São Paulo

Vitória de Deus is only ten years old, but she is already a preacher. The spontaneous little girl has no qualms in "curing" passersby, with prayer and laud. "Everything is to honor and glory of our lord Jesus Christ," she repeats, over and over.

The nickname "minipreacher" comes from her firm positions - everything, of course, based on the Bible. "I love 'pocs' but it is actually a sin." And she continues: "Each person chooses what he or she wants to be. I have many LGBT friends and I don't want to hurt any of them," she says.

Vitoria de Deus on the street - Eduardo Knapp/Folhapress

Poc is a Brazilian slang that denominates effeminate gay men from the ghettos. Currently, it lost its negative connotation and became a regular slang among the LGBT community.

But criticizing gay people is exactly made her into a famous Internet meme. In 2017, a social media post featuring her went viral. In it, she defended that "God didn't create Adam and Evan."

"She became an icon after that. She didn't know what was a 'poc', but she was super sweet. And after she realized what we were, she continued to love us," said dancer Daniel Anjos, 24, after watching Vitória's performance in Avenida Paulista on Sunday in August.

Born in Petrolina (PE), Vitória is black and proud of her swirling, curling hair. She is the second of five children of Cícero Graciliano de Deus, 41, a tinsmith who quit mending cooking pans for a mission: turn his daughter into nationally famous Christian singer.

She already has 323,000 followers on Instagram and another 26,000 on Youtube.

Translated by NATASHA MADOV

Read the article in the original language