The history of resistance and construction of the LGBTI+ movement in the Sertão
Potiguar.
patriarchy; homotransphobia; social movements; heterosexism.
The imperatives of patriarchy, crossed by the logic of capitalism, are constituted by
several powers and privileges to cisgender men to the detriment of women and LGBTI+
people (Lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, intersex and the “+”, which represents
the inclusion of other groups that identify with other variations of gender and sexuality).
This system gains new configurations according to the historical, social and economic
context that is established. It is necessary to consider that, in the case of LGBTI+
people, and specifically transvestites and transsexuals, who subvert the norms of
cisgenderism, these relationships are even more intense, suffering the most inhuman
expression of the “social issue”. Thus, in resistance to this context of exploitation,
oppression and domination, various forms of confrontation are articulated; among them,
organized social movements, which manifest themselves as a refraction of the
contradictions of the capitalist mode of production in response to social inequalities.
These collectives act to represent the interests of these populations, with emphasis on
the LGBTI+ Movement, which was born in Brazil in the late 1970s, still in
confrontation with the autocratic bourgeois regime. Currently, activism act in different
ways, expanding to the country's corners, decentralizing from main cities and marking
its trajectory of struggles, building agendas with diverse claims related to citizenship,
social rights, public policies and the fight against homotransphobia, heterosexism and
other forms of oppression and exploitation. Therefore, this work intends to analyze the
context of the emergence and performance of the LGBTI+ movement in the Sertão
Potiguar, more specifically in the Alto Oeste region, from the perspective of the struggle
and resistance of its founders. This research scenario is marked by a region with legacy
of patronage, by the stigmas of drought, poverty and social vulnerabilities. In Sertão
Potiguar, a social movement emerges, in the context of the conservative wave and the
health crisis caused by the pandemic, organized in defense of this historically invisible
population, which organizes itself into two distinct collectives articulating and sharing
the same guidelines. Thus, this work aims to analyze, from an action research, the
context of emergence, action, and its repercussions in the social fabric, so that the data
produced will be analyzed by meaning cores. The research design was developed in two
stages, namely: the 1st stage involved the immersion in the daily life of the productions
of the organized movement to understand the context of emergence, its operating
dynamics, main guidelines, construction of agendas and actions, the 2nd stage are
interviews with the founders of the movement for a better detailing of how these life
trajectories meet with militancy in this geographic territory, in the search for social
rights and human dignity. In addition to analyzing the vulnerabilities produced, marked
invisibilities, modes of oppression and exploitation, State omission and how the
insertion of the movement promoted political emancipation and achievements for
LGBTI+ people.