Class 1, which represents 22.85% of all the material analyzed, is formed by the following words: LGBT, public, Brazil, transvestite, political, movement, bisexual, city, AIDS, federal, health, title, national, promotion, HIV, abstract, action, article, São Paulo, politics and transexual. Its name, “Debate in the public scene”, took into consideration the context in which its lexicons were inserted, public order issues, and social aspects. In addition, 112 articles were linked in some way to the main aspects of this class.

Two general axes stood out, which complement each other insofar as one understands the struggle and trajectory of the LGBT Movement. The first axis deals with issues linked to the “LGBT Movement” and is related to social movements, the role of the State, public policies, citizenship, rights, etc.; the second axis highlights the “Health of the LGBT population”, and involves issues related to public policies in health, HIV/Aids, the (dis)attention given to the health of lesbian women, the clinical care of LGBT people, etc.

Questions about the LGBT movement appear in different ways in the analyzed works. There are those that tell its history and institutionalization in Brazil (Claudia, 2015) and that, show its importance in the fight against homophobia. Anthropological studies that aim to investigate through their activist and academic practices have become important actors in the process of defense and construction of citizenship of sexual minorities in Brazil (Carrara, 2016). Investigations that work with young people’s opinions about different social movements, among them the LGBT (Monteiro et al., 2011).

According to Sampaio and Germano (2014), in the 1980s, the LGBT movement in Brazil, in partnership with the state, united to confront the AIDS outbreak, resulting in the implementation of new political agendas regarding the assistance of the LGBT population. In the academic sphere, unions such as this, between the state and the LGBT movement resulted in several investigations, such as in the research of Aragusuku and Lopes (2018), who presented the public policies present in the state of Mato Grosso with the creation of the LGBT Reference Center, the first act aimed at this group. The article of Feitosa (2019), carried out at the State Center to Combat Homophobia, in Pernambuco, investigates how the center works in minimizing violence against the LGBT population. Still in the field of public policies, the work of Abreu et al. (2015) suggests special attention to the deaf regarding their linguistic specificities and their social vulnerability. Mello et al. (2014) reflects on the issue of public safety aimed at LGBT people and how public agencies position themselves.

The issues on education also motivated several studies, perhaps due to the fact that there is, in Brazil, a Programa Nacional do Livro e do Material Didático (PNLD, National Program of Books and Teaching Materials), with several materials that help in the educational practice and propose the discussion on sexual diversity (Rios & Santos, 2009). Moreover, in general, education appears as being a coping strategy, a way to eradicate prejudice, and linked to the school environment, the place of implementation of these public policies (Perucchi & Corrêa, 2016).

All the themes exposed, to some extent, are intertwined with political aspects. But, unlike today, when there is talk of a left-wing homosexual agenda, this relationship has not always existed. In the 1970s, the issues linked to homosexuality were the last to be understood as a political agenda by the left itself (Moretti-Pires et al., 2018). Today, it is already possible to think of LGBT candidates (G. G. Costa, 2016), including transvestites and transsexuals (G. G. D. C. Santos, 2016), even in a moment in which conservatism has been growing (J. V. D. O. Santos, et al., 2018) and the interest of some politicians is to legislate against this population (Gama, 2019).

Despite political advances and the supposed visibility of transvestites and transsexuals, they are still the most discriminated against. The condition of marginality is evidenced in many different works. Garcia (2019), for example, when studying the migratory process of transvestites to the big city, realized that the search for a change of life, in fact, resulted in the entry of another condition of vulnerability, that of prostitution. Antunes and Paiva (2013), when studying the territorialization of homoerotic sexual cultures in São Paulo, realized that the downtown neighborhoods, older and traditional, were where there was the highest concentration of transvestites, while in the upscale neighborhoods, such as Jardins, the reality was different, in that place transvestites had no turn.

In the second axis, linked to health aspects, the studies aim to understand and contribute to specific issues that permeate the LGBT population. In general, articles about HIV/AIDS and the processes of vulnerability that women, lesbians, or bisexuals face in the face of sexually transmitted diseases (Mora & Monteiro, 2013). Mental health was also a topic of interest, specifically, the processes of non-acceptance that many young people go through in their families J. V. D. O. Santos et al. (2018) and how health professionals deal with these groups (Toledo & Pinafi, 2012).

