Institutionalised resistance against LGBTQI+ rights: uncovering anti-gender gatekeeping in the Brazilian Congress

How are anti-LGBTQI+ and anti-gender attitudes manifested within legislative institutions? In which ways do political structures and procedures reproduce gendered norms and obstruct the advancement of LGBTQI+ rights? This paper addresses these questions by examining the Brazilian Congress as a case study of institutionalised resistance against gender and sexuality equality. Drawing on insights from feminist and queer institutionalism, the study explores how formal mechanisms within the Brazilian legislative process enable anti-LGBTQI+ actors to act as gatekeepers, shaping the agenda and preventing policies that expand rights and opportunities for the LGBTQI+ population from reaching deliberation and approval. Through an analysis of legislative initiatives and committee dynamics since Brazil’s redemocratisation (1988 to 2022), the paper demonstrates how legislators have strategically mobilised diverse resistance strategies to block or delay policies across different policy issues, such as civil rights, healthcare, education, and other anti-discrimination policies. The findings reveal that these actors selectively rely on formal procedures (such as control over committee appointments and filibustering) to operationalise resistance within parliaments, thereby preventing LGBTQI+ policies from being approved, also suggesting that some informal procedures might be influencing the policymaking process. While focusing on Brazil, the paper situates its analysis within the broader research on advancing LGBTQI+ equality and countering international mobilisations against queer rights across democratic institutions. It argues that the Brazilian case exemplifies how resistance to LGBTQI+ policies becomes embedded in the very architecture of policymaking, producing structural barriers to rights recognition and political inclusion. By linking feminist institutionalist perspectives with queer political analysis, the study contributes to understanding how institutional gatekeeping perpetuates inequality and how LGBTQI+ movements navigate and resist within hostile political environments.