Contending and negotiating identity: trans activism within the Brazilian LGBT movement

Social movements engage in processes of identity work to construct and reconstruct identities. Within movements characterized by group differences, such as contemporary LGBT movements, demands for representation of group identities challenge the coalitional identity movement to perform hard identity work. What strategies do trans activists utilize to achieve representation within the Brazilian LGBT movement? This research argues that processes of institutionalization within the state condition opportunities and strategies for conducting hard identity work. Institutionalization within state policy leads to innovative discursive strategies for contending and negotiating group representation. These processes offer important strategies for the coalitional LGBT movement to address some of its most divisive internal conflicts in productive ways. This research draws on fifteen months of fieldwork, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation.