Mônica Benício
Mônica Benício | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Councilwoman for Rio de Janeiro | |
| Assumed office 1 January 2021 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Mônica Tereza Azeredo Benício 1 February 1986 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Political party | PSOL |
| Spouse | Marielle Franco (d. 2018) |
| Alma mater | Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro |
Mônica Tereza Azeredo Benício (born 1 February 1986) is a Brazilian architect, urbanist, feminist, and LGBT+ rights and human rights activist. She is currently a councilwoman with the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) in the city of Rio de Janeiro, having assumed office in 2021.[1] She is the widow of councilwoman Marielle Franco.[2]
Biography
[edit]Benício was born in Conjunto Esperança, one of the 16 favelas of the Complexo da Maré neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro.[3] In 2004, she graduated from local schools and matriculated in the community pre-vestibular at the Centro de Estudos e Ações Solidárias da Maré (CEASM). In 2007, she began graduate studies in psychology, two years after transferring to the Architecture and Urbanism school of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, PUC-Rio.[4]
In 2014, she graduated, her graduate thesis beingcomUNIDADE - Requalification of the Area of Conflict in the Favela of Maré. In 2019, she presented her masters dissertation at the same university, titled Every world. Just one world. A Maré of the city: violence, public spaces, and urban intervention.
In 2020, she was elected councilwoman for the city of Rio de Janeiro, being the 11th most voted for candidate. She ran on a feminist, antifascist, and people-centered campaign.[5]
In 2022, law 7291/2022, put together by Benício, came into effect, which instituted the Municipal Program of Confronting Femicide. The law, which confronts and attempts to prevent femicide.[6] That same year, she proposed a law that established the Municipal Day of Lesbian Visibility, which came into effect later that year. The law was originally proposed by her partner Marielle Franco and had presented the proposed law in the Municipal Chamber in 2017, but it had been voted down e apresentado em 2017 quando foi derrotado no plenário da Câmara Municipal.[7] She is also the author of law 7326/2022 that instituted the Program of Support and Welcoming of LGBTQIA+ People to address the violence against and the social vulnerability of LGBTQIA+ people, through different means to help.[8]
Personal life
[edit]Marielle and Monica met during a trip with friends, when they were 18 and 24 years old, respectively.[3] During this time, they had previously only had relationships with men. In 2005, they began to date.[9] During their time together over the years, they had periods of separation in their relationship. These periods were caused by lesbophobia within their families and by society at large, which led Marielle to pursue relationships with men during the times they were separated.[10][11] In 2015, they formalized their union together. At the time of Marielle's assassination, the couple lived together in Tijuca with Marielle's child from a previous relationship.[11] The two had planned to get married on 7 September 2019.[12]
After Marielle's assassination, Monica took up the mantle of her partner's social justice activism,[13] travelling abroad to talk about the legacy and memory of her partner in search of international support, with hopes of identifying the people who murdered her and those who ordered the assassination.[14]
References
[edit]- ^ "'Hoje, Marielle não será interrompida', diz Mônica Benício após ser eleita vereadora no Rio". G1 - Globo.com.
- ^ "Monica Benício, viúva de Marielle Franco, é eleita vereadora". IstoÉ.
- ^ a b "Monica Benício e a trajetória de amor e cumplicidade por Marielle Franco". Claudia - Abril.
- ^ "Monica Benicio a viúva de Marielle Franco reflete sobre a mulher que era antes da tragédia". Revista Trip.
- ^ "Viúva de Marielle Franco, Mônica Benício é eleita vereadora no Rio de Janeiro". UOL.
- ^ "Agora é lei: Rio terá programa de enfrentamento ao feminicídio". Câmara Municipal do Rio de Janeiro.
- ^ "Rio aprova PL que estabelece o Dia Municipal da Visibilidade Lésbica". IG.
- ^ "Vereadores aprovaram programa de apoio e acolhimento de pessoas LGBTQIA+". Câmara Municipal do Rio de Janeiro.
- ^ "Uma conversa sobre orgulho LGBTI+ com Monica Benicio". Casa Vogue - Globo.com.
- ^ "Rejeição da família, pedido de casamento e luto: a história de amor interrompida de Marielle e Monica". BBC.
- ^ a b "Marielle e Mônica: uma história de amor interrompida". El País.
- ^ ""Perdemos tanto, que perdemos o medo", diz Monica Benicio, companheira de Marielle Franco". Marco Zero.
- ^ "Castro não tem compromisso com solução de caso Marielle, diz viúva e vereadora". Folha de São Paulo.
- ^ "Viúva de Marielle vai à ONU denunciar falta de respostas sobre crime". Agência Brasil.
External links
[edit]- 1986 births
- Living people
- Brazilian feminists
- Women municipal councillors in Brazil
- Socialism and Liberty Party politicians
- Brazilian lesbian politicians
- Municipal Chamber of Rio de Janeiro councillors
- Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro alumni
- Lesbian feminists
- 21st-century Brazilian women politicians