1533: Portuguese Penal Code is instituted by colonial administration in Brazil. It illegalizes sodomy or any sort of sexual intercourse between people of the same sex; it was influenced by the English Buggery Act 1533.
1614: Tibira do Maranhão is the first person to be executed for homosexuality in Brazil.
1978: SOMOS: Grupo de Affirmação Homossexual, Brazil's first LGBT activist group, founded in São Paulo
1979: O Lampião, a gay magazine, with contributions by many famous authors, like João Silvério Trevisan, Aguinaldo Silva and Luiz Mott, is launched. It survived for three years.
1979 Grupo Lésbico-Feminista is formed in São Paulo by Míriam Martinho, Rosely Roth and others. It remains active for 3 years.
1981: Grupo Ação Lésbica-Feminista is formed in São Paulo with former members of Grupo Lésbico-Feminista and begins publishing a feminist journal "ChanacomChana". The banning of distribution of this journal in 1983 at the Ferro Bar and the protest that ensued is known as the Brazilian Stonewall. It remains active until 1989.
1985: the Federal Council of Medicine of Brazil removes homosexuality from further mention as "deviant".
1989: The constitutions of Mato Grosso and Sergipe states are signed into law. They explicitly forbid discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.
1990-1999
1995: Congresswoman Marta Suplicy proposes Bill project No. 1151 concerning civil unions. The bill is pending approval in the House since 1995.
1997: G Magazine, the first gay-oriented erotic magazine is published enjoying large and national distribution.
1999: the Federal Council of Psychology published a resolution that has standardized the conduct of psychologists face the question: "... psychologists did not collaborate with events or services proposing treatment and cure of homosexuality."
2006: A male gay couple from Catanduva, São Paulo officially adopts a five-year-old girl. According to Folha de S. Paulo, a lesbian couple from Rio Grande do Sul was the first to use this right.
June 10, 2007: In its eleventh edition, the São Paulo Gay Pride Parade breaks its own record as the biggest parade in the world and attracts 3.5 million people.
June 25, 2007: The Richarlyson affair occurred in which a judge was brought before the Justice Council of São Paulo for stating in court that soccer is a "virile, masculine sport and not a homosexual one." However, afterwards the same judge apologized and afterwards decided to annul the decision he wrote.
2008: National LGBT Conference was held. The event, the first in the world to be organized by a government, is a result of demands made by civil society and the Brazilian government's support of LGBT people's rights.
2011: On May 5, Supremo Tribunal Federal unanimously extended the Stable Unions institute to same-sex couples nationwide by redefining the laic definition of family and provided 112 rights to these couples. The extension of marriage institute was not discussed in this decision.
2011: On June 27, first same-sex civil union was converted into a same-sex marriage in Brazil. A Brazilian judge in São Paulo had converted a civil union into a same-sex marriage, a first in the nation.
2011: On June 28, another stable union between same-sex couples has been converted into a marriage. This time it was Judge Jennifer Antunes de Souza, the 4th of Brasilia Family Court which upheld the order.
2011: On October 25, The Superior Court of Justice declared that the legal union of two women who petitioned the court could be recognized as a marriage. The decision of the Supreme Court will only reach the authors of the demand, but a precedent for other couples do the same request.