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The article presents the results of a study which had the objective of identifying and analyzing the theses and dissertations developed on gender and sexuality in higher education in Brazil, especially in Engineering courses, from 1988 onwards. Adopting the methodology of the State of Knowledge, forty studies formed the corpus of analysis, resulting in six categories: dissent - access and permanence; gender and sexuality in the curriculum; discourses and social representations; cisheteronormativity; LGBTPhobias; inventories of academic productions. The paradoxical character of the university was evidenced, which represents both a space for self-knowledge, affirmation, freedom and development, as well as oppression, segregation and violence. The insertion and permanence of the gender and sexuality category in the curriculum still depends on the interest of the actors involved in the process. In discourses and social representations, the prejudice suffered emerges, especially by non-binary genders, transsexuals and transvestites. The works of the cisheteronormativity category highlight the naturalization of heteronormativity, demanding from students performances considered legitimate. Violence permeates LGBTQIA+ existences inside and outside the classroom and heteronormativity results in prejudice, violence, illness, invisibility and segregation. Research on trans people represented the majority of academic productions, noting the absence of research on lesbians, intersex, bisexual and pansexual people. No specific studies on gender and sexuality were found, especially on dissent in Engineering courses, which raises questions about the reasons for such silence and possibilities for future studies.