In order to more fully understand the political and policy atmosphere in relation to gender, sexuality and human rights in Brazil it is necessary to offer a sketchy bird’s eye view of the evolution of related politics and policies in preceding decades. One first aspect to be highlighted is that these political and policy domains have evolved in tandem with the process of the country’s political re-democratization that began in the late 1970s and extended until the late 1980s. During this period a plural gamut voices of resistance have arisen to contest the military dictatorship and their constant political mobilizing gradually created conditions for the lingua franca of human rights to be incorporated in the national political and policy vocabulary. These voices comprised a very wide and complex spectrum of political movements, including those claiming rights in the realms of gender, reproduction, and sexuality. And, as noted by various authors, the HIV and AIDS epidemic coinciding with the height of re-democratizing mobilizations would further fuel the public articulation of these claims.
