Notes on the disputes around LGBT policies legitimacy in Brazil

Abstract

This article is based on researches on LGBT policies in Campinas.The methodology uses participant observation, documental analysis and in-terviews with officials and activists. Here, we present the creation of the firstBrazilian public policy to offer social, legal and juridical assistance to LGBT,the LGBT Center of Campinas. By taking into account this and other publicpolicies, enlightened by a broader national context, we seek to understand howa public service with less social and political legitimacy works in a context ofintense dispute around the social place of homosexuality. We argument thus thatthe Campinas’ situation is representative of what happens with LGBT policiesin Brazil. Although there is a process of implementation of some policies, theybrought only few concrete results, alongside with the resistance in form of legis-lative acts aiming to stop the process of constitution of the LGBT as subjects ofrights.