The LGBTI+ institutionalization process in the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB)

Abstract

The present work intends to present part of the results of the doctoral thesis defended at the Institute of Political Science of the University of Brasília, which has as its central question: “how were the values, objectives and interests of the LGBTI+ Movement institutionalized in Brazilian political parties?”. In this specific proposal, we analyze the experience of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), the party that governed the country between 1995 and 2002, which governed the state of São Paulo for almost three decades and which made the most progress in creating institutional instruments for the recognition of sexual and gender diversity among associations on the right in the ideological spectrum of the Brazilian party system. This was largely due to the militancy of Diversidade Tucana, a group of activists affiliated with the party, founded in 2006 in São Paulo. Through semi-structured interviews carried out with the National President, the Honorary President, the General Secretary and state leaders of the Diversidade Tucana, documental analysis of official party documents, such as different versions of the statute, the party program, the government plans, manifestos, campaign materials, among others, and bibliographical research on scientific works on the PSDB, we carried out a study on the emergence of struggles for sexual and gender diversity in this party, analyzing the process and the factors of institutionalization.