Trans people's rights in the Legislature: White cis male parliamentarians are the majority responsible for reactionary Bills
By: FGV Direito Rio
By: FGV Direito Rio
- 163 draft bills that deal with the rights of transsexual and transvestite people were mapped in the Chamber of Deputies; of these, 81 were presented by parliamentarians from the right-wing political spectrum, 32 by centrist parliamentarians, and 50 by left-wing parliamentarians.
- Of the total of 62 cis men who authored draft bills on the mapped topics, 61.3% presented reactionary proposals and 38.7% presented progressive projects.
- Regarding the 32 women (cis and trans) proponents, 53.1% presented progressive proposals, while 46.9% presented reactionary projects.
- Regarding the racial profile of the proponents of draft bills, of the 53 authors of reactionary draft bills, 62.2% are White;
- Specifically on the debate on quotas for trans people in public universities, 35% of the 174 posts analyzed in X support the implementation of the vacancy reservation policy, 19.5% were against it and 44.8% were neutral in nature, only reproducing journalistic content.
Presentation
In recent months, the debate on policies to reserve vacancies for transgender people in public universities has been leveraged by the approval of this measure at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFF), on September 19, 2024, at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), on September 27, and at the National University of Brasília (UnB), on October 21. The institutions followed the path already traced by 15 other state and federal public universities that have affirmative actions aimed at this community, according to the National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals (ANTRA). The policy allocates up to 2% of vacancies for transgender people, with the goal of addressing the historical inequalities in access to education and the formal market that this social group faces.
Given the absence of a federal law on the subject, with only state or municipal legislation, the action of universities is celebrated by organizations fighting for the rights of trans people and transvestites. However, there is currently a mobilization in the Brazilian Congress to restrict these rights – not only access to education, but privacy, intimacy and citizenship for this group. There are also ongoing attempts to pathologize these people and to introduce draft bills that would limit freedom of expression and academic freedom in schools and universities, driven by a broader conservative movement that views such actions as promoting "gender ideology" (1).
With the intention of identifying the proposals in progress in the Federal Chamber that deal with the rights of the transsexual and transvestite population, this report focuses on the theme, complementing a previous study conducted within the scope of the Media and Democracy Project. In seeking to verify the existence of potential disinformation narratives, especially concerning the debate on affirmative actions for the transgender population in federal public universities, we also analyzed data from X (formerly Twitter).
The report is divided into two main sections, in addition to this presentation and the methodology: (i) analysis of legislative proposals; and (ii) data analysis in X. In the first section, we identify the timeline of the presentation of proposals, the topics they deal with, gender identity, racial self-declaration, and the political position of their proponents. In the second section, we present the general data on the positioning of X users for the theme of quotas for trans people and transvestites in public and federal universities.
Methodology
For the preparation of this report, we used two distinct sets of data: i) the first set of legislative proposals related to transsexual and transvestite people, and; ii) the second comprising posts from social network X about the debate on quotas for trans people and transvestites.
Initially, we requested via the Contact Us system of the Chamber of Deputies (2) the survey of all legislative propositions – including Bill (PL), Complementary Bill (PLP) and Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) – in progress on October 31, 2024, with terms and expressions related to: (i) gender ideology; (ii) non-binary language or neutral language; (iii) trans and sports; (iv) bathroom and sex or gender; (v) trans and child; (vi) surgery and sex or gender; (vii) biological gender or biological sex.
In the textual research carried out in the Legislative Information System of the Chamber of Deputies, the following search parameters were used:
[Syllabus] contains '"gender identity" or "gender ideology" or "non-binary language" or "neutral language" or transsexual or transsexuals or transgender or transvestite or "non-binary person" or transexuality or transphobia or "gender transition" or "gender-inclusive language"' or "biological gender" OR "biological sex" OR "identi* biologic*" OR "sexual biological*" AND "genotypical*"' OR [Explanation of the Syllabus] contains '"gender identity" or "gender ideology" or "language non-binary" or "neutral language" or transsexual or transsexual or transgender or transvestite or "non-binary person" or transexuality or transphobia or "gender transition" or "gender-inclusive language" or "biological gender" OR "biological sex" OR "identi* biologic*" OR "sexual biological*" AND "genotypical*"' OR [Indexing] contains '"gender identity" or "gender ideology" or "non-binary language" or "neutral language" or transsexual or transsexuals or transgender or transvestite or "person non-binary" or transexuality or transphobia or "gender transition" or "gender-inclusive language" or "biological gender" OR "biological sex" OR "identi* biologic*" OR "sexual biological*" AND "genotypical*"'
We received from the Chamber of Deputies a total of 163 (3) legislative proposals related to the aforementioned items, divided as follows: 161 draft bills (PLs) and two complementary draft bills (PLP).
After a previous analysis, we observed the existence of recurring themes, which were used to label each of the proposals. They are: public administration; Quotas; criminal law; Statute of the Child and Adolescent (ECA); education; Elections; Companies; sport; gender ideology; freedom of expression; social policies; civil registration and social name; health; symbology. We used more than one thematic label for the same project when it addressed more than one subject. Chart 1 below details the issues identified.