Since its origin, psychoanalysis has been involved in issues related to sexuality. In Victorian society, it was the cause of moral scandals, as when dealing with child sexuality, besides confronting the established norms of that time (Pacheco Filho, 2016). Although Class 3 gathered the smallest amount of text segments (12.31%), its relevance is not less, since its subjects and lexicons are present in the others, as in the class on discourse, in which the psychoanalytic discourse appears as a knowledge that defines, including, the notions of homosexuality and heterosexuality. The most significant words in this class were: Freud, Lacan, subject, Oedipus, freudian, psychoanalysis, treat, hysteria, perverse, perversion, choice, private, seminar, castration, work, desire, unconscious, genital, no character, and respect.

For the most part, research in psychoanalysis is clinical in nature and takes into consideration the case-by-case or singularity, unlike experimental approaches (Couto & Lage, 2018). However, there is not only one way to do research in psychoanalysis. In this sense, Sauret (2003) presents some possibilities, which are: those that respond to questions posed by psychoanalysis; those which aim to answer questions posed to psychoanalysis; those which aim to build a theory from doctrine and experience; those which aim to expand the field of analytic experience and; those that are guided by the knowledge and ethics of psychoanalysis, the case of research conducted in universities (Sauret, 2003).

The papers that composed this class analyzed the following issues: the relationship between the psychoanalyst and homosexuality, dealing with training and professional practice (Cruxên, 2018); theoretical-clinical papers that address issues of LGBT clinical experience (Elias, 2007); those which use psychoanalytic theory to explain issues in literature, film, and the arts (Alvares, 2017); those which use theory as a reference to address issues related to homosexualities, such as homoaffective union, adoption, hypermodernity, etc. (Rodriguez, Gomes, et al., 2017); those which somehow seek to explain or understand the phenomenon with respect to its origin (Couto & Lage, 2018) and; the works that are interested in the theoretical-conceptual debate from Freud and Lacan, precursors of psychoanalysis (Ferreira & Grecco, 2017).

Made up of 179 text segments (16.7%), Class 2 presents two important aspects to be discussed. The first is about “discourses and their implications”; the second is about “scientific theories”. These classifications were based on the following words: discursive, scientific, discourse, theory, clinical, identification, symptom, pathological, science, judicial, film, knowledge, sexuality, essentialist, search, language, situate, religious, contribute, dialogue, and psychoanalytic.

The first aspect raised here relates to the notion of discourse as an instrument that permeates social relations. According to Oliveira (2013), in a world dominated by new technologies, increasingly explicit media manipulation, and the power that the word exerts, it is evident the importance that discourse has in everyday relations, mobilizing economic and political elites. In this sense, the discourse has a function of delimiting knowledge and practices about homosexualities and LGBT people. Among the words that stood out the most and contributed to the composition of this first aspect, it is possible to highlight those related to scientific, religious, medical, psychological, and legal discourse. These represent the different institutions of power that shape and construct different discursive repertoires, representations, positions, opinions, beliefs, and values.

Scientific discourses shape different positions and knowledge about homosexuality. Homophobia, for example, is still justified by many, based on biological or pathologizing arguments. The scientific character assigns a value to the argument, as being the truest, therefore unquestionable (Silva & Aléssio, 2019a). In the same way that sociopolitical aspects can affect scientific development, the reverse also happens. After all, this knowledge is considered as true influences sociopolitical changes (Menezes & Carvalho Neto, 2015).

Silva and Aléssio (2019a), in an investigation on expressions of prejudice, evidenced a bio-religious argumentation, in which the subject says he does not accept homosexuality because two equals do not reproduce, a kind of amalgam between two distinct knowledges. But which are used to validate a position as “normal” since it comes from science. In most of the works analyzed here, the scientific discourse has served as a basis for different homophobic expressions (D. K. D. Santos, 2013). Religious discourse, in general, has its basis in the Bible. However, on the contrary, there are works on inclusive churches, which reconcile religious discourse and sexual diversity, removing homosexuality from the field of sin and treating it as another form of existing sexuality (Natividade, 2017).

