Steven Butterman understands the LGBTQ community on an academic level. He is a tenured professor at University of Miami who works in gender and cultural studies, immigration, the queer diaspora and queer theory.

His primary focus is on LGBTQ in Brazil. Butterman is a professor of Portuguese and helped develop the university’s Gender and Sexuality Studies program. He has written several books on Brazilian LGBTQ culture, including how the fantasy can overshadow the reality.

His book, “Witnessing (In)Visibility: Journalistic Representations of the Largest Gay Pride Parade on the Planet,” examines the dichotomy of how, despite having the world’s largest Pride parade on Earth, Brazil is also the country with LGBTQ-related hate crimes.

He displays his academic credentials to help people fleeing persecution simply because they’re LGBTQ. He has served as an expert witness in asylum cases involving homophobia, lesbophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and domestic violence in Brazil, Estonia, and Honduras.

Butterman has devoted much of his life to understanding the plight of LGBTQ Brazilians and explaining it to the rest of the world. While you may never see it up close or first hand, his devotion to the community is clear.

His next work will focus on the “identity formation of LGBT Brazilians who have migrated to South Florida.”

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