Challenging Gender and Sexual Paradigms in Pentecostal Studies: A Latino/Latin American Perspective

In recent years, journalists and public commentators have become increasingly fascinated by the supposed rightward turn of Latino/as living in the United States and in Latin America. Religion–specifically, Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity–is often said to be the fulcrum of this growing conservatism. Gender, sexuality, and machismo, in turn, are often thought to be at the core of this religious conservatism. This panel challenges this conventional narrative by pointing to a different set of possibilities within Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity: a gay Latino Pentecostal missionary and evangelist in the 1970s and 1980s; an LGBTQ-affirming Pentecostal-Charismatic congregation in present-day Brazil; and “Indecent” Pentecostal women in present-day Colombia. Together, these papers add new voices and perspectives to ongoing scholarly discussions on Latino Pentecostalisms, gender, and sexuality, challenging dominant narratives and paradigms in Pentecostal Studies and shedding new light on the ecumenical networks and movements in which queer and progressive Latino/a Pentecostals are embedded.