Homosexuality
- Jul 15, 2003 - 3
History
In June of 1969, New York City police attempted to arrest people participating in illegal homosexual activity at the Stonewall Bar. The patrons violently resisted and fought back, causing the police to forcibly remove them from the bar. The “Stonewall Riot” signaled the beginnings of the militant homosexual movement in America. Capitalizing on the liberationist attitudes of many Americans at that time, the homosexual movement began to express itself freely in an age of laissez-faire morality. Then in 1972, the National Coalition of Gay Organizations held its first convention in Chicago and drafted the controversial Gay Rights Platform. The platform, among other items, called for the amendment of all federal Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and public services, to add homosexuals or “sexual orientation” to the list of “protected groups1.” Adding to the confusion on the issue, in 1973 the American Psychological Association, pressured by gay activists, removed “homosexuality” from its list of mental disorders2. Almost twenty years later, on July 19, 1993, President Bill Clinton implemented his “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, under which military personnel may not ask an enlisting soldier about his or her sexual orientation, whereas in the past, homosexuality has been sufficient grounds for removal from service.
The State of the Issue Today
Homosexuality is not new to the scene of human relations. Numerous sources document homosexual activity from Biblical times to the age of the Romans and into the present century. However, with a growing influx of media images depicting homosexuality as normal, the number of U.S. women participating in same-sex intercourse has increased 15 fold from 1988 to 1998 (0.3% to 2% of women), with rates among American men doubling over the same time period (2% to 43%). Still, more than half of all Americans believe that gay sex is “always wrong4.”
The gay minority of America has effectively organized themselves into a political organization with influence and advocacy ties far outreaching its actual size. While the media often exaggerates the actual number of homosexuals to be as high as 10%, a more accurate study including the National Centers for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control found that the rate of homosexuality is actually less than 2% of the entire population5.
Instead of highlighting explicit sexual activities, the homosexual movement has focused on the anti-discrimination angle of the Civil Rights movement6. In order to push their idea of anti-discrimination, they have coined the terminology “sexual orientation.” Weakly defined, this term applies to heterosexuality and homosexuality, but also leaves a vast expanse open to interpretation, including transvestitism, pedophilia (child-molesting), bestiality, and any other sexual deviancy. Following the planks of the Gay Rights Platform, homosexual advocates like the Gay and Lesbian Association Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the Human Rights Coalition, push for sex education in public schools to include homosexual relationships, the decriminalization of prostitution and other “private, voluntary sexual contacts,” like removing the age of sexual consent for a minor and statutory rape, and the legalization of same-sex marriages in all 50 states, while removing state and local laws against sodomy. In addition to its vast array of platforms, the homosexual movement must daily counter the deadly AIDS virus and its impact on gay men and women; of all of the AIDS cases in the U.S., 90% are men 13 years and older, and about 2/3 of those contracted aids from homosexual behavior7.
Answers to Some Homosexual Arguments
- The main story used by Christians (Genesis 19-Sodom and Gomorrah) to refute homosexuality wasn’t about gay people at all. Instead, Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed because they weren’t hospitable to the visitors. When the angry mob to “know” the new visitors, they meant sexual intercourse, not social conversation. Why else would Lot have offered his two virgin daughters instead? Exegetical gymnastics attempt to jump around the centrality of the issue and the scope of Scripture in its entirety, yet when Scripture speaks to the immoral ways of Sodom and Gomorrah, it never mentions God’s anger with the city for being unkind to visitors8.
- The Civil Rights Act of 1964 includes religious affiliation as a protected group, along with sex, race, and national origin. If religious belief, a personal choice, is protected by law, homosexuality should be also. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 stems from the foundations laid down in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Indeed, homosexuality was present at the time of the writing of the Constitution, but religion and homosexuality were never equated the same status as choices. The founders saw fit to protect religious liberty because it does not promote moral decay as homosexuality does. America has a responsibility to uphold what it contends is ethically right; 59% of Americans believe homosexuality is morally wrong9. Religion also promotes order, structure, and an ethical lifestyle for its followers to pursue. Religions that disregard standards of morality in America and harm individuals are not protected by this statute; therefore, homosexuality, proven physically detrimental to its participants, is not protected either. Physically, homosexuality ravages both men and women with the AIDS virus and colon cancer, as well as a host of other sexually transmitted diseases10. A democracy must weigh the consequences of rights granted. Would allowing sexual orientation the same status as religious liberty cause more harm to society than the good wrought by religion?
