National Policy for Comprehensive LGBT Health

Specific health issues affecting the LGBT population began to gain visibility in the 1980s due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the stigma they suffered from being considered " risk groups " (later referred to as "groups with risky behaviors" and, finally, "key groups").

The recognition of the LGBT community in health policies also came about through the emergence of organized groups focused on debating these issues at the national level. In 1978, the newspaper Lampião da Esquina emerged; SOMOS: Grupo de Afirmação Homossexual (We Are: Homosexual Affirmation Group ), a pioneer in homosexual representation in Brazil also began that year. The inclusion of transvestites and transsexuals, with the adoption of the T in the acronym, only occurred two decades later, in 1990.

LGBT health policy aims to reduce inequalities and exclusion of vulnerable groups in the health-disease process, as well as promote greater equity of access to the Unified Health System ( SUS) for the population, reinforcing its principles of universality and comprehensiveness. The participation of civil society in the formulation of health policies appropriate to its needs is also part of a project to think about health in a broad and multidisciplinary way, in accordance with the formulations of current policies in the Brazilian public health model.

Other objectives include focusing on guaranteeing the sexual and reproductive rights of the LGBT population , guaranteeing the use of social names by transvestites and transsexuals, offering comprehensive care in the SUS service network for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and greater access to the Transsexualization Process through the SUS , based on guidelines of respect for human rights , diversity, and the promotion of citizenship.^[2]