After all the international furor the news stirred Brazilian 7-year-old Júlia Lira will be the Carnaval Queen. A Rio judge has decided that the little girl can parade and that she doesn’t see anything wrong or erotic about Júlia’s participation.
Lira will be drums section’s Queen of the Viradouro Escola de Samba (Samba Club) and should parade this coming Sunday at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro. The girl is the daughter of Marcos Lira, who is the president of Viradouro.
The decision to allow the young girl to serve as Carnaval Queen was taken by judge Ivone Caetano from the Childhood, Youth and Elderly Court in Rio de Janeiro.
The State Council for the Defense of Children and Adolescents had questioned the presence of the girl claiming that she would be in a role strongly charged with “sex appeal.”
A spokesman for the Viradouro Escola de Samba, Joice Hurtado, said the group was informed about the judge’s decision this Wednesday and they were ecstatic.
The case has become an international cause célèbre since the role of Carnaval Queen is traditionally played by Brazilian sex symbols like actresses and models.
The father of Julia had argued in favor of her presence saying that it would bring freshness and innocent energy to the Carnaval parade.
Judge Caetano in her decision ruled that being queen of the drums sections doesn’t necessarily mean erotization. And she gave an example: “Dona Dodô, 84, was Portela’s drums sections Queen in 2003.”
