Queering Bolsonaro’s mediatic discourse: Strengthening Brazilian LGBTQIA+ communities through language education

Abstract Contemporary societies, especially some Western countries, have faced the return of neoconservatism, along with a desire for homogeneity, consensus, standardization, polarizations, and universalism in several social relations. With the election of alt-right, authoritarian, misogynist, and homophobe Jair Bolsonaro in 2018, many Brazilian citizens have faced a herculean challenge in relation to the maintenance of democracy and the provision of citizenship and critical education. The purpose of this paper is to problematize some media discourse produced by Bolsonaro and to investigate how such discourse has influenced the lives and education of our research participants (pre-service teachers). The first section investigates discourses and regimes of truth by explaining how discourses and ideologies influence our students’ lives and their future career. Section two points to the urgency of problematizing homophobic discourses, and section three queers Bolsonaro as an act of resistance.