This paper seeks to understand, in the Brazilian context, the construction of a social, political and juridical network aimed to fight discrimination linked to sexual orientation. To do so, we used a genealogical approach to define the conditions of possibility to the emergence of sexual orientation discrimination as a social issue, as well as the creation of social and legal instruments and affirmative actions to ensure freedom of sexual expression. We consider as important aspects in this process the role of social movements against gender discrimination, the health dimension concerning aids epidemic in the 1980's and the government response to it.
sexual orientation; discrimination; social movements