which might arouse gay feelings and cutting contact with friends connected to the gay community. The idea was to make people isolated, he explains, in order to manipulate them into being closer to the church.

When Viula was 34 he finally came out, divorced his wife and is now a leading LGBT activist living in Rio. In 2013, he helped campaign against legislation that would allow psychiatrists in the country to treat homosexuality as a disease and the bill was eventually withdrawn.

Viula applauds the law’s defeat in congress but says the fight against religious fundamentalism in Brazil will continue for many years to come. He says the power of the church extends to politicians afraid to go against it for fear of losing votes.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Participants at Pridesubmersion in ice-cold water as corrective measures for patients. The country’s health minister Carina Vance Mafla says that she’s received reports of women being raped at the centres.

Tatiana Cordero from the Urgent Action Fund has led research on gay rights in Ecuador and claims that although the government promised to shut down clinics in the country in 2012, little has changed and clinics are still being allowed to operate. She says the clinics make up to a $140,000 (£96,500) per month and some are even owned by government officials. Corruption, she says, is therefore a major obstacle and she calls for an in-depth investigation into the problem.

Bisi Alimi on LGBT rights in Nigeria: 'It may take 60 years, but we have to start now' Read more

Cordero believes legal