{"id":56854,"date":"2015-03-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-24T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-student-triumphs-over-discrimination-in-brazil-to-earn-degree\/"},"modified":"2015-03-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-03-24T00:00:00","slug":"uri-student-triumphs-over-discrimination-in-brazil-to-earn-degree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/03\/uri-student-triumphs-over-discrimination-in-brazil-to-earn-degree\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 student triumphs over discrimination in Brazil to earn degree"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tWins public relations award for work on #MakeYourGreenCount social media campaign<\/b><\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 March 24, 2015 \u2013 If Sergio Suhett had stayed in Brazil, he would be dead. Twenty-three years ago, when he fled, coming out as a gay man was tantamount to a death sentence.<\/p>\n


\nRhode Island \u2013 and eventually the 溏心vlog免费B站 \u2013 embraced him, and he gave back by working on student projects that reflected his commitment to social justice.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI want to help people,\u201d says Suhett, of North Kingstown. \u201cI\u2019ve been through so much in my life \u2013 good times and bad. I know what it\u2019s like to experience sadness and joy.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nFor his exceptional work at 溏心vlog免费B站, including on the #MakeYourGreenCount social media campaign, he\u2019ll receive the PR Excellence Award for Leadership from the Harrington School of Communication and Media on April 1. <\/p>\n


\nSuhett\u2019s story begins decades ago in a working-class suburb of Rio, as the middle son of a father who worked in a plastics factory and a mother who earned money sewing clothes. <\/p>\n


\nAt the age of 8, he knew he was different from the other boys in his \u201cmacho\u201d Brazilian culture. He was skinny. He listened to Mozart instead of playing soccer. And he had crushes on boys, not girls.<\/p>\n


\nThe other kids teased him, calling him \u201csissy\u201d and \u201cMommy\u2019s boy,\u201d and sometimes they kicked him in the face until he bled. His father forced him to fight back, and he did but failed.<\/p>\n


\nHigh school was a nightmare of more bullying. In his first year of college he met a young man who would give him the courage to be gay and love another man. Their year together was happy, though all encounters were in secret.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe would set up a time in downtown Rio when the city was mostly empty,\u201d he says. \u201cI would have a hat on to hide my face. He\u2019d drive by, and I\u2019d get in. We were both so afraid of getting caught.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nBrazil in the late 1980s was a terrifying place for gay men, who were regularly beaten, arrested and, in some cases, murdered. Although he was closeted, Suhett says some perceived him as gay and randomly attacked him on the street. <\/p>\n


\nOnce, he was standing at a bus stop and, to be courteous, smiled at another man. His response: a punch in the eye. Suhett went to the police for help, but instead they interrogated him. \u201cI\u2019m the victim,\u201d he cried, standing up from his chair. The officers hit back hard \u2013 with their fists.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cMost of the marks were on my body,\u201d he says. \u201cBut they gave me a black eye I couldn\u2019t hide.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe awful truth revealed itself: \u201cI knew then I had to leave Brazil, that I had no protection, no future.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nHe fled to the United States to live with his sister, married to an American man, but it would take years before he could find his footing. He polished granite tabletops, made pizza, cleaned houses and worked as a janitor, blowing leaves off parking lots. Once, he slept on a park bench for a week when he was homeless.<\/p>\n


\nIn 1995, living in San Francisco, he met Jon Anthony Carr. They fell in love quickly and deeply, eventually moving to New York City, where Carr found work as a corporate travel consultant with American Express at the World Trade Center. His life was spared during the 9\/11 attacks only because he was delayed 3 minutes for work.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThings changed after that,\u201d says Suhett. \u201cWe began to look at life in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nIn 2008, the couple took a big step: They married in San Francisco in the same City Hall where Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio tied the knot. The next stop was Rhode Island, where Carr grew up. Suhett worked as a case manager for AIDS Project Rhode Island, helping HIV-positive men and women live dignified lives, and he applied to colleges. 溏心vlog免费B站 was his first choice.<\/p>\n


\nBeing an older student worried him initially, but he quickly adjusted. The younger students were friendly and caring and enjoyed collaborating with him. At first, he pursued a health studies degree, then switched when he realized he had a passion for public relations. \u201cI love meeting people, and I love helping them promote their causes.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nHis classes and teachers have been excellent, he says, but it\u2019s the hands-on experience with public relations projects that he values most. He coordinated an HIV awareness program on campus and a social media campaign for the theater department.<\/p>\n


\nBy far, his most fulfilling project was the #MakeYourGreenCount social media campaign to raise money for Edesia, a Providence nonprofit that makes Plumpy\u2019Nut, a peanut butter paste distributed to humanitarian groups to fight childhood malnutrition globally.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe made a difference in lives all over the world, and we did it right here from 溏心vlog免费B站,\u201d he says. \u201cHow cool is that?\u201d<\/p>\n


\nIn addition to the public relations leadership award, Suhett, along with the three other 溏心vlog免费B站 students who worked on #MakeYourGreenCount, also will receive the PR Excellence Impact Award.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cSergio is the real thing,\u201d says Regina A. Bell, a 溏心vlog免费B站 lecturer in public relations. \u201cWe in the Harrington School of Communication and Media encourage students to be in tune with the global marketplace. Sergio totally gets it. He recognizes that each one of us can make a difference, whether in Rhode Island or globally. His world has no barriers. He genuinely gives of himself.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nSergio\u2019s painful days in Brazil are with him always. Besides the emotional damage, a crescent-moon scar from the police beating marks his right eye. Still, he is grateful for the goodness that has come his way \u2013 his husband Jon, his community work, his 溏心vlog免费B站 education.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cMost of my years have been trying to survive,\u201d he says. \u201cNow, I\u2019m living.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nPhoto above: Sergio Suhett (on left) and his husband, Jon Anthony Carr. Photo by Bill Mallette.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wins public relations award for work on #MakeYourGreenCount social media campaign KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 March 24, 2015 \u2013 If Sergio Suhett had stayed in Brazil, he would be dead. Twenty-three years ago, when he fled, coming out as a gay man was tantamount to a death sentence. Rhode Island \u2013 and eventually the University […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}