- Ex-“The Voice” Singer Reports Homophobia in UDV, a Religion that Uses Ayahuasca - January 31, 2025
- Bad Trip: União do Vegetal (UDV) Ties to Far-Right Bolsonarism Resurface - January 2, 2025
- Psychedelic Courses in Brazil Have High Demand and Many Challenges - November 12, 2024
A singer from the Brazilian state of Ceará vented on social media about facing homophobic mockery at an União do Vegetal meeting
Ceará (CE) singer Marcos Lessa*, a former contestant on The Voice Brazil show, published a video on his Instagram account reporting that he had suffered “homophobic debauchery” at a UDV ceremony, the União do Vegetal, a religious group that uses ayahuasca in its ceremonies.
According to the singer, the case happened at a nucleus of the group in Cariri (CE). During a ceremony, after a young man walked backwards close to where the leaders were sitting, due to the tight space, Jair Gabriel da Costa, 73, who was leading the work, insinuated that he was homosexual, saying: “Be careful not to sit on the mestre’s lap, that’s how Marcos Lessa got started.”
In an interview with Psicodelicamente, Lessa explains that he wasn’t there at the time. Firstly, because he was attending another nucleus in Fortaleza. But also because he had already been removed by the leadership of the religious group about a month before the session in Cariri.
The reason for his dismissal was an interview given to a podcast program in which the singer, without mentioning the UDV, called a group of conservative people he lived with hypocrites who didn’t accept the fact that he had “come out of the closet.”
Lessa says he doesn’t know from whom the request for his exclusion came, and that the justification for it is also unclear. “They claimed I was criticizing UDV leaders, it’s sad to say, but I believe it was because of my sexual orientation.” The singer explains that the interview was the first time he had spoken publicly about his homosexuality.’
“They claimed I was criticizing UDV leaders, it’s sad to say, but I believe [my dismissal] was because of my sexual orientation.”
Marcos Lessa
Despite regretting the speech and the homophobic attitudes of the group’s leaders, Lessa defends the doctrine of the UDV. He explains that he has been a member of the group for 30 years, saying that it was where his parents met and got married. “I had the most sublime moments of my life there.”
The singer says he has received messages of solidarity from leaders of the group and does not believe that the case represents the general thinking of the institution. However, the utterer of the homophobic comment that targeted Lessa, Jair Gabriel da Costa, is the second son of José Gabriel da Costa (1922-1971), better known as Mestre Gabriel, the founder of the UDV. In the group, the leaders are called “mestre” (master).
With Christian and reincarnationist inspiration, the religious institution, created in 1961, has over 20,000 followers spread across all Brazilian states and in 11 countries. In 2023, Jair Gabriel was elected “master general representative” and will lead the institution until 2026.
Lessa also reveals that it wasn’t the first time he had heard homophobic comments at the UDV. According to him, Edson Saraiva, another of the institution’s leaders, warned him that if he wanted to continue in the group, he had to overcome “that which imprisoned him.”
Saraiva, according to Lessa, said that for homosexuals to stay in the UDV they had to commit to transforming their customs.
“I reaffirm that my sexual orientation has nothing to do with my moral principles, my character and my humanity,” said the artist in the video. “My sexuality has not imprisoned me, it has freed me.”
What Does the UDV Say?
UDV was contacted by Psicodelicamente to comment on the case. According to Tadeo Farias Feijão, president of the General Board of the UDV “the institution does not have or defend a discriminatory stance in relation to any person’s sexual orientation.”
“the institution does not have or defend a discriminatory stance in relation to any person’s sexual orientation.”
Tadeo Farias Feijão, president of the General Board of the UDV
“What União do Vegetal preaches is respect for all human beings, as taught by Mestre José Gabriel da Costa, Mestre Gabriel, founder of the center.”
According to the director, the doctrine transmitted by the UDV is based on Jesus’ teachings of fraternity and respect for human beings.
“With these principles, the UDV has been carrying out its charitable and environmental preservation work for almost 64 years, recognized by constituted authorities and today present in all Brazilian states and 11 countries.”
The institution did not say whether it would take any action in relation to the case in question. The report also asked if Jair Gabriel da Costa would comment on what had happened, but received no reply.
Gay Cure
“The UDV has been homophobic since its inception, yet there was a great taboo to talk about it, I spent a lifetime afraid to speak out, for fear of being rejected as a researcher and activist in the field,” says anthropologist Bia Labate, who has been researching ayahuasca religions for over 20 years.
“The UDV has been homophobic since its inception, yet there was a great taboo to talk about it, I spent a lifetime afraid to speak out, for fear of being rejected as a researcher and activist in the field.”
