It is widely understood that even the most developed welfare systems exhibit certain faults when it comes to the provision of services to minorities, whether ethnic, religious, or otherwise. The intersectionality of these identities can lead to further deterioration in the quality of services, if any are provided at all. In this article, we wish to examine how state institutions in Brazil and Serbia treat their respective LGBTQ+ communities, and when and where civil society should step in. Conversely, we also set out to examine the challenges that civil society organizations face when interacting with these two very different welfare systems and state governments at large.
| This article is part of a series and has been written by the Master’s students in Global Politics and Society at the University of Milan. As attending students of “The Welfare States and Innovation” course, they explored the connection between Social Innovation and new forms of Welfare in contemporary societies. The articles highlights the development of new synergistic partnerships among actors involved in multi-stakeholder networks and innovative multi-level governance models for social policies. |
Brazil and the Family Dimension Crisis
Brazil is a complex and paradoxical country. In relation to the LGBTQ+ community, the State presents a robust legal framework for the protection of rights and against homophobic violence. However, the country also records some of the highest numbers of violent deaths suffered by the community, with one registered death every 30 hours (GGB, 2025).
Homophobia persists across different social spheres: school, work, and family. Therefore, there is a higher likelihood of LGBTQ+ individuals being kicked out of their homes or leaving at an earlier age as a result of family homophobia (Schulman 2009). Alongside the physical and psychological harm, other issues become salient, such as housing instability and barriers to employment opportunities.
In the city of São Paulo alone, 31,884 people are living in homelessness. Of these, between 5.3% and 8.9% identify as LGBTQ+, with around 3% identifying as transgender or non-binary (SMADS, 2021). The scenario has been identified and received attention from public authorities, resulting in several policy initiatives. However, these only made the welfare state’s limitations even more apparent. Alongside insufficient space, the existing shelters struggle to accommodate diverse gender expressions, particularly when housing transgender individuals. This introduces new levels of violence and discrimination, this time generated by authorities.
The growing demand for housing among LGBTQ+ individuals and the limitations encountered in public programs have led to the emergence of new solutions developed by civil society.
CASA 1 and the Curbing of Homelessness
Casa 1 operates as a transitional housing facility for LGBTQ+ youth, offering accommodation for up to four months. The initiative gained strength on social media in 2015, and the NGO was inaugurated in 2017.
It soon became clear that providing housing alone was insufficient, and thus, additional activities were introduced to promote financial independence. These initiatives are open to the general public, free of charge, encouraging the integration of the local community into the program and fostering the inclusion of the LGBTQ+ youth within society.
Currently, the project relies heavily on donations from civil society (around 70%) and contributions from the private sector (around 30%), and has faced financial difficulties in recent years as a result of the polycrisis of the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic crisis. Casa 1 deliberately avoids state funding, a choice shaped both by the current political cycle marked by the resurgence of far-right governments at national and municipal levels and by a longer trajectory of declining public investment in anti-homophobia policies, which was progressively reduced and ultimately cut to zero in 2017 during Temer administration (Nalon, 2017). This decision aims to ensure a higher level of financial independence, allowing the project to continue without political interference (CASA 1, 2026b).
Casa 1 illustrates how civil society initiatives can generate mixed goods that combine solidarity, social services, and community integration, contributing to innovative forms of welfare provision at the local level.
Serbia and Institutional Disinterest
In contrast to Brazil, Serbia cannot boast a stellar track record when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights. With homosexuality decriminalized only in 1994, the country still lacks many substantive protections and basic rights provisions. To this day, marriage equality is still unconstitutional under Serbian law. Combining this with the joint adoption ban for same-sex couples renders queer family-making completely out of reach.
The legal conservatism also goes hand-in-hand with widespread intolerance towards the LGBTQ+ community, where more than 66% percent of people surveyed described homosexuality as “completely unjustifiable” (World Values Survey, 2017-2022). Such rhetoric has permeated every sphere of society, from healthcare to policing. This social malady has a two-fold effect. Firstly, the pervasiveness of homophobia within relevant state institutions reduces the total number of hate crimes reported, with 80% of the documented cases still being completely ignored by the police (Da Se Zna, 2024). Secondly, state-wide acceptance of homophobic stances makes stimulating political will extremely challenging, as institutional disinterest remains steadfast.
