Gay Psychoanalytic Candidates in São Paulo, Today: A Recollection of Interviews

In this paper, we investigate the silent practice of proscribing male homosexual candidates in the training offered by International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) societies in Sao Paulo. Supported by the Civil Rights initiatives, gay visibility movements arose in western countries in the 1970s and hit institutionalised psychoanalysis under the charge of prejudice during selection and training of candidates, inviting proscribed gay candidates and silent trained analysts to speak up. The development of the psychoanalytical theory of homosexuality, which after Freud’s death progressively turned homosexuality into a disease, along with the model of institutionalisation of psychoanalysis are counted as major factors in excluding homosexuals from the contingent of psychoanalysts trained by IPA societies and institutes.