Bia Labate, Chacruna Institute
Labate is the author and editor of several books on the subject and created the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Medicinal Plants, based in California, where she has lived since 2017.
“They have a heteronormative document that is read out in sessions,” she continues. She refers to a 2008 circular from the institution, in which the group takes a stance against homosexuality. Psicodelicamente has access to this text.
The document, which was supposedly read during ayahuasca sessions, states that the group can never agree with the “practice of homosexuality … since it contradicts the natural origin of human existence.” It also opposes same-sex marriage because of the risk of a possible “extinction of the human species.”
The anthropologist believes that Marcos Lessa’s testimony could lead to a change in direction at the institution. “These are different times.” For Labate, the singer’s first-person account marks the beginning of another era.
“I don’t think the UDV has ever been under so much pressure to change its policies. Unfortunately, however, the leadership continues to make empty, bureaucratic statements.”
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Psychedelic Far-Right
Lessa’s video on social media has had more than 10,000 views, and by the time this report closed, 1,850 people had commented on the singer’s post. Several testimonies reveal similar cases of homophobia. Many point to the same person, Jair Gabriel. Others, however, accuse the leadership.
Before Lessa’s account went public, Psicodelicamente was contacted by a member of the UDV. The person, who asked not to be identified, spoke of a moral booklet that members of the institution must follow. According to him, the document imposes almost a dozen prohibitions, such as not drinking ayahuasca in other places and not being homosexual. He says the situation worsened after the support for the former president Bolsonaro took over the group.
Since the final stretch of the presidential campaign in 2018, UDV leaders who supported then-candidate to reelection Jair Bolsonaro began a political campaign within the group. Part of the leadership joined the bandwagon and anti-environmentalist, pro-gun and hate speech began to govern many of the sessions at the nuclei throughout Brazil.
At the time, an audio message expressing support for Bolsonaro was sent by one of the UDV´s oldest leaders, Raimundo Monteiro de Souza. The message, in line with the former president’s speech, spoke of a serious moral crisis in the country.
Souza defended the family as the “maternal cell of society,” opposed gays and “movements that degrade morality,” attacked criminal rights, called supposed “textbooks for children defending libertinism an intrusion by the evil one and the government” and took a stance against abortion and “gender ideology.”
The audio ended by criticizing disarmament, which would put good citizens at risk, and asking for votes for the then candidate. The message caused a stir within the UDV. The political polarization divided its followers and persists to this day.
UDV leaders also took part in the coup demonstrations against the Democratic Rule of Law, which began on the night of October 30, 2022 and culminated in the plundering of the headquarters of the Three Powers on January 8, 2023, in Brasilia, the nation’s capital—reported on Psicodelicamente‘s networks.
Singer’s Family Demands Response from UDV
Psicodelicamente had access to a letter signed by Célio Lessa, the singer’s father and a member of the UDV. In the text, he cites the failure to comply with the religious nucleus’ internal rules and demands an effective response to the case involving his son.
“I consider this to be an unacceptable attitude in the context of the nucleus and one that, in addition to being an affront and disrespect not only to the member, but to all his family and friends, is totally contrary to the principles of the UDV, its laws and liable to violate the laws of the country,” writes Célio in the letter.
The singer points out that, as a religious institution whose motto is “light, peace and love,” the UDV cannot tolerate debauchery and disrespect, especially from its leaders. “What we’re demanding is just that: respect.”
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* Marcos Lessa, a singer and songwriter from Ceará, began his musical career at the end of 2007, while still a teenager, when he released his first album, “Olhares da Vida [A Look at Life],” which already included some of his own songs. Before he was selected for Globo Network’s reality TV show The Voice Brazil in 2013, he had already made a name for himself on the Ceará music scene. The local press pointed to him as an exponent of Brazilian popular music (MPB), his main musical genre, about which he has a deep biographical and discographical knowledge. After reaching the semi-finals of the show, Marcos Lessa gained great recognition among MPB fans, establishing himself as a leading representative of the new generation of the genre. With a 15-year career, he has already released four albums. One of these albums, “Deslizando na Canção[Gliding on the Song]” (Biscoito Fino, 2019), was directed and produced by the founder of Bossa Nova, Roberto Menescal, who considered Lessa one of the great interpreters in the history of Brazilian music. With his distinctive voice, unique charisma and genuine passion for music, Marcos Lessa has achieved significant numbers on digital platforms in recent years. In 2022, his songs were played more than 1 million times on Spotify alone, reaching 331.1 listeners in 151 different countries.
Note: Carlos Minuano has been writing about psychedelics for over two decades and is author of the blog Psicodelicamente, hosted on the CartaCapital website. A version of this article was originally published in Portuguese on November 23, 2023
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