Queer resistance during Brazil’s dictatorship
The military dictatorship in Brazil (1964-1985) imposed an official rhetoric which promoted a notion of social morality based on the pillars of heterosexuality, the traditional family, and Christian values. Within this narrative, LGBTQI+ communities were portrayed as a threat to public order and morality, leading to their marginalisation and justifying violence against them.
Movements and art collectives became refuges for resistance, expression and cultural production, turning places into pockets of resistance where counterculture thrived, while challenging the patriarchal and heteronormative paradigm.
The military dictatorship in Brazil (1964-1985) imposed an official rhetoric which promoted a notion of social morality based on the pillars of heterosexuality, the traditional family, and Christian values. Within this narrative, LGBTQI+ communities were portrayed as a threat to public order and morality, leading to their marginalisation and justifying violence against them.
Movements and art collectives became refuges for resistance, expression and cultural production, turning places into pockets of resistance where counterculture thrived, while challenging the patriarchal and heteronormative paradigm.
The musical group Os Novos Baianos, was part of the counterculture movement called desbunde and the emerging Tropicália artistic movement, combining various musical elements from genres such as samba, bossa nova, frevo, baião, choro, and rock n’ roll. Photo: Scielo.br
Desbunde was one of the earliest movements during the 70s. A Brazilian urban expression for a range of countercultural practices, originally, it was a pejorative term for groups with a certain lack of political commitment. Then, it became a tag for youth behaviour which embraced sexual liberation, psychedelia, alternative lifestyles, and experimental art as resistance. Although not uniquely queer, this movement challenged authoritarian norms and conservatism in all aspects, supporting all experiences of sexuality and gender identities.
O Lampião da Esquina was one of the first publications specifically reaching out to a homosexual readership in Brazil. Created entirely by homosexual men, it published work from artists and literary writers. 1978-1981.
Photograph of Rosely Roth, leading lesbian activist of the 1980s, reading the ChanacomChana newsletter. Rosely is one of the pioneers of the LGBTQI+ movement in Brazil. 1985. Folha de São Paulo Collection. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Ferro’s was situated in Boca do Lixo (“Garbage Mouth”), a bohemian area in downtown São Paulo famous for its nightlife, dance clubs, underground spots, and associations with drugs and prostitution. Open since 1961, the bar was a space for counterculture, resistance and freedom of expression, attracting activists, communists, journalists, and artists. Photo: Folha de São Paulo Collection. Memorial Da Resisténcia São Paulo.
In the 1980s, Ferro’s Bar in São Paulo became mostly a gathering place for the LGBTQI+ movement, led by lesbians. On July 23, 1983, police forcibly removed lesbians from the bar for selling ChanacomChana, a feminist journal. In response to this act of harassment, LGBTQI+ groups –led by the Feminist-Lesbian Action Group– organised an occupation of the bar in August of that year. Led by Rosely Roth and Míriam Martinho, the act became known as the Brazilian Stonewall, due to its importance. Photo: Folha de São Paulo Collection. Memorial Da Resisténcia São Paulo.
During the dictatorship, venues like the Boate Medieval (Medieval Nightclub) offered LGBTQI+ people spaces to affirm their identities, with transvestite and drag performers such as Divina Aloma and Kelly Cunha. Photo: Memorial da Resistência / Instagram
Transvestites and transsexuals transformed their resistance into art, gaining space and bringing artists to broadcast television. Photo: Memorial da Resistência / Instagram
Rogéria & Valéria (1972). Photo: Acervo Rogéria / Instagram
Figures such as Rogéria and Madame Satã became famous drag queens, representing the gay subculture of the time. Rogéria brought queer visibility into mainstream theatre and television, while Madame Satã, a Black ex-convict and capoeirista in Rio’s Lapa, embodied defiance against racism, class prejudice, and heteronormativity. Together, they symbolised how drag could challenge dominant social norms.
One of the representatives of queer cinema was Adélia Sampaio. In 1984, Sampaio directed Amor Maldito (Cursed Love), the first feature film by a Black woman in Brazil. The film, based on a true story, centres on a lesbian woman accused of killing her partner, marking a significant moment in Brazilian cinema for LGBTQI+ representation. Photo: Aventuras Na Historia.
The history of queer resistance in Brazil under the military dictatorship shows how LGBTQI+ communities transformed marginalisation into creative resistance and political action. From bars like Ferro’s and nightclubs such as Boate Medieval, to artistic collectives, musical movements, and pioneering publications, these spaces nurtured solidarity, visibility, and cultural innovation. Figures like Rosely Roth, Rogéria, and Madame Satã exemplified how activism, performance, and everyday acts of defiance challenged authoritarian norms, patriarchal values, and heteronormativity. Together, these movements and individuals forged a resilient queer presence that not only resisted oppression but also laid the foundation for ongoing struggles for LGBTQI+ rights in Brazil.
Reel Brazil, creatively directed by Nina Shen, and co-curated by Nina Shen & Solange Farkas features historic and contemporary works of video art, experimental cinema, and digital commissions that interrogate systems of control, elevate outsider voices, and reimagine art as a tool of social and political transformation. It draws cultural parallels between Brazil’s post-dictatorship era and the UK’s Thatcher years, exemplified by the UK’s National Disability Movement – the festival explores a lineage of creative resistance, enabled by new technologies.
