Andre Musskopf | Profile

André S. Musskopf is a lay theologian, raised in the Lutheran tradition in Brazil from Sunday school to seminary. He has been denied ordination by the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil. He has subsequently focused on articulating a gay/queer theological discourse that rises from the experience of being gay/queer, struggling to open up church settings but mostly to claim and exercise the religious citizenship of LGBT people despite the excluding discourses of churches.

André holds bachelors and masters degrees in theology and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree at the Graduate Ecumenical Institute of the Escola Superior de Teologia (São Leopoldo, Brasil). His research is called "Itineraries for a Queer Theology - Contributions for a New Latin American Sexual Theology". His main field of research and study is systematic theology. He is a member of the Gender Research Group (NPG) developing studies in the areas of feminist studies, gender and queer theories, masculinities, homosexualities and sexual diversity, in relation to theology and religion. With the NPG he has been part of the organization of the I and II Latin-American Congress on Gender and Religion (2004 and 2006). He is also a member of the Brazilian Association of Studies of the Homoculture (ABEH) and of the American Academy of Religion (AAR).

André has done volunteer work in the area of HIV/AIDS at ASPA (Support, Solidarity and Prevention to AIDS) since 1997, a nongovernmental organization founded by Lutheran seminarians. In 2002, he was one of the founders of the Ecumenical Inclusive Worship Group at ASPA, which has had a partnership with Lutherans Concerned/North America. He has been the coordinator of this group and also coordinator and facilitator of the meetings of the LGBT Christian Groups of the South Cone of Latin America. In 2006, he also coordinated the Center for Sexual Diversity at ASPA that organized the 2nd Gay Pride Parade in São Leopoldo and approved anti-discrimination laws in the city.

André has also been guest lecturer and facilitator at several meetings and congresses in Brazil and Latin America while also working with grassroots groups and social movements. He was invited to speak on gay theology at the 7th Theological Journey of CETELA (Community of Ecumenical Theological Education in Latin America and the Caribbean), being the first continental event in which gay theology was acknowledged as an emergent theological discourse in Latin America. He attended the 8th Journey as a guest in 2006. He has also been invited to speak on religion and the LGBT community at several meetings of the LGBT civil rights movements, including the XII Brazilian Meeting of GLT People in Brasília in 2005.

He is the author of “Uma brecha no armário – Propostas para uma Teologia Gay” (A Gap in the Closet – Proposals for a Gay Theology), the first publication in Portuguese to name itself in this field of studies in Latin America, and “Talar Rosa – Homossexuais e o Ministério na Igreja” (Pink Robe – Homosexuals and the Ministry in the Church). He is also co-organizer and author of “À flor da pele – Ensaios sobre gênero e corporeidade”, “Corporeidade, etnia e masculinidade – Reflexões do I Congresso Latino-Americano de Gênero e Religião” (Embodiment, Ethnicity and Masculinity – Reflections on the I Latin American Congress on Gender and Religion) and “A graça do mundo transforma deus – Diálogos latino-americanos com a IX Assembléia do CMI” (The Grace of the World Transforms God – Latin American Dialogues with the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches), among many other publications.

(This biographical statement provided by André Musskopf.)

Biography Date: February 2007