El discurso fundamentalista religioso cubano sobre el matrimonio igualitario y la educación sexual integral

Abstract

This contribution analyzes Cuban religious fundamentalist discourse on same-sex marriage and comprehensive sex education, over May and June, 2021, in a corpus composed of four statements by churches. Based on semantic discourse analysis and ideological discourse analysis, the study has two moments: first, a quantitative, lexicometric analysis; and second, a qualitative analysis focused on identifying and describing four discursive representations. During the analysis, discourse and ideological structures are also related, when necessary. Results show that this kind of discourse is built on antagonistic oppositions, and it reduces the discourse field to two conflicting positions. The speakers present themselves as victims, as (representatives of) a majority, and as moral and rational authorities; and they construct their ideological Other as attackers and as an immoral, irrational, non-representative minority. It’s a connotative discourse, seeking to persuade by means of emotions, although it incorporates appeals to rationality. It presents itself as heir and defender of national history and identity, and suggests a hierarchical organization of religious fundamentalist ideology, where cultural hegemony takes precedence.