RELIGION AND HOMOSEXUALITY - LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

This study analyzed 46 scientific articles published between 2015 and 2025 on the relationship between religion and homosexuality, organizing the findings into seven thematic categories: (1) Homosexuality, Religion, and Political Disputes; (2) “Gay Conversion Therapy”; (3) Christian Homosexuals; (4) Inclusive Christian Churches; (5) Homosexuality, Religion, and Colonialism; (6) Spiritism and Homosexuality; and (7) Homosexuality and Religion. The results indicate that religion in Brazil operates as a biopolitical arena in which conservative groups use strategic secularism to influence legislation and public policies, often translating religious doctrines into scientific or legal arguments to restrict rights. Such discourses contribute to the sinfulization, pathologization, and demonization of homosexuality, generating psychological distress, guilt, and internalized homophobia. The literature also highlights different forms of religious engagement with sexual diversity: Afro-Indigenous religions tend to be more welcoming, while traditional Christian denominations and Spiritism frequently promote mechanisms of sexual regulation. At the same time, inclusive Christian churches have emerged as spaces that seek to reconcile faith and sexual orientation, although their practices may still reflect homonormative standards. The study concludes that religion in Brazil is both a historical source of institutional homophobia and a site of resistance and religious reinvention.