A UNIÃO HOMOSSEXUAL NO DISCURSO DOS LÍDERES CRISTÃOS NO MUNICÍPIO DE PIRIPIRI-PI E NO DIREITO DE FAMÍLIA BRASILEIRO

Abstract

In recent decades, the fight for gay rights has intensified and many have already been enshrined. However, the presence of prejudiced discourses is still striking, with Brazil having the record in crimes against sexual minorities. One of the factors that contribute to this scenario is the presence of conservative religious discourses, which materialize the assumption of heteronormativity. Based on this assumption, the main purpose of this research was to analyze the religious phenomenon in the context of social interactions and its relationship with intolerance and religious prejudice, focusing on the discourse of some Christian leaders in the municipality of Piripiri regarding rights of homosexuals. In this way, specifically, this study sought to understand the homosexual union in the Christians' conception of the world; identify the rights conquered by homosexual couples within the scope of Brazilian Family Law, and the interference of the national religious congressional caucus of Christian origin in this process; and discuss the speeches of some Christian leaders in the municipality of Piripiri in relation to homosexuals and their rights under a Foucaultian perspective. For this purpose, field research is used as a procedure, of the descriptive type with a qualitative approach. Data collection and research instrument was the semi-structured interview. A script was adopted, which was divided into four thematic axes according to the discussions developed in the theoretical exposition, following the objectives of this study. As an inclusion criterion, leaders who have worked or have worked in the municipality of Piripiri for less than 2 years, who have already had more than three years of experience in religious life and who had physical and mental conditions to answer the questions were chosen. They never worked in the municipality of Piripiri and those who for some reason did not feel like discussing the central theme of this study. Participants who took part in the research were a total of 6 Christian leaders (Catholics and Evangelicals), including 2 priests, 1 deacon and 3 pastors, which are considered generically, that is, without taking into account whether they are followers of a traditional, Pentecostal or neo-Pentecostal doctrine. After collecting the data, they were analyzed using the theoretical and methodological strategies of discourse analysis from a Foucaultian perspective, from feminist and queer theories. Researches show that among the existing religions, those of Christian tradition, such as Catholicism and Protestantism, are the ones with the most conservative view of sexuality, and their discourses are permeated by precepts of exclusion and marginalization of homosexuals. However, although religion is constantly associated with prejudiced attitudes towards homosexuals, studies provide evidence that being religious is not a determining factor for prejudice and that this varies according to how religiosity is experienced, hence the importance of this study, as it sought to analyze the perception of homosexuality based on the religiosity of each of the six Christian leaders from Piripiri, and a higher level of prejudice was found in the most fundamentalist discourses.