Former Brazilian congressman, husband of Greenwald, dies

Former Brazilian Congressman David Miranda died in a Rio de Janeiro hospital on Tuesday.

Media reports indicate Miranda, 37, had been in the intensive care unit for nine months with a gastrointestinal infection. His husband, journalist Glenn Greenwald, announced Miranda’s death on his Twitter page.

“His death, early this morning, came after a 9-month battle in ICU,” tweeted Greenwald. “He died in full peace, surrounded by our children and family and friends.”

Miranda, who would have turned 38 on Wednesday, was born in Rio’s Jacarezinho favela.

Greenwald on his Twitter account noted Miranda’s neighbor adopted him after his mother died when he was 5.

“That gave David the chance to live his full potential in a society that often suffocates it,” said Greenwald. “He was key to the (Edward) Snowden story, became the first gay man elected to Rio’s City Council, then federal Congress at 32. He inspired so many with his biography, passion and force of life.”

Miranda and Greenwald met on a Rio beach in 2005. The two men in 2017 adopted two brothers.

Miranda in 2016 won a seat on the Rio Muncipal Council. His friend, bisexual Rio Municipal Councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes, were assassinated on March 14, 2018, in the city’s Lapa neighborhood.

Miranda in 2019 succeeded Jean Wyllys, who is openly gay, after death threats prompted him to resign from Congress and flee Brazil. Miranda last year announced he would not seek re-election.

“My condolences to Glenn Greenwald and relatives for the loss of David Miranda,” tweeted Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “[He was] a young man with an extraordinary trajectory who left too soon.”

Michelle Seixas, the national political coordinator of Articulação Brasileira de Lésbicas (Brazilian Articulation of Lesbians), a group that advocates on behalf of lesbians in Brazil, told the Washington Blade that Miranda’s death is “still hard to believe.” Other Brazilian activists, advocacy groups and politicians also mourned the late-congressman.

“I just received the sad news of the death of colleague David Miranda, a former federal congressman for the PSOL (Socialism and Liberty Party) and LGBT activist,” said Congresswoman Erika Hilton, a transgender woman who represents São Paulo. “My love and solidarity with your family and friends. Rest in peace, David!”

Gui Mohallem, co-founder and director of VoteLGBT, a group that seeks to increase the number of LGBTQ and intersex people in Brazilian politics, also mourned Miranda.

“It’s a great, great, great loss,” Mohallem told the Blade on Tuesday.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Kevin Naff

is editor of the Washington Blade. Reach him at knaff@washblade.com