Chapter 3 examines the rise of Brazil’s AIDS movement in the 1980s and sets the stage for my argument about the later trajectory of AIDS activism in Brazil in the 1990s and 2000s. Like in the United States and Western Europe, the nascent HIV epidemic in 1980s Brazil devastated tight-knit urban gay communities in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. At this early point, the AIDS movement was concentrated in a handful of Brazil’s largest cities, among activist leaders who were stigmatized and suffered from discrimination, but who were also relatively well-educated and experienced in political advocacy. While contingent factors certainly played a role, traditional theoretical approaches to civil society that highlight the causal influence of grievances, socioeconomic resources, and political opportunities go a long way toward explaining the initial development and success of the AIDS movement.