With their sequined costumes, percussion and a strong dose of samba in the hips, this group, born in the Bangu district, in the west of Rio, looks like any other samba school in the city.
But its members are "90% LGBTQIA +" - for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual and others -, explains to AFP its founder Sandra Andréa dos Santos, while a rehearsal is on. about to start at a neighborhood recreation center.
A heterosexual woman married to a police officer, she had the idea in 2016 of creating a "bloco" - a semi-professional gathering that animates the streets during carnival - which would give her LGBT friends a space to shine.
In 2021, the "bloco" has become a samba school which will participate for the first time on April 21 in the official competition by parading on an avenue in Rio.
Usually scheduled for the end of February, the Rio carnival was postponed to April due to a wave of Covid-19 affecting Brazil at the start of the year.
Last rehearsal of the LGBT "Bangay" samba school before the Rio Carnival, in a room in the Bangu district of Rio de Janeiro, April 11, 2022 ANDRE BORGES AFP
"We are the first LGBT school" in Rio, says Tiago Rosa, Sandra's assistant artistic director.
"Behind the cameras, those who don't appear, those who make the costumes, the floats, are mostly LGBT, and those people aren't seen, they don't have their rightful space within the carnival," he said.
During the last rehearsal, drag queen Louise Murelly, who is 1.90 meters tall, holds up the banner of "Bangay", whose symbol is a white tiger because it "represents the sum of all the colors".
A few meters away, transsexual dancers sway to the rhythm of percussion, led by a woman, a rarity in the industry.
Dragqueen Louise Murelly during a rehearsal of the LGBT samba school "Bangay" before the Rio Carnival, in the Bangu district of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on April 11, 2022 ANDRE BORGES AFP
"Why couldn't the LGBT community also shine at the front, instead of just behind the scenes?", says Louise Murelly.
"Be who you are"
To parade, "Bangay" does not receive money from the town hall and must be satisfied with donations, recycled costumes and its own resources.
In addition to these difficulties, she must face prejudices.
"When we marched in the street for the first time as + bloco +, there were people who were urinating on our limbs, pulling their hair, laughing", says Sandra, moved to tears when she talks about the violence suffered. by the LGBT population in Brazil.
A member of the "Banguay" LGBT samba school during the group's last rehearsal before the Rio Carnival, in a room in the Bangu district of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on April 11, 2022 ANDRE BORGES AFP
In 2021, 140 transgender people were murdered in the country, according to the National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals of Brazil.
"It has to stop," pleads Sandra, her voice broken.
Bangay "is there to show that we are all equal. It's a place where you can be who you really are", insists this black woman with long curly hair.
A few minutes after the start of the rehearsal, the makeshift dressing room installed in the club's sanitary facilities is overflowing with dancers who help each other to put on their costumes and put on makeup.
"Bangay doesn't just mean carnival, it's also my family," says Paulo Cardoso, another of Sandra's assistants, dressed in a blue velvet shirt adorned with shiny shoulder pads.
All samba schools have a dream: to qualify to parade in the famous Sambadrome which attracts tourists from all over the world.
For this, "Bangay" needs sponsorship and a rehearsal space of its own.
The founder of the LGBT samba school "Bangay", Sandra Andrea dos Santos, dances before the group's final rehearsal ahead of the Rio Carnival, in the Bangu neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on April 11, 2022 ANDRE AFP
But Sandra also has another dream: “To earn money to have a house where homosexuals who have nowhere to live, who are rejected by their families, can live”.
"It's a long road but we are in the fight," she consoles herself.
© 2022 AFP