Chamber seeks consensus with evangelical bench to approve Misogyny PL

Federal deputy Tabata Amaral (PSB-SP), possible rapporteur of the Misogyny Bill, will seek the Chamber's benches to facilitate the approval of the proposal that equates misogyny with racism and provides for greater penalties for hate crimes against women. The idea is that the meetings will start next Monday (6).

The objective is to build a consensus text with at least 257 deputies - some of whom belong to the evangelical bench - to approve the proposal before the parliamentary recess, which should begin on July 18th.

The parliamentarian has the support of the president of the Chamber, Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), who committed to voting on the text before the deputies pause their work if there is an agreement between congressmen.

The bill in question criminalizes misogyny and had its urgent request approved last Wednesday (1st) by the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies. Tabata was coordinator of the GT (Working Group) set up to debate the text that came from the Senate.

However, the calendar is not Tabata's only challenge in moving forward with the project in the House. The approval of relevant benches within the National Congress is still necessary to reach the minimum approval quorum.

According to CNN, the Republicans are one of the parties still awaiting modernization of the final text to secure support for voting on the proposal. Of the 33 parliamentarians present on the bench, 16 voted in favor of the urgency - motivated by Hugo Motta, who is affiliated with the party.

Evangelical resistance
In the working group, Tabata's report was approved symbolically with massive support from parliamentarians, however, opposition deputies voted against the opinion presented, under the argument that there would be scope for criminalizing religious thoughts and doctrines. For the opposition, the text "criminalizes opinion".

Julia Zanatta (PL-SC) and Bia Kicis (PL-DF), for example, stated that the text had a direct impact on an individual's freedom of expression: "It is not the right time to address this topic, it is not yet mature, there are several divergences. Women do need protection, and protection for women is a criminal in jail", said Zanatta.

In his opinion, Tabata Amaral changed the proposal approved in the Senate to classify the act of misogyny as "the practice, induction or incitement of violence, restriction of the full exercise of rights or offense to the dignity of women, due to their condition as a woman". Previously, the Senate text established misogyny as "conduct that externalizes hatred or aversion to women". Therefore, if it passes through the Chamber in the way it was proposed to the working group, the text must still return to the Senate for a final analysis before proceeding to the Planalto Palace for sanction.

When the urgency was approved in the plenary by 293 votes in favor and 158 against, the merit of the project was criticized by parliamentarians who defend greater clarity in the treatment of religious expressions. Critics of the text cite excerpts from the Bible in which the woman's submission to her husband is fundamental, out of fear that demonstrations in support of the Christian holy book could be classified under the new criminal category.

To CNN, criminal lawyer Berlinque Cantelmo states that expressions "of an imprecise tone" could contribute to different interpretations of the measure, despite the fact that the bill does not mention the Bible, verses or any type of religious preaching.

"The boundary between the legitimate exercise of religious freedom and punishable incitement is not, however, expressed in the text, and it is precisely this gap that recommends improving the wording, with the insertion of an explicit reservation regarding freedom of religion and expression", said Cantelmo.

Upon having his report approved, Tabata stated that some points still lacked consensus and could be removed for the project to move forward, such as the evangelical issue and the taking down of profiles on social networks.

Allies evaluate strategy
According to CNN, defenders of the project have an argument up their sleeves that could convince part of the rejection suffered by the Misogyny PL: an ADO (Direct Action of Unconstitutionality by Omission) judged in 2019 by the STF (Supreme Federal Court) and which recognizes homotransphobia as part of the crimes of the Racism Law of 1989.

"The criminal repression of the practice of homotransphobia - in this case, misogyny - does not reach or restrict the exercise of religious freedom, as long as such manifestations do not constitute a hate crime", said the Supreme Court's decision.

Another point of debate concerns the use of the word "offense", which according to Tabata, will make it clear that the PL will not address "feelings and opinions". The project includes misogyny among crimes of prejudice or discrimination, and equates the new criminal type to the crime of racism. Penalties range from two to five years in prison, in addition to payment of a fine.

With the current wording of the project, the Racism Law would now provide that crimes resulting from discrimination or prejudice based on race, color, ethnicity, religion, national origin or acts of misogyny will be punished, under the penalty of 2 to 5 years in prison plus a fine. The text provides for a double penalty if the crime is committed against a woman in the context of domestic and family violence.

*Intern under the supervision of Mayara da Paz

Plenary of the Chamber approves urgency of the Misogyny Bill | LIVE CNN

Source: CNN