Movimento homossexual no Brasil: recompondo um histórico

Abstract

The homosexual movement has been in activity in Brazil for the past 25 years. This article, based on a combination of researchmet hodologies including ethnographic fieldwork and the analysesof primary and secondary sources, seeks to contribute towards the historical reconstitution of this movement. Special emphasisis given to the role played by “active connections” on the specific configuration assumed by the movement in a given context. The significant role played by social actors linked to the State and bythe segmented market economy in the renewal and expansion of the movement in the 90’s is analyzed within this framework. The political and social transformations which occurred in Brazilian society at large, such as the return to a democratic regime, the emergence of AIDS and the development of individualism, as well as changes in perspectives on sexuality which have taken place in recent years, are associated with changes which occurred within the movement and which, ultimately, affected the viability of a political struggle focusing on the recognition of homosexual identities in Brazil.