GALE The Global Alliance for LGBT education
December 15, 2007 - On 14 December 2007, Grupo Dignidade, a non-governmental lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans organization in Curitiba (southern Brazil), inaugurated the Prof. Dr. Luiz Mott Documentation Centre
On Friday (14/12/07) Grupo Dignidade, a non-governmental lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans organization in Curitiba (southern Brazil), will inaugurate the Prof. Dr. Luiz Mott Documentation Centre, as a form of homage to this pioneer of the Brazilian LGBT Movement and founder of the Grupo Gay da Bahia (1980). In addition to Luiz Mott, other authorities present at the inauguration include Federal Representative Dr. Rosinha, and representatives of the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education and the National STD/AIDS Programme.
The Documentation Centre (CEDOC) contains material accumulated during Grupo Dignidade’s first 15 years (founded on 14/03/1992), as well as material about the Brazilian LGBT movement obtained from the archives of the Grupo Gay da Bahia in Salvador, and also from the Arquivo Edgard Leuenroth, at the Campinas State University (UNICAMP), among other sources.
The CEDOC is comprised of a wide variety of materials, including a complete collection of the unprecedented newspaper “Lampião da Esquina”, aimed at the gay public and which circulated towards the end of Brazil ’s military dictatorship, between 1978 and 1981. Several of the newspaper’s authors are still current day celebrities, such as Aguinaldo Silva and João Silvério Trevisan.
Other documents available for consultation refer to the first organized LGBT groups in Brazil, starting in 1978, with the Grupo Somos – de afirmação homossexual (São Paulo), Auê (Rio de Janeiro) and Grupo Outra Coisa (São Paulo), as well as other groups formed at that time. The First Brazilian Homosexual (sic) Conference was held in São Paulo in 1980 and has now reached its 13th edition. The reports and other documents relating to the majority of these Conferences are available in the CEDOC.
The appearance of the LGBT movement in Brazil was shortly followed by the appearance of the AIDS epidemic in the beginning of the 1980s and inevitably the two Movements interacted in a double fight for the promotion and defence of LGBT rights and also against the AIDS epidemic. As a consequence, the CEDOC collection also contains a wide variety of materials relating to AIDS, such as posters, pamphlets, videos, DVDs and publications.
The CEDOC is also dedicated to other themes related to LGBT issues, in particular sexual education aimed at promoting respect for sexual rights and ways of approaching this issue in the classroom.
Another significant contribution provided by the CEDOC is a collection of around 50 theses and dissertation on LGBT issues (see list below). As well as being available for consultation in the CEDOC, this academic production and other materials are gradually being made available on-line, via: www.grupodignidade.org.br/cedoc, with the aim of facilitating access to this information.
The CEDOC collection is comprised of books, DVDs and videos, photographs, a significant number of newspaper cuttings, bulletins, folders, pamphlets, manuals, as well as newspapers and other documents published by Grupo Dignidade and other LGBT and AIDS service organizations.
Organizing all this material into a Documentation Centre has been made possible thanks to a partnership between Grupo Dignidade, federal representative Dr Rosinha, the Ministry of Culture and the Curitiba City STD and AIDS Programme.
In 2008, the CEDOC collection will be increased, as will the amount of documents etc. available for consultation on-line via: www.grupodignidade.org.br/cedoc.
Venue: Grupo Dignidade, Av. Mal. Floriano Peixoto, 366 - 4° andar, Curitiba-PR, Brazil
Further Information: Toni Reis/David Harrad: +55 41 3232 9829, tonidavid@avalon.sul.com.br