Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis of Violence Against LGBTQIA+ in Brazil

Abstract

Homophobia is violence experienced by the LGBTQIA+ community, characterized by hatred or aversion to their sexual expression. This violence occurs in different regions of Brazil, making it important to know the rate of homophobia cases in the Federation Units (FU), enabling strategic studies for elaboration of policies, in terms of public security and human rights. The purpose of this article is to present, through thematic maps, the spatial distribution of cases of violence against LGBTQIA+ in Brazil, from 2011 to 2019, performing spatial analysis with data integration through the Geographic Information System (GIS). The study was based on cases of discrimination, physical violence and psychological violence registered on “Disque 100”, a reporting channel linked to the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights. The violence rate was calculated for each FU, which was later corrected by the Local Empirical Bayesian Method. In the spatial analysis, the Moran Global and Local Indexes were calculated to verify the existence of spatial autocorrelation. The Northeast region of Brazil had the highest rates of violence against LGBTQIA+. About 61.54% of the FU that had higher rates of violence had lower Human Development Indexes in the country. The global index indicated spatial autocorrelation for all years of analysis, while the local index identified clusters of areas with similar values. The results presented in this work show the importance of using the GIS as a support tool in the planning of public security policies and actions.