Desperate calls from LGBTQ+ youths contemplating suicide or from their parents after they have made an attempt on their lives often punctuate Alexya Salvador’s day. When they do, she drops everything to talk. As a transgender woman, she recognises the anguish in their voices. “I feel their pain in my body because I went through this,” she says. “My family went through this.” As the first transgender reverend in Latin America at the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), she hopes she can use her faith to help. She understands the struggle to reconcile religion and identity, especially in Brazil, where Christianity reigns and the church is often far from a safe space for those who are LGBTQ+.