A 25-year-old transsexual was beaten to death by blows to the right side of the chest in the southern Brazlian town of Sapucaia Colonel, on the border with Paraguay. According to the local Military Police, Alberto Gonçales Acosta, 23, an inhabitant of Capitan Bado, Paraguay, had been drinking with friends in a brothel when the victim, Antonio Da Silva Portinho passed by with another person. Acosta told police that Portinho made a pass at him, which was his reason for beating her. But another witness, who was with the victim, told police the aggression happened for no reason and after the accused chased the victim.

A man was burned alive by two people late at night in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte. Witnesses said Luiz Rocha, 40, was drinking at a gas station when two men on a motorcycle approached. One of the suspects spilled gasoline on the victim, and the other then set the fire. An employee at the station helped put out the fire. Police are investigating whether the attempted homicide was provoked by homophobia because the victim is gay. The suspects have not been identified, and no arrests have been made. According to the hospital, Roche is suffering from burns on 18 percent of his body with second degree burns on his arms and right leg. His condition is considered stable.

Gay activists in Brazil were saddened today by the murder of a 19-year-old who was sexuall assaulted and murdered only hours after winning the "Miss Gay Arapiraca" contest in the northeastern state of Alagoas. The violence was apparently the result of homophobic violence. Osvan Inácio Dos Santos was killed in the nearby town of Batingas, by strangers who approached the victim in the street near the bar where the competition took place, police said.

The teenager had participated in the "Miss Gay Arapiraca pageant and disappeared shortly after winning the competition. Dos Santos' body was found yesterday morning, naked and, according to a legal expert, with indications of sexual assault and the breaking of his skull.