In addition to using the information on each of the proposals previously made available by the Chamber (5), we also carry out the following procedures: (i) evaluation of whether the content of the proposal is progressive or reactionary, in view of the perspective of expanding or restricting the rights of trans people and transvestites; (ii) classification of the party's political spectrum, associated with the main authorship of the proposals, according to the positioning in the political-ideological spectrum between "left", "center" and "right" (6); (iii) hetero-identification of the gender identity (cis or trans) of the people responsible for the propositions; and (iv) racial self-declaration of the proponents.
The second set of data used in this research concerns the posts about the implementation of admission quotas for trans people in public universities. X's posts were collected in the period between September 30 and October 30, 2024, in order to observe how the debate on the topic developed on this social network. With the help of the FGV Communications Rio team, a search syntax (7) guided by expressions and hashtags related to quotas (and their various linguistic variations) and University of Brasília (UnB) was used, finding a total of 1,700 posts.
This set includes original posts, replies, quotes, and reposts, the latter of which are just replications of texts from the original post. Thus, for the purposes of this report, we opted for the analysis of the 174 original posts published on X, which were classified as: in favor, neutral and against the implementation of quotas.
The report is divided into two main sections: the first addresses the data of the 163 bills in progress in the Chamber of Deputies, and the second deals with the 174 posts published on platform X about admission quotas for trans people at UnB.
(i) Analysis of legislative proposals
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General metrics
Evolution of the processing of bills in the Chamber of Deputies
Graph 1 shows the year of proposal of the bills that are still in progress in the Chamber of Deputies, as well as the political spectrum associated with the party of the author of the proposal. Most of the proposals in progress, 156 of the 163 projects identified, were presented from 2016 onwards and remain active in the Chamber.
Graph 1: Bills in progress in the Chamber of Deputies by political spectrum
Source: Chamber of Deputies | Elaborated by: FGV Direito Rio
- The oldest project that is still pending in the Chamber of Deputies is PL 5872/2005. Proposed by Deputy Elimar Máximo Damasceno (PRONA/SP), it aims to prohibit the change of first name in cases of "transsexualism", in the words of the author himself. Imbued in this project is the pathologization of trans people and transvestites from the use of the suffix "-ism" and the denial of the right to rectification of documents. The proposal was attached to PL 70/1995, which was shelved in January 2023, and returned to the agenda for consideration by the Plenary. Together with PL 5872/2005, five other draft bills are being processed as attached (PL 2976/2008; PL 4241/2012; PL 1281/2011; PL 4870/2016 and PL 2232/2020). All of these, however, seek to ensure the right to change the civil registry and social name, contrary to the main proposal.
- Of the 156 active draft bills proposed after 2016, 45 are from parliamentarians affiliated with left-wing parties. In this group, all proposals were considered progressive. Another 32 projects are centrist, divided into 23 progressive and 9 reactionary draft bills.
- Most of the draft bills in progress involving the theme are from parliamentarians affiliated with right-wing parties, totaling 79 proposals. Of these 79, only 8 have progressive content, while the other 71 draft bills were considered reactionary, which mirrors the more conservative configuration of the Chamber in recent years.
- Evaluating the total of 163 draft bills found in the Chamber, we found that: of the 50 draft bills proposed by left-wing parliamentarians, 35 are attached to 26 different proposals and the other 15 draft bills are being processed on their own in their committees. Of the 32 center proposals, 25 are attached to 24 different projects and another 7 are being processed independently. Of the 81 draft bills on the right, 64 are being processed in an attached manner to 34 different draft bills, while the other 17 draft bills are usually processed in isolation.
- There are, therefore, 124 draft bills on the subject being processed in addition to 68 different proposals. The image below shows the internal connection between these procedures, that is, considering only the projects present in the same spreadsheet received from the Chamber where the data analysis was carried out.
Graph 2: Proposals and attachments
Source: Chamber of Deputies | Elaborated by: FGV Direito Rio
- The main project with the highest number of attachments (12) is PL 2596/2019, which determines that biological sex should be the only criterion for defining gender in official sports competitions in Brazil. However, even though it is the PL with the largest number of attachments, it itself is being processed as an attachment to PL 2200/2019, which provides for trans people in competitions.
- The practice of attaching new proposals to the main ones is quite recurrent, as found in a report previously prepared for the Media and Democracy Project "Bills on minority candidacies: men are the majority of the authors of proposals that set back the political participation of women". Likewise, the attachment can be understood as a strategy adopted by the members of the Chamber to boost or postpone the processing of the original proposal. As in the aforementioned report, in which men are the majority of proponents of projects that aim to set back women's political participation, the analysis of the draft bills, as well as the intersection of their appendices, point to a preponderance of proposals from right-wing parties, which seek to hinder the progress of the trans agenda.
Qualitative analysis of the themes
From the analysis of the syllabus and the content of the draft bills, it is possible to identify the themes that appear with greater recurrence, both in general and by political spectrum. For this section, umbrella themes were chosen to group the draft bills according to their content. Each Bill can accumulate more than one topic, since the proposals can be quite complex, seeking, in many cases, to discipline more than one matter.
Issues such as combating transphobia, access to public bathrooms, use of neutral language, and sex education are approached from different perspectives and sometimes cover more than one field of law. Frequent themes were identified in the draft bills and, based on this, we created the following classification, which may overlap:
Graph 3: Main themes in relation to the advancement or regression of the rights of trans people or transvestites
Source: Chamber of Deputies | Elaborated by: FGV Direito Rio
- The most recurrent themes identified in the legislative proposals were Criminal Law (46), Public Administration (44), Education (37) and Gender Ideology (28). It should be noted that the category with the most reactionary draft bills is Education (31), followed by Gender Ideology (28), Public Administration (19) and Sports (19). The proposals that stood out the most among the progressive ones are Criminal Law (28), Public Administration (25), Social Policies (18) and Civil Registration and Social Name (15).
