The debate in the “carioca” legislature about “changing homosexuality”: science, politics and religion

Abstract The article analyzes the debate in printed media about the 717/03 law proposal which was presented at the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro in August 2003. This bill provided for the use of public funds for the “change of homosexuality.” News about this project published in newspapers and magazines of statewide and nationwide coverage were used in the research considering the authors, social actors and categories that appeared in the different types of material, as well as the opposing and favorable arguments about the Legislative proposal. We have thus verified how arguments related to the scientific, religious and political fields have reconfigured the relations between nature/culture and normal/pathological, operating in a specific and sometimes contradictory way, with dear values to contemporary modern societies, as equality among men and individual will.摘要：本文针对2003年8月提交至里约热内卢州立法议会的717/03号法案提案，分析其在印刷媒体中引发的舆论辩论。该法案规定动用公共资金用于"同性恋转变（change of homosexuality）"相关工作。本研究选取全州及全国性发行的报纸、杂志中刊载的该法案相关新闻报道作为研究素材，重点考察报道中出现的作者、社会行动者及各类社会范畴，并梳理围绕该立法提案的支持与反对论点。经分析，本研究验证了科学、宗教与政治领域的相关论点如何重构了自然/文化、正常/病态之间的关系——这些论点以特定且有时相互矛盾的方式运作，其所依托的正是当代现代社会所珍视的核心价值，例如人类平等与个体意志。