Church for gays: ‘It’s beautiful’
A devotee performs during a service at the Contemporary Christian Church, where homosexuality is celebrated.
With his booming voice and high-voltage charisma capable of working crowds of hundreds into a lather, Marcos Gladstone has all the trappings of a successful preacher. But Gladstone has something that most other Pentecostal leaders don’t: a husband.
He and his spouse, Fabio Inacio, are co-founders of the Contemporary Christian Church, one of a handful of Pentecostal denominations in Brazil that welcomes gays and lesbians. It was born out of Gladstone’s dream to preach “a gospel of love and acceptance for all people.”
Barely a presence until a few decades ago, Pentecostals now make up more than one-fifth of the population of Brazil, which is home to more Roman Catholics than any other nation. They are generally more socially conservative than their Catholic brethren, fiercely opposed to abortion and gay marriage. Some Brazilian Pentecostal churches even offer programs that claim to be capable of “curing” gay people.
Not so at Contemporary Christian, which recently celebrated its ninth anniversary and the opening of its ninth branch with a raucous, theatrical service at a converted movie theatre in a gritty Rio neighbourhood.
Born into a Catholic family, Gladstone was 14 when his family joined one of the Pentecostal churches that have proliferated in mostly poor neighbourhoods. He was booted out after breaking off a four-year engagement and coming out as gay in his early 20s.
After that Gladstone felt he didn’t fit in at any church, and so he founded Contemporary Christian in a third-floor walk-up in Rio’s bohemian Lapa neighbourhood. The first services attracted about a dozen parishioners.
Among the early converts was Inacio, who had also called off an engagement to a woman and broken with a Pentecostal denomination. He and Gladstone have since married and adopted two children, now ages 11 and 12.
Together they have spearheaded the church’s expansion to more than 3,000 members in three cities.
At this week’s service — a boisterous, nearly threehour spectacle with choreographed dance routines and a spirited medley of devotional songs — several attendees joined the church by symbolically slipping on T-shirts that read, “Smile, Jesus accepts you.” Some worshippers collapsed, shaking, to the floor, overcome by spiritual fervour and, perhaps, the subtropical heat.
While most of the congregation is gay it includes some heterosexuals, most of whom have a loved one who is gay.
“We have parents of gays who are tired of homophobic speeches, tired of churches that use the sacred pulpit to preach about politics instead of God’s word,” Gladstone said.
Lilian Sales, a 28-year-old saleswoman, said the church filled a spiritual void after she was drummed out of her traditional Pentecostal community.
“At the other church, they think you’re gay because you’ve been possessed by the devil,” she said, flanked by her partner and their child. “Here everyone understands that Jesus made us this way, and it’s beautiful.”