As the state has shown no real intention of curbing homophobia, socially or institutionally, civil society faces immense pressure to alleviate some of the shortcomings of the existing system.
Da Se Zna! and Hate Crime Monitoring
Da Se Zna! is a civil society association founded in 2016, with its main focus on mapping and documenting unlawful conduct against LGBTQ+ persons in Serbia. While it originally began as an online reporting platform for documenting violence and discrimination, it now serves as a pillar of the community, providing free legal counseling, psychological support, and educational programs and workshops, in addition to the aforementioned monitoring.
The success of Da Se Zna! highlights the importance of local support networks amongst civil society. A sizable portion of the growth the organization has witnessed can be attributed to the support it received from other LGBTQ+ organizations, such as Labris or Gayten. The collaborative attitudes these organizations display foster a sense of community, which is of utmost importance, especially within these isolating contexts, where the states exacerbate the issues instead of solving them.
The funding structure of Da Se Zna! resembles the standard model of human-rights NGOs in the Western Balkans, in which most funding comes from international institutions and philanthropic foundations. However, this grant-heavy approach leaves the organization exposed to serious financial insecurity, alongside political smear campaigns. Some Serbian tabloids and pro-government media portray it as a “foreign-funded propaganda tool” going against Serbian traditions.
While global initiatives striving for human rights betterment do have an impact in civil society welfare provision, the case of Da Se Zna! clearly showcases how overreliance on volatile international funding may diminish the potential of an organization.
Different Sides of Social Vulnerability
The two cases illustrate how different configurations of the welfare state produce distinct social outcomes. The Brazilian case reveals a paradoxical relation between relatively strong legal frameworks and ineffective enforcement, whereas the Serbian context reflects clear institutional disinterest and structural neglect.
These differences are also evident in the forms of vulnerability experienced. In Brazil, material vulnerability, particularly homelessness, and barriers to employment persist, whereas in Serbia, the legal and social invisibility is generated in the absence of effective legal protections. In both contexts, civil society molds its role in service provision accordingly, addressing the gap left by the welfare state. Despite the challenges, stories of both organizations illustrate the philanthropic intent behind many grassroot initiatives emerging from a shared effort to empower the LGBTQ+ community, in spite of operational differences. The challenge moving forward lies in transforming these localized responses into structural change within the welfare state itself.
References
- Da Se Zna! (2025). Annual Work Report of the Association Da se zna! https://dasezna.lgbt/en/publications/
- Nalon, Tai (2017). Temer reduz a zero repasses a políticas de combate à homofobia. Aos Fatos. https://aosfatos.org/s/ffzceka/
- CASA 1 (2026a). https://www.casaum.org/
- CASA 1 (2026b). https://www.casaum.org/contato/perguntas-frequentes/
- Da Se Zna!, 2026. https://dasezna.lgbt/en/homepage/
- Duarte, Artur de Souza, & Cymbalista, Renato. (2018). Casa 1: Housing and discourse between public and private in young LGBT’s housing need. Salvador, Brazil: V Enanparq.
- Foia, L. (2025). Europeanisation through civil society: The role of Serbian CSOs in shaping LGBTIQ+ rights legislation amid Serbia’s EU accession process. Romanian Journal of European Affairs, Vol. 25.
- GGB (Grupo Gay da Bahia). (2025). 2024 observatory of violent deaths of LGBT+ individuals in Brazil. Salvador, Brazil: Grupo Gay da Bahia.
- Schulman, S. (2009). Ties That Bind: Familial Homophobia and Its Consequences. The New Press.
- SMADS (Secretaria Municipal de Assistência e Desenvolvimento Social). (2021). Census survey of the homeless population: Socioeconomic characterization and identification of needs of the homeless population in the city of São Paulo. São Paulo: Prefeitura Municipal de São Paulo.
- Swimelar, S. (2017). The journey of LGBT rights: Norm diffusion and its challenges in EU seeking states: Bosnia and Serbia. Human Rights Quarterly, 39(4), 910–942.
- Da Se Zna! (2024). Transphobia and Homophobia in Serbia 2024.