Tibira do Maranhão

The Tibira do Maranhão was the first documented case of execution due to homosexuality in Brazil. Tibira was a Tupinambá native of Maranhão.

Events
In 1614, 2 years after the arrival of French colonizers in Northern Brazil, Tibira, which means homosexual in the Tupi language, was sentenced to death for sodomy by Yves D'Évreux, a Capuchin friar Tibira attempted to escape the charge, and fled into the woods for several days, but was re-captured by French authorities. Before his execution, Tibira was baptized by D'Évreux in the name of Saint Dismas, strapped to a cannon, which was fired, killing him. His last words were: ""I'm going to die, I'll never see them again, I'm no longer afraid of Jurupari because I'm a child of God, I do not have to provide fire, flour, water or any tool to travel beyond mountains, where you think you are dancing your fathers. Give me a little petum, however, so that I may die joyfully, with the firm word and without the fear that greases my stomach.""

As Tibira was "one of the first people in the New World to be so executed," according to Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller, contemporary Europeans received the story of his fate as implying that "Indigenous people were immoral and unworthy political subjects" and as justifying "harsh penalties and paternalistic rule" over them.

Modern culture
In 2014, gay activist Luiz Mott started a campaign to get Tibira canonized as a queer saint and recognized as a martyr.

On December 5, 2016, a monument commemorating Tibira was dedicated in Maranhão, Praia Grande, during the State Week of Human Rights.