A space for historical events and also for the coexistence of those excluded from society, in the extinct gardens below the statue of D. Pedro I, clandestine meetings of men for sexual and romantic purposes took place, which were recorded in police records. Anonymous meetings in public spaces were one of the only ways to meet potential partners.
At Teatro João Caetano, the oldest concert hall in Rio de Janeiro, there were several events aimed at the LGBTQIAP+ communities, such as, for example, the Baile dos Enxutos, a carnival event for gay and transvestite audiences created in the 1940s with performances that challenged notions of masculinity and femininity.
Local onde funcionou o Hotel São José, ponto de encontro em eventos noturnos como a Gayfieira. Em 1931 houve um incêndio e a partir dos escombros preservados foi criada a Casa de Caboclo, com espetáculos muito frequentados pelas classes populares. Nela, se apresentou pela primeira vez Madame Satã, interpretando a Mulata do Balacochê no espetáculo Loucos em Copacabana.
It showed several silent films accompanied by orchestras, but in the 1970s, in order to continue operating, it began to invest mainly in pornochanchadas, broadcasting erotic art. Thus, the public that frequents it has become the majority of gay men. Striptease shows were also included in the program, which included the participation of transsexual and transvestite women.
The Arco Íris Group is a non-governmental, non-profit organization, whose mission is to promote quality of life, human rights and citizenship for the LGBT public. It was created in 1993, based on the dream of a group of friends in response to the AIDS epidemic and discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transvestites and transsexuals.
Founded in 1961, it is considered the oldest active deviant social group in Brazil. Between 1969 and 1975, the club remained closed due to threats of repressive violence during the military dictatorship. Today the house promotes meetings between members, receives guests and supporters for lunches, bingo nights and variety shows, where shows by gogoboys and new and veteran transformers are the main attraction.
Former headquarters of the Department of Political and Social Order, the building functioned as a political detention and torture center during the civil-military dictatorship. During this period, LGBT people were humiliated and tortured in interrogations, publications, transvestite and transforming shows were persecuted and censored, with the argument of preserving morals and good customs.
House where the famous transvestite Luana Muniz lived, recorded on the program Profissão Repórter with the phrase “transvestite is not a mess”. Luana, who died in 2017, aged 56, due to pneumonia. She left home as a teenager to become a prostitute, modified her body throughout the 1970s, during the dictatorship, and worked in several European countries. Upon returning to Brazil, Luana set up the mansion, where she rented rooms to transvestites, and became a reference in caring for the behavior, disease prevention and rights of this community.
Bar/nightclub founded in the same place where the Sinônimo nightclub was located, also an LGBT hotspot. The owner, Jacke, is a transvestite who promotes parties and shows and is concerned about employing transvestites.
Opened in 1937, under the name Viena Budapeste, the space renamed Cabaret Casanova was considered one of the oldest spaces in Lapa. It is believed that Noel Rosa composed the song “A Dama do Cabaré” there, after being dumped by a lover. Located on Avenida Mem de Sá, the house was a reference in Rio's LGBTQIA+ nightlife. In this space, the group Dzi Croquettes was formed and Madame Satã made her last forays into bohemian Lapa.
A vereadora Marielle Franco mobilizou uma agenda de lutas coletivas com o projeto de lei do “Dia da Visibilidade Lésbica” para a data 29 de agosto no calendário oficial do município do Rio de Janeiro, rejeitado em 2017, o que levou a uma ocupação nas escadarias, o Ocupa Sapatão, para fortalecer o debate sobre os direitos das pessoas LBTs. A pauta foi continuada até a aprovação em 2022 do Dia Municipal da Visibilidade Lésbica.
Opened in 1934, it became a traditional theater showing pornographic and male-male sex films.
The space was inaugurated on March 22, 1934 and became the property of Leandra Leal's grandfather, Américo Leal, in 1970. There, revue theater performances, twerking theater and also iconic shows with transvestites Rogéria, Marquesa , Brigitte de Búzios, Jane Di Castro, Divina Valéria, Eloína dos Leopardos, Camille K and Fujika de Halliday.
João do Rio was a revolutionary journalist from the beginning of the 20th century who reported on the marginalized daily life of the city and urban outskirts, suffered discrimination for being black and homosexual and became a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1910. Among his various narratives, he also recorded the nocturnal encounters between men in gardens.
One of the greatest landscape landmarks in Rio de Janeiro, Aterro do Flamengo was designed by the self-taught and lesbian architect Lota de Macedo Soares, who coordinated the project team. The national film Flores Raras tells the story of the romance between Lota and the American poet Elizabeth Bishop.
Based at Rua Joaquim Silva, n° 11, O Lampião da Esquina was a Brazilian newspaper with a homosexual theme that circulated during the years 1978 and 1981. It was born within the context of alternative press at the time of political opening in the late 1970s, during the relaxation of years of censorship promoted by the Brazilian military dictatorship.
Known as the LGBTQIAP+ dialect, “Pajubá” functions as a linguistic-cultural instrument that challenges gender and sexuality norms and originates from the fusion of terms from the Portuguese language with terms extracted from the Nagô and Yoruba ethnic-linguistic groups that arrived in Brazil with enslaved Africans. Many of the words were preserved in the temples of African-based religions, which have always been welcoming spaces for minorities.
The first LGBTQIAP+ Pride Parade in Brazil was held in Copacabana in 1995, at the end of the 17th International LGBT Conference (ILGA), the first event of its kind in the country, reaching around three thousand people. Over time, the Parade became the third biggest event in the city of Rio de Janeiro, behind New Year's Eve and Carnival.
The documentary Indianara follows Indianara Alves Siqueira, the activist responsible for founding Casa Nem, a shelter in Rio de Janeiro aimed at LGBTQIAPNB+ people in vulnerable situations.
Revista Brejeiras is a cooperative movement and an independent publication made by and for lesbians, with a feminist and anti-racist commitment.
The book “Tybyra: a Brazilian indigenous tragedy” tells the real story of a Tupinambá indigenous man who was murdered in the mouth of a cannon, having been accused of sodomy, for not corresponding to the gender and sexuality standards dictated by the dogmas of European colonizers.