- With a total of 46 proposals, the topic of Criminal Law stood out by revealing the tendency of the Legislature to criminalize conducts considered violent or discriminatory. Both in the progressive and reactionary spectrums, it was possible to observe an effort by the legislator to criminalize various practices. In the progressive sphere, it sought to punish discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. In reactionary proposals, there are commonly initiatives to restrict freedom of expression, with punishments for education professionals who reproduce what conservative groups call "gender ideology", in addition to punishment for doctors and health professionals who carry out and/or favor sex transition processes in children and adolescents.
- In second place, the Public Administration theme had 25 progressive and 19 reactionary proposals. Most progressive proposals establish or expand public policies for the inclusion of trans people, such as respect for the social name, use of inclusive language in the functions of the Public Administration and administrative sanctions for hate crimes committed by public servants.
- The theme of Education also emerged as a focus of concern, especially in reactionary projects. Among the 31 reactionary proposals, there is fear about the curriculum and the propagation of gender ideology in the school environment, as well as the conduct of teachers and opinion makers who are supposedly agents responsible for "corrupting" children and adolescents.
- Finally, Gender Ideology emerges as a theme of transversal concern present in reactionary proposals. Of the total of 28 proposals, all are reactionary in nature and intend to contain the spread of the so-called "gender ideology", for example, through the creation of new crimes and the prohibition of the use of neutral language.
a. Criminal law
We identified 46 proposals that aim to amend articles of the Penal Code and the Criminal Misdemeanor Law, or that create administrative sanctions. Of these, 28 were considered progressive and 18 as reactionary.
Progressive proposals propose the criminalization of homotransphobia (8) and intersexphobia (9), as well as sanctions against public servants who commit hate crimes. There are also draft bills that seek to include transgender women in the protection of the Maria da Penha Law (PL 842/2022) and ensure care for transgender people in Women's Police Stations (PL 994/2022).
5 initiatives(10) that aim to criminalize the teaching of "gender ideology" in schools are noteworthy. Other proposals seek to criminalize the use of public bathrooms that do not correspond to the person's biological sex (11) and prohibit medical interventions for gender transition in children and adolescents, such as PL 2574/2023, proposed by Deputy Delegado Caveira (PL-PA).
b. Companies
We identified 14 draft bills involving Companies: 10 progressive and 4 reactionary. The main progressive proposals seek to promote transparency and equality in the labor market, addressing discrimination and inclusion. They include equal pay between genders and protection against discrimination based on race, sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as quotas for women and LGBTQIA+ people (12), with penalties for companies that do not comply with them (13). There are also projects that propose the implementation of explicit informative content against discrimination in establishments and the incentive to include the LGBTQIA+ population in the labor market through the National Employment System (SINE) (14).
On the other hand, reactionary projects aim to segregate wards, bathrooms and changing rooms by biological sex, both in schools and in public spaces, commercial establishments and workplaces(15) and the prohibition of the use of neutral language in private and public schools (16).
c. Elections
4 draft bills related to the electoral procedure were also identified (17), all of them progressive. In general, they seek to amend the Electoral Code to prohibit political violence against LGBTQIA+ or transgender candidates. They also seek to amend Law No. 9,504 of 1997, which regulates elections, to establish a minimum number of vacancies for self-declared trans candidates, promoting greater representation and protection for this population in the electoral context.
d. Civil Registry and Social Name
We identified 19 proposals that deal with Civil Registration and Social Name. Of these, 15 progressive and 4 reactionary. The progressive ones aim to ensure respect for the gender identity and posthumous dignity of trans people and transvestites, with changes in several laws. Among the proposed changes, the guarantee of the right to gender identity (18), the possibility of changing the first name and gender in the civil registry without the need for medical (19) interventions, and the use of a social name stand out (20). Other measures include exemption from fees for the rectification of names and gender in the civil registry (21), respect for sexual and gender diversity, and the "Respect Has a Name" program, which aims to promote the citizenship of transgender people (22).
On the reactionary side, the proposals aim to prohibit the use of gender-neutral language in school documents and the obligation to establish biological sex as the sole criterion in public policies.
e. Public administration
44 proposals related to Public Administration were identified, 25 of which were progressive and 19 reactionary.
Within the scope of progressive projects, they suggest the insertion of rights and the inclusion of the LGBTQIA+ population and trans people and transvestites in various spheres, such as the mandatory use of informative signs on respect for social name and gender identity, and the inclusion of the collection of salary data by sexual orientation and gender identity.
Among these proposals, Project 4637/2023 stands out, which proposes the reservation of 2% of vacancies in public tenders and internships for transsexual people and transvestites. In addition, there is PL 2668/2024 that brings the need for proper registration of homotransphobic crimes in public security systems, proposed by Deputy Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP). The changes also include protection for the incarcerated LGBTQIA+ population, the use of inclusive language in public administration, and the penalization of discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. There are also proposals that aim to ensure the care of trans people in women's police stations, the creation of psychological support programs in the SUS for family members of trans people, mandatory education on gender diversity in schools and the establishment of signs against discrimination in establishments. There is also a provision for administrative sanctions for hate crimes committed by civil servants, as well as PL 3627/2023, which prohibits conversion therapies by SUS.