The medical and psychological discourse, for a long time, defined homosexuality as a pathology and perversion (A. F. P. Guimarães, 2009). Although this moment has been overcome, it is still possible to find prejudiced positions by doctors and nurses based on this belief, as exposed in some studies (Vitiritti et al., 2016). In the field of psychology, despite attempts by some fundamentalist professionals to suspend the prohibitions of the Federal Council of Psychology, for psychologists to offer conversion therapy to homosexuals (Martins et al., 2014), mostly, the psychological discourse describes homosexuality as another form of sexuality (Silva & Aléssio, 2019a).

The legal discourse was related to issues related to the rights of the LGBT population. It is worth remembering that, if it weren’t for the Supreme Federal Court, several conquests acquired by this population would not be possible, such as the recognition of same-sex unions, adoption by homosexual couples, the criminalization of homophobia, the recognition of civil registration for transgender people, among others. Such achievements are due exclusively to the judiciary, since the legislative power still remains silent.

On the second aspect, the lexicons of this class also refer to the different theoretical references used in the research, namely: the different discursive approaches (Lima Silva et al., 2015); the psychological theories (Rodrigues & Carmo, 2013); especially those used by social psychology (Rezende et al., 2019); the psychoanalytic theories (Couto & Lage, 2018); the gender theories (Rodriguez, Gomes, et al. 2017); theories about sexuality (E. L. Cunha, 2013), philosophical theories (Nina & Souza, 2012); among others (M. A. N. Nascimento & Santos, 2009).

The words that constituted Class 5, formed by 147 text segments (15.75%), are: family, parental, couple, child, model, parenting, son, family setting, father, affective, adoption, configuration, affiliation, mother, conjugal, bonding, new, Homoparentals, Homoparentality, technology, and process. Being part of the same axis as Class 4, the issues that appear, are quite similar. However, this class deals with family issues regarding two specific points: the new family settings that exist and adoption by homosexual couples.

The debate around homoparental families is gaining space in different settings (Mosmann et al., 2010), in academia and its different approaches (Passos, 2005), in the media (Noleto, 2016), in LGBT mobilizations and in the struggle for civil rights (Grossi, 2003), since for many years, this group was put in a place of invisibility and denial of marital and parental rights and full citizenship (Mello, 2006). There was a greater focus on research whose interest was the different views on equal marriage (A. B. Costa et al., 2017). In general, there are still positions contrary to these new family arrangements. The main justification would be that children would not have a well-defined notion of sexual differences, besides that they could become homosexuals, that is, being homosexual, in itself, would already be a problem for those people who position themselves against it (Machin, 2016).

The new family settings are considered a threat to traditional values, as they question an entire existing structure (Ceccarelli, 2007), and even though there are many conservative groups that do not want to recognize these new unions as a family institution, it is not possible to simply deny their existence (Nina & Souza, 2012). These are single-parent families (Futino & Martins, 2006), families constituted by gays (Rodriguez, Merli, et al., 2015), lesbians (C. V. M. Santos & Gomes, 2016), and by transvestites and transsexuals (Zambrano, 2006).

Despite prejudice, it is currently guaranteed by law that people of the same sex can unite in marriage and become a family. Homoaffective union, for a long time, was an agenda of the LGBT movement. Once achieved, new issues began to enter the scene, such as adoption and biological motherhood. In the study developed by Pontes et al. (2015), the authors showed the main challenges experienced by women who want to fulfill the desire to be a mother with the help of new reproductive technologies.

The articles related to the theme of adoption and filiation seek to understand: how parental roles are constructed in homoaffective relationships, which are generally more egalitarian and with particular characteristics in families formed through adoption adoção (Rosa et al., 2016); study the production of meanings between parents and adopted children and how they perceive parenthood (Mota et al., 2016); as well as analyze the psychic constitution of adopted children (Ribeiro et al., 2017).

