politics professor David Fleischer. "It is a very low road to take, especially as it already looks like mission impossible for Marta."

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times