On the other hand, reactionary draft bills aim to prohibit the use of neutral language in public educational institutions and public administration, in addition to the prohibition of specific vacancies for trans people in educational institutions and competitions.
f. Quotas
In the Quotas category, we identified 8 proposals, 7 of which are progressive and 1 reactionary. The progressive proposals seek to reserve vacancies for transsexual and transvestite people in public exams, professional internships, in the National Employment System, in federal universities and other federal institutions of higher education, in the Young Apprentice program, among others.
The only reactionary one (PL 3914/2024), proposed by Deputy Júlia Zanatta (PL-SC), intends to prohibit the reservation of vacancies for trans people in public and private educational institutions and federal, state and municipal services.
g. Gender ideology
Regarding the 28 proposals classified as gender ideology, all are reactionary. Of these, 25 were written by members of right-wing parties and 2 by parties considered to be of the center.
Almost half of the total draft bills presented deal with the prohibition of neutral language and gender ideology in schools. It was possible to notice a great concern on the part of right-wing parties in making changes unfeasible in order to make the Portuguese language more inclusive in relation to diverse gender identities, especially for people who do not identify with the existing pronouns in the cultured norm.
The other part of the draft bills contained in this category covers a diversity of topics. In addition to the prohibition of neutral language in education in general, there are proposals that aim to guarantee parents the right to prohibit their children's participation in any type of event that supposedly encourages the use of neutral language. In particular, we find PL 4893/2020 authored by Deputy Léo Motta (REPUBLICANOS-MG), which criminalizes the "violent imposition of gender ideology". In the latter, the insinuation that trans people can commit physical aggression, including murder, draws attention in its justification.
h. Education
The Education category has 37 proposals, 6 of which are progressive and 31 reactionary. As noted in the previous topic, on "Gender Ideology", education is a major concern of reactionary politicians.
The progressive proposals aim to guarantee the rights to freely exercise the gender identity and sexual orientation of students. In addition, there is also an appreciation of diversity both in the educational curriculum and in educational establishments. In addition, they also plead for reservation of vacancies for transgender students and advocate for the use of neutral language.
Reactionaries, on the other hand, seek to veto these rights. Historically, education is observed as a social place of not only academic formation but also ethical and moral principles. Conservative politicians have turned to education to, in a reactionary way, prohibit the expansion of access for historically vulnerable groups and the advancement of ideas that seek to leverage social justice. In this sense, the reactionary proposals that are in this category aim to prohibit gender ideology, aim to prohibit the teaching of sexual orientation, neutral language and seek to ensure that parents can prohibit their children from having contact with the subject.
i. Social Policies
In this category we have 22 proposals, 18 progressive proposals and 3 reactionary proposals.
Progressive projects include trans women in existing laws, such as the Maria da Penha Law, such as PL 8032/2014, authored by Deputy Jandira Feghali, (PCdoB-RJ), which guarantees adequate care for women, the right to care at the Women's Police Station, the possibility of plastic surgery to repair trans women who are victims of violence - proposed by Deputy Alexandre Frota (PSDB-SP) with PL 993/2022 - in addition to guaranteeing reception and employment for trans people.
Reactionary proposals seek to deny the existence of trans people, claiming the existence only of biological sex. Prepared by Deputy Alex Santana (PDT-BA) (23), PL 684/2022 proposes that retirement amounts be established based on biological sex – and not on the gender identity of the beneficiary. This type of proposition ignores gender diversity in the dynamics of work and, consequently, ignores the existence of trans people.
The other two reactionary draft bills follow the same line: PL 5275/2023, proposed by Deputy Júlia Zanatta (PL-SC), which proposes that public policies be based on biological sex, and PL 2578/2020, authored by Deputy Filipe Barros (PSL-PR), which proposes that the category "gender" in Brazil be defined based on chromosomes and by what they called "primary sexual characteristics".
j. Health
Of the 163 proposals analyzed, only 15 were classified in this category, 9 of which were progressive and 6 reactionary. This category was mobilized together with others such as Criminal Law, ECA, Public Administration, among others. In general, progressive proposals seek to expand rights for the trans population, enabling access to health. Among the 9 progressive proposals, 4 were proposed by left-wing parties, 4 by center parties and only 1 was proposed by a right-wing party.
Within the scope of progressive proposals, PLs 2414/2022, 737/2022 and 3627/2023 deserve special mention. Proposed by Deputy Alexandre Frota (PSDB-SP), PL 2414/2022 intends to extend psychological support to parents and guardians of transgender, transsexual and transvestite people, "with a view to raising awareness and confronting prejudice on gender issues". The proposal determines the obligation of the Ministry of Health, through the Unified Health System (SUS), to institute a psychological support program for mothers and fathers of trans people.
In turn, PLs 737/2022 (Deputy Bacelar - PODE-BA) and 3627/2023 (Deputy Duda Salabert - PDT-MG) deal with sexual conversion therapies, commonly carried out by religious organizations and authorities. Both proposals aim to criminalize the promotion, dissemination and practice of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression conversion therapies.
