During the 2025 BRICS Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, activists organized a protest on Ipanema Beach against Iran's treatment of the LGBTQIA+ community. The demonstration coincided with the presence of Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi, who was attending BRICS meetings. Protesters criticized Iran's criminalization and public execution of LGBTQ+ individuals, symbolically placing pride flags and gallows in the sand to highlight these human rights abuses. The protest underscored opposition to Iran's participation in the BRICS group due to its repression of minorities. Separately, concerns have been raised in Brazil about controversial conversion therapies targeting transgender people, drawing broader attention to LGBTQIA+ rights issues in the region. Additionally, reports have highlighted Russia's attempts to erase transgender individuals, indicating a wider regional context of challenges faced by transgender communities.