Gays de Direita e a produção de purificações

This article investigates conservative homosexual activism on Instagram and its role in the moral and affective recomposition of the Brazilian public space. Based on a digital ethnography conducted between 2019 and 2022, and the analysis of profiles selected by activity and reach, it argues that the “right-wing gay” operates as a technology of symbolic purification: it resignifies LGBTQIA+ visibility as proof of normality, legitimizes neoconservative agendas, and contributes to the naturalization of neoliberal policies. Combining the notions of purity, affective economy, and platform ethnography, the study demonstrates how hashtags and engagement practices act as purification triggers and mechanisms of political legitimation. Furthermore, it demonstrates how homosexual activism has constructed its actions not necessarily from axes that articulate gender and sexuality, but from the defense of Bolsonarism as a moral practice and the recovery of an individual purity. To this end, the idea of an “impure other” is created, which, in the current context, refers to transgender and travesti people. It concludes that the emergence of this activism is a form of social fracture that crosses existing minorities and reconfigures the boundaries of the common. The article points to implications for studies on the political spectrum of the right and far-right and political identities, and suggests avenues for future research.

Ethnography · Homosexuality · Naturalization · Political activism · Politics · Transgender · Visibility · Gender, Sexuality, and Education · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Religion and Society in Latin America