Marta Suplicy, the current mayor of São Paulo and a leader of the Workers' Party, sponsored domestic partnership legislation when she was a Federal Congresswoman. Both the militant labor movement that led the strike wave in the 1970s against the military regime and the Workers' Party that has become the largest leftist political party in Latin America emerged in São Paulo. In October 2002, Luis Ignácio Lula da Silva, Brazil's most important labor leader and a founder of the Workers' Party, was elected the President of Brazil with 61% of the vote. Many activists expect that this victory will help efforts to push through progressive legislation on glbtq issues in the Brazilian Congress.

As Brazil's richest city and one of the country's leading cultural centers, São Paulo has become the home of gay and lesbian film festivals, art exhibits, and other cultural activities. In addition, it prides itself on its vibrant, diverse, and extensive glbtq night life.

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Although the city is an endless expanse of high rises and urban sprawl, it nevertheless continues to attract gay and lesbian migrants from throughout the country. In São Paulo, they seek excitement, economic possibilities, social freedom, and a certain distance from the disapproving eyes of their families in other parts of Brazil.

A notably diverse country, Brazil is also home to one of the world's most dynamic glbtq political movements.

"Domestic partnership" is the generic term for a variety of forms of legal and institutional recognition of same-sex couples that fall short of same-sex marriage.

The queer film festival circuit came into its own in the early 1990s and has since burgeoned into a major international phenomenon.

Both parades and marches have served to render the glbtq community visible; whereas marches typically attempt to effect political change, parades and pride events affirm identity and community.

Transgender people--more specifically, people who were born male but present themselves as female--are Brazil's single most marginalized group.