Many Brazilian cities and states have anti-discriminatory legislation that explicitly includes sexual orientation. Some of them provide specific sanctions and penalties for those who engage in discrimination. Those aged between 16 and 30 were also more likely to support legislation to ban LGBT discrimination. As of , a federal anti-discrimination law is pending approval on the Brazilian Senate.
This fact is constantly used by the opposition of the anti-discrimination law to show that there is no need for specific laws. The defenders of the new law, however, argue that without clear designation, this will still be considered somewhat of a lesser crime. Some conservative Catholic and Protestant senators argue that the law would be an aggression on religious freedom granted by the Constitution. The bill would need to be approved by the full Senate and Chamber of Deputies before becoming law.
Six of the Supreme Court's 11 judges voted in favor of the measure, while the five other judges were granted more time to make their decision. Eventually, on 13 June, the Supreme Court issued its final ruling, in an 8β3 vote.
Multiple states and schools have established guidelines and policies regarding LGBT students. These include, among others, preventing and prohibiting bullying, creating support programmes and using a transgender student's preferred name. In August , the Supreme Federal Court struck down a Palmas law which banned "gender and sexuality courses" in schools. Transgender women in Brazil fall into two categories: " travestis " and transsexuals, although for Brazilians the two terms are interchangeable.
To the extent that the latter insist on distinguishing themselves from transvestites, it is because transsexuals consider that they were born into the wrong body, whereas transvestites do not experience as deeply internal conflicts in relation to their male bodies.
