While authoritarian political restraints muffled initial attempts to create gay rights groups in the early 1970s, cultural and social changes among Brazilian youth and middle-class homosexuals provided the basis for the formation of a gay liberation movement during the political opening of 1976. For a more complete account of the emergence of Brazil’s gay liberation movement, read James N. Green’s article “More Love and More Desire: The Building of a Brazilian Movement.”

Somos: Grupo de Afirmação Homossexual (We Are: Group of Homosexual Affirmation) became Brazil’s first lasting and successful gay liberation organization. Organized in 1978, Somos evolved from a purely consciousness-raising group to an organization that carried out activities ranging from political campaigning to participation in public academic debates. Click on the following image for a brief history of the group’s first stages, as written by a Somos member in 1980.

The cover of the December 1979 edition of Somos’ newsletter