Among the 6 reactionary proposals, 2 were proposed by center parties and 4 by right-wing parties. Among these proposals, it was possible to observe in 4 of them a focus on the regulation and criminalization of behaviors that perform, assist, or induce medical interventions – surgical and/or hormonal – in children and adolescents with the aim of reassigning them sexually. Under the pretext of defending the well-being of children and adolescents, the justifications for the proposals argue that the difficulty of reversing these procedures could lead to patients' regret, as they do not yet have full capacity for this type of decision-making.
It is also possible to observe the legislator's intention to hold health professionals, legal guardians, and parents who are involved in sexual reassignment processes of people under 18 years of age civilly and criminally liable, such as PL 4537/2023, authored by Lincoln Portela (PL-MG) (24) and PL 4524/2023, authored by Deputy Priscila Costa (PL-CE) (25)..
Only 2 proposals deal with access to health beyond transgenitalization surgeries and sex reassignment procedures. PL 2587/2019 authored by Deputy Sergeant Pastor Isidório (AVANTE-BA) draws attention, which provides for training courses in Psychology and regulates the profession of Psychologist to assign psychologists the function of "solving problems of adjustment and psychological disorders, including those related to gender identity and sexual orientation".
At first glance, the proposal appears to be progressive because it expands the scope of action of psychologists to welcome trans people, however, the justification reinforces the pathologization of LGBT+ people, considering deviant sexualities as resulting from mental health problems and, therefore, subject to treatment and "adjustment" to the norm.
k. ECA (Statute of the Child and Adolescent)
13 proposals were identified in the "ECA" category, all of which were reactionary in nature (12 authored by right-wing parties and only 1 authored by a center party). In order to change the current legislation, the reactionary PLs aim to combat the spread of gender ideology among children and adolescents, focusing especially on the school environment. For this reason, the proposals also use criminal law, by criminalizing the conduct of guardians and teachers who promote gender ideology and assist hormonal treatments or procedures to change biological sex in children and adolescents. For example, PL 1978/2024, authored by Deputy Captain Alden (PL-BA), intends to improve the fight against child grooming for sexual purposes, as well as criminalize those who use their position of authority to persuade children and adolescents in relation to their biological sex/gender, focusing on the punishment of "people who form opinions and/or trust minors or their parents as teachers, doctors, relatives."
l. Symbology
Of the 8 proposals in this category, 6 are progressive and authored by left-wing parties. The progressive draft bills represent achievements in the symbolic field, but also involve Public Administration, Civil Registration and Social Name. By way of PL 250/2024, by Deputy Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP), which inscribes Xica Manicongo, the first Brazilian transvestite, in the Book of Heroes and Heroines of the Fatherland, while PL 5434/2016 (Deputy Orlando Silva - PCdoB-SP) intends to include tributes to female and Black personalities on paper money banknotes and metal coins. PLs 416/2024 (Deputy Erika Hilton - PSOL-SP) and 2831/2022 (Deputy José Guimarães - PT-CE) deal with the signage and fixing of signs in public and private establishments related to respect for the social name, the recognition of the gender identity of trans people and transvestites and the fight against discrimination.
PL 3334/2024, proposed by Deputy Dr. Zacharias Calil (UNIÃO-GO), was classified as reactionary since it makes it mandatory to perform the Brazilian National Anthem with its original lyrics, prohibiting the use of neutral language. Also reactionary, PL 2363/2024, authored by Deputy Pastor Sargento Isidório (AVANTE-BA), seeks to guarantee freedom of expression, providing for the non-mandatory use of neutral language by citizens in their speeches and writings.
m. Freedom of Expression
In this category, 6 draft bills were identified, all of which were of a reactionary nature proposed by right-wing and center parties (PSL, UNIÃO, PSC, PATRIOTAS and AVANTE). Here, freedom of expression is commonly used as one of the bases to impose obstacles to the recognition of the rights of trans people.
It is worth highlighting the relationship between the categories "Freedom of Expression" and "Symbology", which reveals a symbolic dispute around the rights of the trans population. The legitimization of the use of neutral language represents a significant advance for the inclusion of trans and non-binary people and, therefore, conservative sectors are articulating to contain the popularization of the use of inclusive language. Thus, the reactionary proposals intend to prohibit the use of neutral language under the argument of preserving the Portuguese language, in addition to determining the mandatory use of the cultured norm in educational institutions, teaching materials, public tender notices and other official documents.
As for freedom of belief, PL 4949/2019 (26) authored by Deputy Otoni de Paula (PSC-RJ) deserves to be highlighted. The proposal aims to amend Law No. 7,716, of January 5, 1989, to define and punish crimes resulting from discrimination or prejudice based on sex or sexual orientation. Although it presents a progressive veneer, there is a caveat in relation to cults and religious manifestations, inside and outside temples (27). Apparently, the Bill condemns transphobia, but seals exceptions based on religious conviction, not considering discriminatory practices a crime when based on freedom of conscience and belief.
n. Sport
Of the 20 proposals classified in the "Sport" category, 19 were considered reactionary and only 1 was classified as progressive. Among the 19 reactionary proposals, 18 were the initiative of right-wing parties and only 1 was forwarded by a center party. The proposals analyzed seek to pacify the debate around the defining criterion of gender for participation in official sports competitions and championships in the national territory. Under the argument of guaranteeing equal conditions for fair competition, the reactionary proposals prohibit transsexuals from competing in sports categories other than their biological sex. That is, biological sex would be the exclusive criterion for defining gender.
