Sexual identity and church belonging. Visibility paths in the careers of gay Catholics

Abstract

Instruments like the Comprehensive Sex Education Act (2006), the Same-Sex MarriageAct (2010) and the Gender Identity Act (2012) put Argentina at the forefront of the legislationon the recognition of sexual rights and full citizenship of non-heterosexual persons,and favor significant changes in terms of the visibility and sociability of LGBT communities.However, such state recognition has not been accompanied by the hierarchy of the CatholicChurch, whose discourses and practices continue to stigmatize sexual diversity. Nevertheless,many Catholics who self-identify as part of that diversity maintain their ties to the Church.How do these subjects combine their sexuality and their church allegiance? What negotiationsdo they make in relation to the tensions that arise? How do they manage their visibilityin that institutional context? This article explores those questions in biographical accounts bytwo members of Catholic communities who self-identified as gay when they were interviewed.