Mossoró (Brazil)

Community

Social events, entertainment, bars, festivals, cafes, bookstores, etc.

  • Universidade do Estado Do Rio Grande do Norte (UERN)

    • Campus is very queer friendly, especially Letras and FAFIC.

  • In Mossoró the main queer parties are put on by a group called Shadehouse. They post all their parties on Instagram and they usually happen in the concert space behind the Hotel Vila Oeste.

  • During São João (festas juninas), the cidadela stage is the queer friendly area.

  • Fitdance is probably the center of the Mossoró’s queer community. Every Sunday in front of the municipal theater and then most weeknights at the Praça de Esportes on Avenida Rio Branco. Even if you don’t want to participate in Fitdance itself, lots of people go just to watch and hang out. If you play volleyball, Saturday nights also attract some queers to play on the volleyball court.

Political/Social Environment

Resources assessing queer- and trans-friendliness in your country

  • Mossoró is a very religious and socially conservative city in a lot of ways, so while campus is incredibly welcoming, there are def situations where I didn’t feel safe.

  • If you don’t live within a few blocks of UERN, don’t walk home at night. The main road leading to UERN has a lot of traffic and has not been safe for queer people in several instances.

  • The Rio Branco corridor is queer friendly. On Sunday they shut it down and lots of people go to run, bike, and roller-skate. It’s a welcoming space and you’ll see more PDA than elsewhere in the city.

Legal

Laws that are accepting or discriminatory and legal resources specifically for LGBTQ persons

Housing

  • I would suggest either living in Costa e Silva (by UERN and UFERSA) or in Centro.

  • There aren’t really any online resources, so what I would suggest is talking to your program manager (we worked with Jorge who was great) and ask to stay at ADUERN for a week or two. It’s the professors’ union and they have a mini dorm near campus you can stay in for a week or two. After deciding where you want to live, I’d ask the Letras professors, look on the bulletin boards at school, and mainly just walk around the neighborhood where you want to live because there’ll be a lot of sign for rentals.

  • Def be careful while looking for apartments. I had several experience with homophobic landlords while looking.

Health

Medical resources for LGBTQ persons in your community (special clinics, testing, treatment, pharmacies, etc.)

  • So unfortunately the closest cities that have PrEP are Fortaleza and Natal which are both 3-4 hours away.

  • Every time I went to my local Posto de saúde (UBS) the nurses were incredibly welcoming, and gave specific advice relevant to the health needs of queer men without me asking which was nice. The process of getting registered was a bit confusing so if you have questions reach out to me.

Culture

Podcasts, literature, movies, music, etc.

Language

How to include trans/gender-nonbinary people in conversations in your country’s language(s)

  • Boiola- used Ina similar way as viado but usually with a more pejorative tone. Friendly if from a friend or queer, slur otherwise

  • Mana- sis

  • Mulher is used super frequently to address gays (it’s pronounced often like the H isn’t even there. More like Muler) 

  • The mossoroense accent pronounces de and te with strong D and T not gee and chee sounds. The r is almost non existent in a lot of words. Words are often cut.

Race & Ethnicity

Religion & Spirituality

Like all our resources, our Brazil resources were recommended by Fulbrighters in the host country. Because of the vast and thorough resource collection the Brazil cohort of 2018-19 provided, we have copied their recommendations nearly verbatim. Please contact us if you have updated information.

Please contact us if you’d like to speak to the ETA who wrote this page.