Citation:
Date Presented:
February 3Abstract:
In my thesis, I explore the ways in which the military dictatorship in Brazil ended up persecuting the LGBT population in São Paulo in its pursuit for economic liberalization and international prestige. In order to thoroughly dive into this topic, I have broken down my thesis into the following three chapters: the first is a broad overview of the military dictatorship, its goals, and its surface-level effects on the LGBT community in São Paulo; the second outlines police brutality against travestis and male sex workers, how the military regime segregated LGBT people, and the LGBT community’s response by means of mobilization; and the final chapter demonstrates the international influence on the LGBT community in São Paulo, specifically by means of tourism. My methods have mostly included analyzing newspapers and police documents at Harvard, and police documents from the Archives of the State of São Paulo in Brazil. I have also conducted interviews with a few leaders of the LGBT movement in São Paulo, all of whom lived in the city when the military dictatorship was in power.