As an example, PL 1417/2023 (Lincoln Portela - PL-MG) intends to establish the Brazilian Trans-Olympic Committee and the Brazilian Committee of Trans-Olympic Clubs for transgender athletes, reinforcing the segregation of transgender people. Again, the argument mobilized revolves around the recognition of the so-called "biological truth" and the physical superiority of certain trans athletes compared to cis athletes. Authored by Duda Ramos (MDB-RR), PL 1869/2024 was the only one classified as progressive, seeking to combat discriminatory, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic or anti-women practices in the sports environment.
Who proposes?
In this section, we verify who are the parliamentarians who authored the legislative proposals regarding issues related to the rights of transsexual people and transvestites. The classification of the authors by position of the Bill (PL) was analyzed based on gender identity and racial self-declaration informed at the time of candidacy to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) (28). It should be noted that cases in which racial self-declaration was not informed, these are candidacies registered before the TSE officially collected this data (29).
We found a total of 95 parliamentarians who were authors for the 163 draft bills analyzed. Most of the authors are male, 63 of them, while 32 are female. 59 White, 16 Brown, 13 Black, 1 Yellow, and 6 undeclared parliamentarians were identified. Regarding the position of the authors, identified from the proposals, we found 53 reactionary authors, 41 progressive authors and 1 classified as both.
In Graph 4 below, we see the 5 parliamentarians with the highest number of legislative proposals aimed at the rights of transsexuals and transvestites.
Figure 4: Main authors of proposals
Source: Chamber of Deputies | Elaborated by: FGV Direito Rio
- Of the 163 draft bills analyzed, 16 were proposed by Alexandre Frota (PSDB-SP); Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP) is the second parliamentarian with the most proposals presented, being the author of 9 draft bills. Pastor Sargento Isidório (AVANTE-BA) appears in third place, with 6 proposals presented, followed by Duda Salabert (PDT-MG) and Erika Kokay (PT-DF), both with 5 draft bills.
- As for the volume of proposals sent, of the other 90 parliamentarians who presented proposals on the rights of transsexual and transvestite people, 64 parliamentarians proposed only 1 bill, 21 parliamentarians presented 2 proposals, 4 parliamentarians presented 3 draft bills, and 1 parliamentarian presented 4 draft bills.
- Alexandre Frota (PSDB-SP), a white cis man, is the author of more proposals, all of which are classified as progressive. It is important to emphasize that the parliamentarian is highly active in agendas related to the theme of gender, especially in guaranteeing rights for transsexuals and transvestites. This progressive position is not always repeated in other issues related to gender, as shown by the mapping carried out previously in a report produced by the FGV Direito Rio team within the scope of the Media and Democracy Project and mapping of the Elas Project in Congress, the parliamentarian was the author of a bill that sets back the legislation on reserving vacancies for social minorities in elections for legislative positions.
- The authors' analysis of more draft bill on the rights of transsexual and transvestite people reinforces the importance of increasing the representation of socially minority groups in legislative positions. The only two transgender parliamentarians – Duda Salabert (PDT-MG) and Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP) – presented more progressive draft bills that promotes the rights of this population. Erika Kokay (PT-DF), a cis white woman, stands out as a parliamentarian with more progressive proposals because, historically, she works on issues related to the defense of the rights of women and the LGBT+ population.
- In relation to Pastor Sargento Isidório (AVANTE-BA), the parliamentarian was the one who presented the most reactionary proposals in relation to the rights of transsexual people and transvestites. Despite being affiliated with a party classified as centrist, and a black cis man, which could suggest moderate positions, the projects presented by him reflect the religious dogmas of the social group of which he is part and which, in addition to not recognizing, fights the existence of people with diverse gender identities.
a. Gender Identity
Graph 5: Gender Identity (Female vs. Male) of the proponent and Position of the Bill
Source: Chamber of Deputies | Elaborated by: FGV Direito Rio
- According to Graph 5 above, of the 163 proposals analyzed, 32 were presented by women and 63 by men;
- Of the 32 proposals presented by women, 15 aim to restrict the rights of transsexual people and transvestites, while 17 aim to expand rights;
- In the case of the 63 proposals presented by men, 38 aim to restrict the rights of transsexual people and transvestites, while 24 seek to expand rights.
- We found 1 case in which the author was classified as progressive and reactionary at the same time, referring to the proposals presented by Sóstenes Cavalcanti (DEM-RJ). The parliamentarian was the author of three proposals, two of which were classified as reactionary, PL 9742/2018 (30) and PL 2639/2019 (31); in turn, PL 3453/2019 (32) was classified as progressive.
- Disregarding the case of Sóstenes Cavalcanti (DEM-RJ), of the total of 62 men, 61.3% presented reactionary draft bills and 38.7%, progressive draft bills. In relation to the 32 women, 46.9% indicated reactionary draft bills and 53.13%, progressive draft bills. In other words, despite being a minority, in numerical terms, proportionally women propose more draft bills in favor of the rights of transsexual people and transvestites than men.
