Public Policies for LGBT in Brazil

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Mr. Gustavo Mendes e Silva, a student of the 5th Year of Medicine, and currently National Officer in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights including HIV and AIDS. He is affiliated to the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writer and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s view on the topic, nor The European Sting’s one.

---

Advances in public rights for LGBT people are not reflected in a transformation of social interaction. We believe that actions of violence are rooted in Brazilian society, which hampers the progress of LGBT demands. Public policies play a role in maintaining or overcoming gender and sexual oppression. They can reinforce inequalities when they aim to meet supposedly universal needs and disregard particularities of a group. Just as they can reduce these inequalities through the formulation and implementation of specific actions. Public policy is the result of the decision of the holders of political power to allocate resources and provide public services. It is understood as a system of public decisions to maintain or modify reality through the definition of objectives and strategies of action, and consequent allocation of resources. The Brazilian State has been able to develop social projects that contemplate the LGBT population, within the scope of public policies. However, this achievement of public policies suffers greatly from a structure of hegemonic domination, responsible for the communication between these policies and the social sphere. Here we have an information gap. It is extremely important to understand why public policies are not effective, as they do not have a direct effect on the level of inclusion of LGBT groups in society. And the biggest reason is that such policies do not show stable results. The current public policies do not yet reflect a decrease in hate crimes, which remain very present in the lives of LGBT people. These policies need to be effective in people’s daily lives, in education, work, and at home. Professionals need to be empowered to deal with LGBT people, just as they need to adopt inclusive reception practices for LGBT people in business companies, public administration, and so on. In the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 many advertising campaigns filled the television and the internet with disclosure of their brands and support to the cause. One has the perception that at present the companies are adhering to the cause and are aiming to add value to the struggle. Such campaigns help in the perception of who is watching, in any medium of dissemination. The movement’s approach to civil society is stagnant in front of the state system that is considered by the movement as patriarchal, misogynist, racist, ultraconservative and heteronormative, culminating in the Brazilian political system, being considered in itself an obstacle to the continuity of advances achieved by the movement. The feeling of feeling included in society, but at the same time not belonging to it, corresponds to false social inclusion, which means that LGBT people do not feel embedded in Brazilian society in fact, because they can not continue to accept that homoprobotropic acts continue to occur naturally. There are still inequalities in access to health services, restriction of blood donation for homosexual men, homolesbotransphobia was criminalized a few days ago and there are restrictions on the acquisition of female and male hormones in health networks, in addition to rejection of the social name. About the author Gustavo Mendes e Silva is a student of the 5th Year of Medicine, and currently National Officer in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights including HIV and AIDS. Within IFMSA Brazil, he held several positions at SCORA, in the Administration and in the External Representation. Trainee in Sexual and Reproductive Health at UNFPA Brazil, was an IFMSA delegate at PAHO Meeting in Washignton in 2018. He carries out scientific initiation in Family Planning. He has a strong role in LGBT issues within and outside IFMSA Brazil. He attended public administration, and was National Officer of Science and Culture of the Federation of Students of Public Management.