Gabriel Barros was 16 when he told his father he was gay.
The response was an order: he had to leave home. Without support, the young man spent the following years moving between shelters and friends’ homes, and for six years he had no contact with his family.
At the beginning of this year, his father was diagnosed with advanced chronic kidney failure and urgently needed a transplant. No other family member was a match. When Gabriel, who was already 22 and living in Rio de Janeiro, learned what was happening, he didn’t hesitate to get tested. The result was positive.
The operation was performed in June at a public hospital in the interior of Pernambuco. The kidney began functioning normally in his father’s body, and he is recovering little by little. Gabriel, by contrast, suffered internal bleeding followed by a systemic infection, and died days later.
According to family members, his father did not attend the wake or the funeral. He said that his son was still weak from the surgery and needed ongoing care.