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oa A double-edged sword
Inclusive religious discourse and LGBTQIA+ prescriptivism in a Brazilian contemporary Christian church
- Source: Journal of Language and Sexuality, Volume 14, Issue 1, Feb 2025, p. 92 - 115
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- 23 Apr 2024
- 16 Aug 2024
- 03 Feb 2025
- 11 Feb 2025
Abstract
Abstract
This article examines Brazil’s LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Churches movement, focusing on the online discourse of the Igreja Cristã Contemporânea (“Contemporary Christian Church”), supposedly the country’s most welcoming religious space for LGBTQIA+ individuals. Employing a Foucauldian Critical Discourse Analysis, it studies how the church’s discourse can help naturalize normative ideas of LGBTQIA+ identities. Data is retrieved from the church’s website, a series of eight YouTube videos, and their comment sections. Results indicate that despite welcoming LGBTQIA+ believers and acting as an inclusive religious space, the church follows prescriptive behaviors rooted in cis-het and homonormativity. Regardless of its LGBTQIA+ positive self-representation and ingroup affirmation approach, the church propagates a “queer” discourse embedded in traditional beliefs toward sexual relationships and practices, marriage, and parochial obedience.