Brasil
Official Attitude and the Law:
The age of consent for both homosexual and heterosexual is eighteen years. Homosexual behavior between concenting adults is not mentiones in the law as being a criminal offense, except for 235 of the military Penal Code which criminalizes "indecent acts, homosexual or not," between soldier. Although homosexuality is not illegal, the police use the pretext of "Safeguarding morality and public decency" and "preventing outrageous behavior" to stop, arrest and bring homosexual to trial, whereas they would not bother heterosexual in similar situations. Several cities have adopted anti-discrimination regulation which protect homosexuals.

Society:
A minority of the population is in favor of gay and lesbian rights. There area however, report of more than 320 lesbians and gay being killed in the Bahia in the recent past because of their sexual orientation.

The Gay and/or Lesbian movement:
One group " Grupo Gay de Bahia" has existed since 1983. "triangulo Rosa" in Rio de Janeiro and Lambda in sao Paulo are political lobbying groups. There are several other groups, some of which are lesbian. Since 1979, a lesbian information group (GALF) has been active; it publishes a quarterly magazine.