Superstars Join Popsmith Yann to Combat LGBT Murders in Brazil

Every 25 hours in Brazil, an LGBT person is murdered. Brazilian pop singer Yann decided that something needed to be done, and he was the one to do it.

Despite the fact that Rio De Janeiro hosts a spectacular Carnival and an equally impressive and inclusive Pride celebration, there are many areas of the country where living out and gay puts lives in jeopardy.

In response, Yann composed the charity single “Igual” as a manifesto for the epidemic of anti-LGBT violence happening in Brazil — and the tune has also been selected as the them for Rio Pride.
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Freedom to love is the topic of “Igual.” To highlight the cause, Yann reached out to some of the biggest artists in the world. More than two dozen artists responded, including Britney Spears, Céline Dion, Demi Lovato, Lorde, John Waters, The Chainsmokers, Boy George, Diplo, Chelsea Handler, Melanie C, and Jason Mraz showing support to the cause.

All the proceeds from the single’s sales and streaming will go towards assisting Brazil’s LGBT community, by being donated to the NGO Grupo Arco-Íris.

“Unfortunately,” says singer/songwriter Yann, “most of the world isn’t aware that Brazil is an incredibly dangerous place for the LGBTI community. It was important for me to help shine a stronger light on what’s happening here, because Brazil’s actually the country with the highest LGBT murder rate in the world. Yet, all of this is disguised under our superficially liberal lifestyle.”

The shooting of the video united representatives from Brazil’s LGBT community,and was scripted and directed by the pop singer himself. It was also his idea to include support clips from artists and allies. Lorde, for example, proudly waves rainbow flags supporting the cause, Britney, Demi and Céline celebrate love by doing the heart hand sign; Sense8 visionary Lana Wachowski filmed with an actual rainbow, and John Waters shot his support video in a cemetery, in a poignant tribute to the towering number of murders due to hate crimes in Brazil.

Yann maintains that his intention with the video is to also show diversity within the community: “Our plurality is awe-inspiring,” he says, “so it would never be possible to truly represent every facet of our diversity, but I hope that this song and the support of everyone involved will bring more visibility for us to continue to fight towards changing the real situation of what’s being done to our LGBT community. The goal with all this international support is to raise global awareness to what’s happening here. These are also issues being faced by our community in most of the world.” says the singer.

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