LGBT+ Catholics very well represented in Gil Monteiro’s music

Even amid the controversy surrounding recent homophobic statements by the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, nothing can make the greatest representative of the generation of LGBT+ Catholics lose heart. The 40-year-old singer and composer, born in Paraná, Gil Monteiro, is the biggest phenomenon in music streaming, with players that exceed more than 2.5 million, leading the artist to great notoriety for more than a decade in the artistic scene.

After surprising his audience in a live broadcast on social media in 2022 and causing a scandal in religious circles by confirming his sexual orientation to everyone, Gil broke protocol and came out of the last closet he had yet to come out of: to his audience! Since he had already done so to his family and close friends a few years earlier. At the time, he was hiding his marriage (which had already ended) from everyone and suppressed his desire to fully live his identity in front of everyone.

Despite being a regular at religious events and programs both in our country and abroad, he saw these invitations disappear after revealing his sexuality and was completely banned from the “religious business”, but this did not weaken the career of this singer who has a degree in Civil Engineering. On the contrary, he gained even more relevance and contributed intensely to the LGBT+ community and today he has become one of the greatest representatives of the community, especially among Catholics considered progressive.

And people’s curiosity about his private life and his story was so great that he wrote a book where he narrates all of them and some even more unusual ones. The book “Será que ele é” (Será que ele é) (Buy Now) here) is now in its fifth edition and has a foreword by actor Carmo Dalla Vecchia. It is one of the delightful biographical books recently released. In some chapters, you will laugh out loud but you will also need a tissue due to the exposition of some moving events.

He recognizes his privileges as a gay, cis, white, and gender-neutral man, and so he increasingly wants to empower people from the LGBT+ community to live their lives to the fullest, without allowing themselves to be silenced by the prejudice of ignorant people. Last month, he dedicated himself to bringing more information and representation to the cause on his social media, something that has become a constant in the life of the now-out singer over the last two years.

And when I say that Gil Monteiro is the greatest representative of LGBT+ Catholics, I am not saying this or demonstrating the numbers that accompany his musical success, or his constant interviews with nationally renowned media outlets; but rather a group of parents for diversity who are members of a pastoral group that recognizes the significant work that the singer brings to the subject, which needs to be reviewed within the Catholic Church itself.

Now, in the second half of the year, the singer is preparing to release his new song, “Clandestino”, which is a composition of his own and ends a two-year hiatus without releasing any Catholic gospel music. He is also collaborating on an EP that will feature the artist singing MPB-style songs for the first time, moving away from the religious musical genre that made him famous. It seems that this freedom in his personal life has also brought artistic freedom to the singer, who increasingly wants to explore new horizons, singing lightly about the colors of love.

*Artur Vieira is a Christian, gay and journalist who has worked with the LGBT+ public since 2013 on the internet with the profile @devoltaaoreino.

By Ezatamentchy