to Portuguese audiences. She accepted the post, becoming the director of the American News Agency. She openly had lesbian relationships, living for many years at the Hotel Palace and maintaining a relationship with Maria Torres. Homophobia in Portugal was severe and the new fascist state of the First Republic imposed harsh penalties for any kind of subversive behavior. Gays were routinely arrested and imprisoned, with their families and friends also facing repercussions. Fearing that she would encounter problems since Quaresma had hired her to work for the Agency, family members of Maria Lamas encouraged Lamas to quit her first journalism position. When her relationship ended, Quaresma began a lifelong partnership with the widow of a fellow journalist known only as "Madame Silva Passos". In addition to her reporting, Quaresma organized events to spur Luso-Brazilian cooperation. In 1923, she organized the visit of President António José de Almeida for a Brazilian exhibition and in 1933, organized the Rio de Janeiro Trade Demonstration Exposition centennial celebration. The latter event hosted conferences, concerts and recitations as well as documentaries, during the "Portuguese Week" of the fair. After the fair was over Quaresma relocated permanently in Brazil with her partner. During World War II, she utilized her connections with the Agency to support the charitable organization Portuguese Women's Crusade with aid for disabled veterans, orphans and widows. After the war ended, Quaresma hosted cultural programs, featuring young musicians and literary figures, giving many young artists their first steps to fame. For the next thirty years, she traveled throughout the world practicing her craft with Silva Passos, who died in the early 1960s, leaving Quaresma bereft and unable to carry out the day to day household tasks that her partner had handled so she could work. Death and legacy Quaresma's death was reported on 26 October 1973 in Lisbon, in the newspaper La República. After her death, biographers of Quaresma attempted to erase her lesbian past and the oppressive climate that contributed to her living abroad. Fifteen years after she died, she was honored by the city of Belém, which named a street after her in the Caselas neighborhood. In 2010, the country of Portugal issued a series of stamps to recognize the women who had helped the country to develop at the turn of the 20th century. Along with other women, Quaresma's likeness appeared on the €1.15 stamp. Distinctions National orders Officer of the