Formed from 200 text segments (18.66%), in Class 4, the most significant words are experience, life, more, heterosexual, situation, deal, relationship, trajectory, orientation, personal, perception, family setting, group, alike, suffer, interaction, sexual affection, IPV, arising, conclusion and act. This class, in general, deals with the personal experiences of LGBT people in different contexts, their family relationships, their perception of their marital relationships, their life experiences, and their trajectories. In its composition, we identified more than 100 studies that dealt with these themes directly or indirectly. These are qualitative and quantitative research studies, in which the objective is to understand the love choice of couples, and the experience of LGBT people regarding their families, sexual partners, domestic violence, etc.

Regarding the main discussions of this class, it is worth highlighting the experiences of LGBT elders, a group that is excluded and suffers prejudice from heterosexuals (J. V. D. O. Santos et al. 2018) and also from homosexuals (L. S. Alves & Menandro, 2017). Elderly homosexuals are denied the freedom to live their sexuality freely, making their experiences increasingly marginalized. With elderly lesbians, the reality is no different, the invisibility happens since the interest in the theme (A. M. Alves, 2010).

Still, about lesbian women, another point worth mentioning is the prejudice they suffer, because, in addition to homophobia, there is sexism to further limits their experiences (Lira et al., 2016). The article by Toledo and Teixeira Filho (2013) draws attention to the fact that aspects of lesbian sexuality are only accepted if they are compatible with androcentrism and heterormativity, that is, with the norms of sex, gender and desire. What is evident is the fact that lesbians are only accepted if they look beautiful, modern, glamorous, and, above all, agree to have sex with men. Women who do not meet these standards, the masculinized ones, remain condemned to invisibility (Monteiro et al., 2011). In environments where their masculinity is valued, such as in prison, this happens because they are in a better hierarchical position since they play a male role and therefore deserve respect (Barcinski, 2012).

In the articles, the concept of family is not reduced to the family of origin, but to the chosen family as well. In general, cases of homophobia happen in families of origin Perucchi et al. (2014). The lack of support from these families ends up driving away young people who prefer to share their experiences and difficulties with friends (L. S. Campos & Guerra, 2016). In many cases, LGBT people are expelled from their homes for being who they are. But there are those who accommodate themselves to the invisibility of the issue, that moment when no one touches the subject and they continue as if nothing will happen (C. B. Costa et al., 2015).

Choice of who to love and marital interaction were themes of some articles that sought to analyze possible differences in the way heterosexual and homosexual couples dealt with their love relationships (Mosmann et al., 2010). Intimate partner violence was also addressed (Cezario et al., 2015).

The theme of prejudice appeared in most articles: they show narratives of internalized homophobia (Cerqueira-Santos et al., 2016); prejudice in the workplace, and the survival strategies used in these spaces (Irigaray & Freitas, 2013). As a way to make these marginalized subjects visible, attention was drawn to the different situations of social vulnerability, as well as the lack of citizenship previously reported. These articles show the experiences of homelessness in adolescents and sexual exploitation (D. A. Campos & Moretti-Pires, 2018), as well as the situation and life history of transvestites (Garcia, 2009).

Formed from 169 text segments (15.76%), the most representative words, from Class 6, are age, data, scale, interview, answer, student, belief, questionnaire, year, collection, instrument, participate, explain, standard deviation, average, semi-structured, university, flagrant, content, subtle, and prejudice. To name this class, the most significant lexicons were taken into consideration, specifically the relationship they have with the methodological descriptors that scientific research has, therefore “methodological issues”.

Of the 263 articles analyzed, 199 are empirical and 64 are theoretical. Of the empirical articles, only 23 used the quantitative method, characterized by quantification, both in the modalities of information collection and in the treatment by means of statistical techniques. It is a type of research in which the object of study is controlled and is employed, in general, questionnaires and scales that are produced or adapted for that specific context (Sacco et al., 2016). Quantitative articles amounted to an average of 9% of the total sample of this review, an amount considered small. Similar to these findings, in a review by Sobral et al., (2019) on what Brazilian psychology has to say about homophobia, of the 74 articles analyzed, only six were quantitative.

The qualitatives articles (n = 240) showed lower rigor in the description of their abstracts, only 70 were described with a certain methodological rigor. Although it isn’t possible to speak about replication, a study of this nature needs to highlight the path, means and forms that led it to reach certain results, something that did not appear in all the articles. The tools more usedes were: interviews, content analysis, ethnography, focus groups, among others.