Cruz, Rodrigo Rodrigues da; (2023) Rompendo o armário político na internet e nas ruas: Os ativismos LGBTQIA+ à direita no Brasil (2013-2020). Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), Universidade NOVA de Lisboa.

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Abstract

This thesis seeks to understand the emergence of right-wing LGBTQIA+ activism in Brazil between the years 2013 and 2020. Confronting the essentialist discourse, common to the public debate, that tends to frame these activists as carriers of a “false consciousness” of themselves, I opted for a comprehensive approach reconstituting the actors' points of view. The theoretical basis is the sociology of collective action and social movements, particularly the contentious politics approach. The sociology of dispositional and contextual plurality, as well as gender and sexuality studies, provided additional theoretical contributions and concepts. Based on this theoretical framework, I resorted to three dimensions of analysis. On a macro level, I sought to identify the key variables in the political and cultural environment that provided incentives for these mobilisations. On a meso level, I examined relational dynamics behind the collective (offline)and connective (online) action of the actors and their groups, emphasising the organisational forms, repertoires of action, and framing process. Finally, on a micro level, I analysed thecontributions of their biographies (in the form of individual dispositions, values, and beliefsincorporated along their trajectories) mobilized in the shaping and meaning of this activism. To achieve these goals, I triangulated empirical data produced from documentary research in the media, online ethnography, and comprehensive semi-structured interviews with 18 activists(cis and trans men self-identified as homosexual, bisexual, and asexual) of different right-wing political groups living in different regions of Brazil. The results suggest that the political and cultural opportunities opened by the crisis in the Workers' Party governments, the June 2013protest cycle, and the Dilma Rousseff impeachment campaign in 2015/2016 caused crucial shifts in the Brazilian political landscape. These changes enabled both new and old right-wing organisations to recruit new generations of activists, creating an environment open to new ideas and behaviours that stimulated the coming out of the political closet. The newly recruited activists met each other in right-wing internet fora and created specific LGBTQIA+ groups, shaping two distinct styles of activism: one identified as liberal and the other with a conservative profile. Finally, their political engagement in right-wing movements and politicalparties allowed them to try to reconcile different identities (e.g.: “gay”; “Catholic”; “black”; “conservative”; “patriot”) and social roles (e.g.: “son”; “husband”; “faithful”; and “worker”), accumulated throughout their biographies, while expressing their rejection of the left, LGBTQIA+ movements and milieu, as well as to create a positive self-image. These new experiences also enabled them to re-signify and negotiate their sexual identities within the social environments they consider significant for their lives, namely the family, the church, and the political circles.

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