17 Facts About Jean Wyllys

Jean Wyllys was notable as being Brazil's second openly gay member of parliament and the first congressman to be a gay-rights activist.

Jean Wyllys has been compared to Harvey Milk for his work.

Jean Wyllys's mother was a washerwoman and his father a car painter who suffered from alcoholism.

Jean Wyllys attended a boarding school, which gave him the opportunity to get a better education than the average child in his village.

Jean Wyllys later moved to Salvador and obtained his bachelor's degree in journalism at the Federal University of Bahia.

Jean Wyllys first rose to fame after becoming the finalist in the Brazilian reality television show, Big Brother Brasil in its fifth season in 2005.

Jean Wyllys was the first openly gay participant in the show, which caused controversy amongst fans and participants alike.

In 2010 Jean Wyllys was elected a federal member of the Brazilian Congress, representing the Socialism and Freedom party, with an average of 13,000 votes.

Jean Wyllys's election was only possible, considering the number of votes he had in 2010 elections, through the so-called "voto de legenda", a constitutional mechanism that allows candidates who don't have a large number of votes to be elected through votes of another highly voted candidate of the same party.

Jean Wyllys started working on his political platform, which was primarily focused on the fight for LGBT rights.

In that same year, Jean Wyllys was included in the "Top 50 global personalities with an outstanding commitment to diversity" list.

Jean Wyllys was re-elected to a third term as a member of Congress in the 2018 election.

In January 2019, just days before the February 1 swearing-in of the 56th Congress, Jean Wyllys released a note from overseas stating that he would not return to Brazil due to alleged death threats and that he would not assume his position as congressman.

Jean Wyllys told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper that he did not want to live four years under close security watch.

Jean Wyllys was replaced in the Chamber of Deputies by David Miranda.

Jean Wyllys returned to Brazil for the first time in July 2023.

In May 2024, Jean Wyllys called for Lula to not run for a fourth term in 2026, instead endorsing Simone Tebet as a potential successor.