Rio de Janeiro will be the first city in Latin America to host the international LGBT-rights initiative Pride House as part of the 2016 Olympic Games celebrations.

PrideHouse Rio is a comprehensive initiative lead by Comitê Desportivo LGBT Brasileiro, the official organisation for LGBT sport in the country, looking to advance LGBT inclusion in Brazil by creating a space to celebrate sport and discuss homophobia.

The pavilion will be a safe, inclusive and accessible space for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and queer people to come together watch sport and participate in exhibitions, events and talks addressing LGBT discrimination and participation in sport during the 2016 Olympic Games.

PrideHouse Rio will follow the successes of the international initiative at events including the 2012 London Olympics, 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, and the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Pan Am and Parapan Am Games in Canada.

On their website the PrideHouse Rio organisers wrote: "We will participate in the activities of PrideHouseTO during the Parapan Am Games to exchange information, experiences and expertise for the hosting of next year's Pride House in Rio.

"Organisers of several previous Pride Houses will meet in Toronto making of this experience a unique opportunity to build on their successes for 2016."

Homophobia in Brazil
Seemingly gay-friendly Brazil is one the countries in the world with higher LGBT murder rates.

According to the LGBT rights group Grupo Gay da Bahia 2014 homicide report, at least 326 lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals were killed in attacks related to their sexual orientation last year, up from 159 in 2004.

Based on a number of news reports and legal cases, the pace of killings in a homophobic or transphobic attacks was close to one a day in 2014. Transvestites and transsexuals were the victims in almost half of the cases.

To help address the problem through sport in 2014, during the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the government of Rio de Janeiro launched the anti-discrimination campaign "Discriminação é gol contra" to raise awareness of all forms of discrimination, promoting a culture of respect for the tournament.