This article the history of the travestis and transexuais social movement in Brazil, based on narratives by its leaders. Starting with the emergence of "travesti" as an identity category, we discuss the emergence of pioneer organizations, and highlight their connections with public policy on the AIDS epidemic. We also explore two disputes which were crucial to the organization of this movement in Brazil: the struggle for the inclusion of travestis in the emerging homosexual movement in 1980 and 1990 decades, and the more recent controversies around the meanings and uses of the categories "travesti" and "transexual".
social movements; travesti; transsexual; history; Brazil