Graph 6: Gender Identity of the Proponent (Cis x Trans)
Source: Chamber of Deputies | Elaborated by: FGV Direito Rio
- In Graph 6 above, we have that of the 95 authors found in this mapping, 93 are cisgender (people who identify with their biological gender) and 2 are transsexuals/transvestites (people who do not have an identity with their biological gender), namely Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP) and Duda Salabert (PDT-MG);
- These numbers demonstrate the problem of underrepresentation of transsexual people and transvestites to guarantee the rights of this population. Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP) and Duda Salabert (PDT-MG) are the only transsexuals of the 513 parliamentarians in the Chamber of Deputies. Both were elected in 2022 and, so far, they are the only elected parliamentarians who are part of this population in the 198 years of the National Congress.
b) Racial self-declaration of proponents
Graph 7: Proponent's racial self-declaration and position of the Bill
Source: Chamber of Deputies | Elaborated by: FGV Direito Rio
- Regarding the racial self-declaration of the 95 proponents, in Graph 7 above we found 1 self-declared Yellow author; 59 self-declared authors as White; 16 of the authors are self-declared as brown and 13 as Black. Finally, 6 authors did not make a racial self-declaration to the TSE, due to the fact that their candidacies had been registered before the mandatory request of the TSE in 2014.
- Regarding the position of the Bill by racial self-declaration, we have: White authors were responsible for 33 reactionary proposals, 25 progressive proposals and 1 classified as both; Brown proponents were responsible for 4 progressive and 12 reactionary draft bills; Black parliamentarians were authors of 9 progressive proposals and 4 and, finally, the authors without racial self-declaration were responsible for 3 progressive and 3 reactionary draft bills.
- In illustrative terms, if we add up the numbers of Black and Brown people, as the IBGE historically does, and analyze the proportions from within both progressives and reactionaries, we realize that 62.2% of the 53 authors of reactionary draft bills are white and 30.2% are Black and Brown. On the other hand, 61% of the 41 authors of progressive draft bills are White and 31.7% are Black and Brown.
(ii) Analysis of posts on X (formerly Twitter)
Since the purchase of Twitter by entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2022, it has been possible to observe an increase in profiles and content considered right-wing and reactionary on the platform and an intensive migration of profiles and pages considered progressive to other social networks such as BlueSky and Threads (34).
The situation was aggravated in 2023 and 2024, with Elon Musk's attacks on the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and Minister Alexandre de Moraes, with statements that he would not follow judicial requests to remove illegal profiles and content from the platform, leading to the suspension of X on August 31 in Brazil.
In this context, the analysis with data in X can count on underrepresentation of groups with different political orientations. However, from the 174 comments extracted from X on the subject of trans quotas in federal institutes, even so, there is a mostly neutral scenario (45.4%). Comments explicitly in favor add up to 35% and against 19.54%.
Chart 8: X (Twitter) Neutral, For and Against
Source: X (Twitter) | Elaborated by: FGV Direito Rio
II. Neutral
- Of the total of 174 posts analyzed, 79 were identified as neutral (45.4%), almost half of the sample. These posts usually describe the fact that occurred, without disseminating a favorable or contrary position on the subject.
- These posts follow a pattern of succinct and direct texts, such as a decoy and a link at the end, directing the reader to more in-depth reading. Here are examples of how these posts behave:
University of Brasilia joins 4 other institutions and adopts quotas for trans people in its undergraduate courses https://t.co/3z3C3LuJoW
UnB approves quotas for trans https://t.co/YrPa7dbtYm.
The expectation is that the quotas will come into effect in the August 2025 entrance exam, for admission in the first semester of 2026 https://t.co/EojqB2SwEA
III. Support
61 posts (35%) published on social network X disseminated messages favorable to the topic of quotas for people. The main content of these posts was intended to congratulate and celebrate another achievement for the movement of transgender people. Some posts connected the initiative with other affirmative action policies already consolidated in the country, such as the reservation of vacancies for Black people or people with disabilities.
????????? VICTORY FOR THE TRANS STRUGGLE!
UnB has just approved the implementation of quotas for trans people in all undergraduate courses at the institution! An important victory for us, trans people, who built this University. And let us remember: enter, remain and graduate! Long live the fight!
There is still a long way to go, but this step by UnB - as it was in the case of racial quotas - serves as an inspiration for other courses and for effective changes for racial equality in the justice system. https://t.co/fI324K7bX6
Trans quotas at UnB were approved. A historic moment in the history of Brasilia. May the fight never end.
IV. Against
- The posts against the implementation of the policy of reserving vacancies for trans people at UNB corresponded to the minority of the sample analyzed, totaling 34 posts (19.54%).
- Despite the low number compared to the others, the tone of mockery and dissatisfaction of the messages draws attention. The posts carried links to the news but added derogatory comments towards the transgender community.
- Some posts call into question the ability of trans people to enter university and classify the policy as a setback for the country. Other messages relativize the existence of these people, as shown in one of the examples below. Posts were also identified calling the policy a tragedy, criticizing the government and accusing trans people of "stealing vacancies from other people", something that is also observed in relation to quotas for Black and Brown people.
There is still a long way to go, but this step by UnB - as it was in the case of racial quotas - serves as an inspiration for other courses and for effective changes for racial equality in the justice system.
Why can't they get it without help?
UNB, University of Brasilia, another one that created 'quotas' for 'trans' people! https://t.co/jJdL7GYttg
Trans quotas at UnB every day a bigger setback????????
Olavo de Carvalho was really right
I have now seen that quotas for trans people in undergraduate courses at UnB have been approved in an overly broad way, this is a tragedy foretold. And the trans movement is the one who will pay for it, wait.
The minority has always been more important than the majority in this misgovernment.
University of Brasilia approves quotas for trans https://t.co/ijewtZQLPj
UnB approved quotas for trans and non-binary people.
