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For nearly two decades, teacher and former evangelical pastor Sergio Viula, 56, defended and practiced the so-called “gay cure” within the church. He believed that his own homosexuality had been “transformed” after converting to evangelicalism as a teenager. He married a woman, had two children, and began sharing testimonies about his supposed change. The information comes from UOL.
Changes and advocacy of the “gay cure”
The son of practicing Catholics, Sergio grew up in a religious environment. Baptized and having received his first communion, he learned early on that relationships between men were sinful. “I was raised with the idea that a man could never be with another man, that it wasn’t right, that it was a sin”, he said. At 15, influenced by evangelical colleagues at work, he moved into the neopentecostal environment, where he encountered a message more direct than that of the Catholic Mass.
In the new church, homosexuality was seen as something to be abandoned. There, Sergio devoted himself entirely to religious life, believing that faith could resolve his doubts. A message of guilt, fear, and the promise of prosperity guided his daily routine and reinforced his conviction that he was “cured”.
“I always say that the control religion exerts over people is through guilt, fear, and ambition. With guilt, it’s like this: you are wrong, you need to fix yourself, and we have the solution to your problem. Then comes fear: if you don’t fix yourself, you will be punished. When none of this works, ambition comes in. There’s always someone to tell you that you could be more prosperous, that God will give you much if you devote your life to Jesus ”.
Even during services, before becoming a pastor, he began giving testimonies about the change he claimed to have experienced. He participated in theatrical performances that reinforced the narrative of LGBTQIA+ conversion and presented himself as proof that the transformation was possible.”At the church, I ended up getting involved with an art group that performed plays about various social issues and also addressed homosexuality. There was a play in which a transgender woman converted, for example ”, he shared.
Later, as a pastor, he listened to the dilemmas of parishioners and reproduced the same logic. “I knew the struggles of each person. And when there was a gay person in the church, it was always the same: that initial euphoria of conversion—it takes over you so completely that it feels like you’re no longer even from this planet. You want to break away from everything you did before ”, he said, in a UOL report.
Marriage and homoerotic dreams
He married before the age of 20 and stayed with his wife for 14 years. During that time, he remained convinced that his life was “new”.”How could I say that the word of God was wrong? So, even if there were any contrary signs, I clung to what the word said, because the word was real and everything else was illusory. You deny yourself, deny your body, your psyche, your experience, your history, everything in the name of a dogma ”, he shared.
Even when he dreamed of being with men, he interpreted it as a demonic temptation. He also sought support in the testimonies of others who claimed to have gone through the same process: ” I didn’t understand why these things were coming to my mind, since I had been transformed. Then I interpreted it as a diabolical action, trying to take me back to what I once was ”.
Turning point
The turning point came in the early 2000s during a work trip to Singapore. There, Sergio became involved with a man and returned with the feeling that the “bubble” he had been living in had been broken. A year later, he revealed the affair to his wife. The crisis led to a temporary separation, reconciliation, and ultimately the definitive decision to leave both the marriage and the church.
“In the meantime, I began disbelieving things like a waterfall. Not only regarding sexuality, but in general about the church, about everything that was preached there. I told my wife, we were separated for a while and eventually got back together. Until the moment came when it was no longer possible to continue living that way ”
In 2003, he came to accept himself and came out as gay, left the ministry, and began a public campaign denouncing conversion therapy practices. He created a blog and started writing on the topic, warning about the risks of “gay cure” therapy, which he considers a form of violence against vulnerable people: “I could have stayed quiet, but I chose to do it this way”.
The breakup also meant losing almost everything. Sergio left assets to his ex-wife and children, broke off contact with his parents for four years, and had to start over from scratch, without basic financial means. Gradually, he rebuilt his personal and professional life.
Today, he has been married for 10 years to André Dias, 34, with whom he says he has a stable relationship. His contact with his children is close, and his relationship with his parents has been restored. According to Sergio, the family welcomed André, who became part of the family routine.
Sergio insists that he does not feel guilty for having defended the “gay cure” for so long: “I don’t feel guilty because I was reproducing something I believed in vehemently. I was a victim of the system and reproduced the system. But if there’s one thing I can say, it’s this: the ‘gay cure’ is a lie. And I was foolish to believe and perpetuate it ”, he add.
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