Objective: to analyze nurses' statements about health care for gay adolescents.
Method: qualitative study, anchored on the Thematic Analysis of Clarke and Braun, with adoption of Symbolic Interactionism as a theoretical framework, since it favors the understanding of the relationship between behaviors, interactions, and social meanings. Twelve nurses recruited using the snowball sampling technique were remotely interviewed via the Google Meet® video-conferencing app.
Results: four themes were elaborated throughout the comprehensive-interpretative process: "Gay adolescents, agendas, and relation with health;" "The gay adolescent's family and care;" "Relationship with gay adolescents in care," and "Limits to nursing care for gay adolescents."
Conclusion: the statements denounce stigmas and symbols derived from cisheteronormativity as intervening in the relationship and indicate the urgency of investing in the intersubjective encounter with gay adolescents and their families in a horizontal, affective, and empathic relationship, with chances of favoring public defense of the right to health. There are comments on the nurses' attitude and qualification of care for this population.
Keypoints: (1) Tendency towards "de-subjectifying" objectification in health practices. (2) Hegemony of cisheteronormative logic as a limitation to care. (3) Sex and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) as stigmas attached to gay adolescents. (4) Family and health care for homosexual adolescents: opportunities and obstacles. (5) The limits and powers of nursing to enable equity in care for gay adolescents.