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Paper short abstract

This paper ethnographically analyzes how three Brazilian LGBTQIAP+ shelters produce politics by connecting with a diverse array of struggles, subjects, and movements. The objective is to explore how sheltering and territorial policies forge multiple forms of coalition among heterogeneous people.

Paper long abstract

This paper ethnographically analyzes how three Brazilian LGBTIQAP+ shelters — Casa 1, CasAmor, and Casa Miga — produce politics by connecting with various struggles, subjects, and movements. These institutions serve as welcoming spaces for LGBTQIAP+ individuals expelled from their family environments due to their gender identities and sexualities. Located in different regions of Brazil, they operate through policies aimed at supporting people in situations of economic and social vulnerability. In the first part of this text, I analyze how the sheltering policies of these three houses are developed through everyday labor that involves partnerships with multiple political subjects. The intention here is to examine the making of living spaces, as well as the forms of daily care provided to the vulnerabilized LGBTQIAP+ population. In the second part, the analysis shifts to how the territorial policies of these shelters are elaborated through daily work with other political movements and state agents. Through a relationship of interdependence with these actors, I demonstrate how the shelters promote a range of activities and services for those they assist. Finally, the paper reflects on the political making of these shelters as a politics of coalitions involving people, territories, and struggles that intersect and move beyond the inequalities and violence faced by the LGBTQIAP+ community. I argue that the policies of these shelters connect existences that are otherwise extrinsic to one another, forging new relationalities and shared territories.