Coloring “hegemonic projects”: the LGBTQIA+ political agenda under the FHC, Lula, and Dilma governments

Abstract

This article analyzes the incorporation of the LGBTQIA+ agenda by the Brazilian federal government between 1995 and 2016. It examines the Executive Branch’s central policies for the LGBTQIA+ population, situating them within the broader political-economic programs of each administration. It also investigates how shifts in the political-economic orientation of governments and in the correlation of social forces influenced both the formulation of demands and the organization of the LGBTQIA+ movement. The research is based on document analysis, interviews, a review of the specialized literature, and a theoretical approach grounded in the concepts of "hegemonic project" and “accumulation strategy” as proposed by Bob Jessop, as well as in Nicos Poulantzas’s conception of the state. This study concludes that LGBTQIA+ policies stem from the mobilization of the movement and its networks, while also being conditioned by changes in governmental orientations and the political alliances that underpin them.