“IT IS THE ANXIETY OF THOSE WHO NEVER TALKED”: REPRESSION OF LESBIANDITY AND THE ORGANIZED LESBIAN MOVEMENT IN THE “POLITICAL OPENING”

Abstract

The present work revolves around the problem of the repression of lesbianity and the organized lesbian movement. We aim to analyze and discuss this repression in political-social spheres in the period of the civil-military Dictatorship in Brazil. We will point out the main forms of repression against political organizations formed by lesbian women, from their birth in the political opening phase, in the 1970 to 1983. Furthermore, we will question the invisibility and marginalization that surround discussions about lesbian organizations and lesbianity. The main groups we will use for analysis will be the Lesbian-Feminist Group (LF), which later became the Feminist Lesbian Action Group (FLAG), formed in the city of São Paulo; together with the Homosexual Libertarian Group (HLG), formed in Salvador, in Bahia. Journalistic materials from the alternative press such as: The Reporter, In Time, Socialist Coverage and Corner Lamp – the main newspaper on homosexual theme in the dictatorship – and investigative dossiers obtained from the National Archive will be the primary sources to demonstrate how repression of lesbian movements, formalized in the justification of the defense of morality and "good customs", surpassed the ideological spheres of the dictatorial period. The aforementioned groups dealt with accusations, investigations and restrictions of their manifestations by state agents, while also exposing the contradictions of other movements that were politically aligned with the lesbian movement, such as the feminist and the homosexual male.