Brazil- Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Implements Quotas to Promote Trans People in Education

Despite some pushback, 11 federal universities in Brazil have now approved quotas for trans people- promoting their inclusion and opportunities in receiving education.

By Roberta Rocinante

Rio de Janeiro. – On October 30^th, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), one of the biggest universities in Brazil has approved quotas for trans people to enter the university via the ENEM test. 

This is a historical mark in the fight for the inclusion of marginalized people in higher education in Brazil and the UFRJ is not the only university or college to have done this as ten other federal universities have already approved quotas for trans people, the first one being the Federal University of the South of Bahia (UFSB) in 2018.

In 2024, federal deputy Erika Hilton (PSOL) presented law project 3109/23 that proposed that universities and colleges reserved 5% of it’s spots for its undergraduate programs for students that identified as trans. 

For programs with less than 50 spots then three spots should be reserved.

In her argument for the law the deputy has said that by 2024 many federal universities have already started their own quota programs for trans people and that since the quota law was passed in 2012 the number of black, native and quilombolas people entering universities has tripled- and that her project exists to guarantee the same for the trans population.

This is just another chapter in the decade long story of the quota law.

Law number 12711/2012 commonly known as Lei de Cotas – Quota law, was a law approved in 2012 by then president Dilma Rousseff that established an affirmative action program to guarantee that at least 50% of the students entering federal universities had their education inside the Brazilian public school system and not in private schools.

As it stood at the time, most of the college graduates in Brazil had their entire education in private schools, which made the population that only had public education as an option become excluded from higher learning, which only made the gap between the rich and the poor more obvious. 

The intent of the law- and its overall success- has been that it made it possible for marginalized and poor people to enter federal universities.

The way that the law works is that 50% of the spots in any undergraduate course in a federal universities be reserved for students of the public school system – meaning that these students must had had started and finished either the Ensino fundamental (equivalent to Elementary and Middle school in the US) or the Ensino Médio (equivalent to High school) in the public school system.

These spots are then divided between students from families whose monthly income is less than one minimum salary and a half, students from families whose monthly income is more than one minimum salary and a half.

Once that’s done the spots are then divided again, once the law was passed in 2012 the spots were divided between Black, Native and Pardos (a term used to refer to mixed race people.)

With all of that settled then students could choose to classify themselves inside nine categories to be suitable to get a quota spot.

Universities however can increase the number of quota spots and add more groups to the ones that can be accepted via quota, which has been the case with trans people. While the law only concerns federal universities, estate (state) universities can also create their own quota initiatives.

Throughout the years new groups were added to the law through discussions between deputies. In 2016 disabled people were added to law and then in 2023 quilombolas were added as their own group separate from black people.

 In 2024, it was proposed that trans people should also be added, and it’s currently waiting for it to be approved by both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

At the time of  the quota law’s approval, it was debated by people with many arguments in favor and against the law. 

Arguments in favor of the law included that it corrects some of the social inequity in Brazil, and removes some of the racism that people have historically suffered. 

While arguments against it are the usual ones – including that the quotas are unconstitutional because they promote a type of racism – that black and native people aren’t as smart as white people – and that they went against the constitution’s rule that forbids any form of racial discrimination.

Despite these arguments, the law was approved and has since been expanded.

Which takes us to today, where federal universities have started to have quotas for trans people, a strong step forward for a more just society, but not one that hasn’t been met with some attempts to disrupt it.

In 2023, the Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG) was sued by two lawyers after the university opened up spots for trans students via a selection process.

This lawsuit took a new turn in July 2025 after a replacement judge (not the one responsible for the case) ruled the creation of the selection process illegal, and further forbade the university from creating any affirmative action or inclusion processes for trans people. 

The ruling was then overruled by the federal tribunal on the argument that the creation of quotas and selection processes is a right granted to federal universities. This decision is final until the end of the lawsuit in a final trial.

Then in October 2025, the deputy Tito Barichelo (União) proposed a new law (Law 251/2025) which would forbid estate universities in Paraná from creating quotas on the basis of someone’s gender identity. 

He stated that this is all a result of “woke culture” (a term he got from right-wing North Americans). He claims he doesn’t have anything against trans people, and argues that what is needed is a meritocracy, not privileges. The law still needs to passed through the senate to be approved.

Despite this contention,  many are excited for the new quotas in the UFRJ that will be implemented starting in 2026.