Brazil's LGBTQ public policy: A Potemkin policy?

Abstract

Although there are many frameworks of policy change analysis, little attention has been paid to policy manipulation, especially policies related to the community of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ). This article develops a framework to fill this gap; it analyzes the process of policy manipulation by drawing on the metaphor of the Potemkin village, referring to the creation of a façade to suggest advances or progress to external observers. These Potemkin features have implications for informing a case study of Brazil's LGBTQ and human rights policies. Through content analysis of federal executive policy outputs, and an analysis of changes made by political elites in instruments, ideas, and actors over 20 rights‐based LGBTQ policies adopted in Brazil between 1996 and 2020, the article finds evidence that Brazil's LGBTQ policy is a Potemkin one.