It sounds like a joke, but it's not.
My chances only reduce with each passing day.
Notes:
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A term historically used by conservative groups to build a moral perception that presents advances in the sexual and reproductive rights of women and LGBTQIA+ people as threats to the hegemonic model of the nuclear hetero-cis family. (Miskolci; Campana, 2017)
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Available at: https://www.camara.leg.br/fale-conosco..
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A bill (PL 4686/2004) that deals with biological identity, specifically the right to knowledge of the genetic origin of the being generated by assisted reproduction, was withdrawn from the analysis, in view of the lack of thematic relevance for this research.
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Gender ideology can be understood as a reaction of conservative sectors to the recognition and standardization of sexual and reproductive rights throughout the 90s in the international scenario (Miskolci; Campana, 2017). Currently, gender ideology operates as a tool for rapid and radical political mobilization. For Miguel (2021, p. 01), gender ideology is "a caricature of feminism and queer theory", representing "an offensive against the denaturalization of gender social roles" (2021, p. 03).
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Proposition; Full Content; Source Document; Origin Proposition; Syllabus; Theme; Indexing; Author; Party; UF; Author's Gender; Other Authors; Presentation; Type; Regime; Appreciation; Situation in the DC; Last Action Date; Last Action; Last Dispatch Date; Last Dispatch; Last designated Rapporteur; codProposition; codAuthor.
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This classification was supported by the article "To Understand the New Brazilian Right", by André Borges and Robert Vidigal (2023, p. 7), with the objective of establishing a fixed position in a deliberative manner for each party.
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Search syntax (also known as query) refers to the way we formulate queries to search for specific information in databases, search engines, or data filtering systems. These filters are linguistic based, which corresponds to a cluster of keywords (or terms) associated with Boolean operators and programming language characters. For this report, we thank the team at FGV's School of Communication, Media and Information for their support in the elaboration of the set of words that guided the search and extraction of the posts.
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PL 104/2021, PL 1225/2021, PL 1225/2021, PL 2138/2015, PL 6825/2017, PL 2057/2019, PL 1565/2021, PL 3453/2019, PL 7702/2017, PL 1276/2021
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It is important to note that the parliamentarian presented the Bill on the eve of leaving the PDT. In the same month of 2022 in which he proposed the project, Alex Santana joined REPUBLICANOS-MG, a party classified in the right-wing political spectrum.
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It provides for an increase in the penalty for parents or legal guardians who authorize or promote hormonal treatments in children and adolescents. "Art. 2 Law No. 8,069, of July 13, 1990 - Statute of the Child and Adolescent, is now in force with the addition of the following article: "Art. 244-C. Submitting a child or adolescent to hormonal treatment with the objective of changing their secondary sexual characteristics due to issues related to gender identity. Penalty - imprisonment from four to six years, and fine.
§1 The penalty shall be increased by one third to parents or legal guardians who authorize or promote the administration of hormonal treatments to children and adolescents.
§2 In the hypothesis of the previous paragraph, if the victim, upon reaching the age of majority, feels aggrieved by the submission to hormone treatment, the penalty is doubled." Available at: <https://www.camara.leg.br/proposicoesWeb/prop_mostrarintegra?codteor=2329762&filename=PL%204537/2023>.
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It determines the penalty of imprisonment for "health professionals who perform or prescribe treatment for the change of biological sex in a child or adolescent."
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The summary of PL 4949/2019 provides that "Amends Law No. 7,716, of January 5, 1989, to define and punish crimes resulting from discrimination or prejudice based on sex or sexual orientation.”.
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"Art. 1 Crimes resulting from discrimination or prejudice of race, color, ethnicity, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity shall be punished, in accordance with this Law, and conduct based on freedom of conscience and belief, including the free exercise of religious cults and religious manifestations, inside and outside temples, shall not be considered criminal. in communication vehicles and in clothing schools." (NR). Available at: <https://www.camara.leg.br/proposicoesWeb/prop_mostrarintegra?codteor=1811614&filename=Avulso+-PL+4949/2019> .
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Available on the TSE website.
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The Superior Electoral Court began to register the color/race of candidates as of the 2014 elections. The measure was implemented through TSE Resolution No. 23,405/2014, which determined the inclusion of the race/color field in the Candidacy Registration Request (RRC) form. Candidates then had to self-declare according to the categories used by the IBGE: White, Black, Brown, Yellow or Indigenous. Candidacies prior to the 2014 election do not have a color/race declaration.
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Establishes as a criminal misdemeanor the use, in hospitals, infirmaries, nursing homes, public toilets, schools or universities, of spaces designated for the exclusive use of men or women, by people of different sexes, in disobedience to the established rules.
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It establishes biological sex as the exclusive criterion for the definition of gender in official sports competitions in Brazil.
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Inserts in the crimes of homicide and bodily injury, the cause of an increase in the sentence when these are motivated by the transsexuality and/or sexual orientation of the victim.
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As covered in a book by journalists from The New York Times, Character Limit: How Elon Musk destroyed Twitter. Available at: https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/elon-musk-abre-as-portas-do-x-a-extrema-direita/.
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Especially, after the victory of Donald Trump, supported by Musk. Available at: https://olhardigital.com.br/2024/11/25/internet-e-redes-sociais/na-luta-por-novos-usuarios-threads-se-ve-ameacado-pelo-bluesky/.