Federal Deputy Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG).| Photo: Zeca Ribeiro/Chamber of Deputies.

The Justice of Minas Gerais condemned deputy Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG) to pay compensation for moral damages of R$ 80 thousand to Duda Salabert (PDT-MG). In the understanding of the judge of the 33rd Civil Court of the District of Belo Horizonte, José Freitas Véras, the deputy committed an offense liable to liability for refusing to use the female pronoun to mention Salabert, who is a trans woman, in an interview with the newspaper State of Minas.

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“I’ll still call her ‘he’. He is man. That’s what’s on his certificate, regardless of what he thinks it is”, Nikolas said, at the time, in an interview. The deputy’s defense maintained that the speech is supported by the right to freedom of expression and religious manifestation. However, the judge said that although these are fundamental rights, they are not absolute, and can be restricted when they conflict with other rights.