- Homosexuals don’t choose to be gay; they are born that way. While genetic research has proven inconclusive thus far on locating a “gay gene,” some studies have been conducted to produce physical evidence for homosexuality. Dean Hamer, a geneticist at the National Cancer Institute, reportedly discovered in 1993 an area of the X-chromosome that appeared similar in homosexual men. The X-chromosome, inherited from the mother, is one of the sex chromosomes; when paired with a Y-chromosome, a male forms. A second study done by Hamer in 1995 found similar results, only on a smaller scale. However, when a Canadian genetics team attempted to duplicate the experiment, no such X-chromosome area was found, casting considerable doubt on the accuracy of Hamer’s experiment. Even with tremendous amounts of genetic research done by the Human Genome Project to map out human DNA, no “gay gene” or genetic predisposition to homosexuality has been found11. In another attempt to prove the physiological tenants of homosexuality, Simon LeVay, an active homosexual, claimed to have discovered “homosexual brains.” He asserted that the hypothalamus of gay men was smaller than that of heterosexuals12. However, Mr. LeVay failed to check the sexual orientation of the control group and no research was done to discover why the 19 homosexual men he studied had smaller hypothalamus (possibly for other physical reasons). Also, based on the size of their hypothalamuses, a third of LeVay’s subjects should have had the opposite sexual orientation than what he reported13. Even if someone could prove that homosexuals are genetically predisposed to same-sex attractions, that does not license them to sin. Indeed practically all humans have an innately strong sexual drive, but are required, both by the Bible and moral laws of the land, to restrict those desires. Lastly, human beings have the freedom to make choices and act upon impulses and feelings, yet humans can also exhibit restraint and self-control. Sexual orientation does not compel someone experiencing same-sex attractions to dabble with homosexual behavior.
- Gay couples should be allowed to marry, have the same benefits as heterosexual married couples, and be able to adopt children. Research now shows a strong link between home environment and sexual orientation choice. Those children raised in a homosexual environment are more likely to become homosexuals themselves14. Children function and grow best in a heterosexual environment involving both a mother and a father15. While the present age produces fewer examples of such a family, we should encourage the revival of the traditional family unit, not speed its demise by sanctioning alternative forms of the family.
The Biblical Response
In some of its earliest texts, the Bible speaks against homosexual relations (Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13). The Israelites warily stayed away from areas in Canaan that practiced homosexuality as part of their fertility cults (Genesis 19; Judges 19:1-30). Even the concept of marriage set forth in the beginning of the Word contends for the relationship between a man and a woman as a sacred bond, honoring to God (Genesis 1:1 –2:4). Also unique to a heterosexual marriage was the ability and responsibility of bearing children (Genesis 2:4-25).
The New Testament also speaks to the abomination of homosexuality. Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, lists homosexual offenders as sinners separated from God (1 Corinthians 6:9). Romans 1:26-32 also places homosexuals in a serious category of offenses before God.
Many Christians point to Romans 1:26-32 as justification for harsh and unfair treatment of homosexuals; however, it is important to note that the above lists also include “idolaters, adulterers, thieves, greedy, drunkards, or swindlers” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). When Christians point to the sin of one group, they must acknowledge that God hates all sin. And remember, all Christians were once sinners gone astray from the Father, and that the Almighty can wash away the blemishes and scars from the most terrible pasts—just look at the apostle Paul! (Isaiah 53:1; Romans 3:23). God’s law does call us to love, but love without justice, forgiveness, and reconciliation is a myth.
Biblical love does not persecute nor does it sanction homosexual behavior; it calls us to focus on the soul of the person trapped in this particular sin16. Christians can, and should, minister to homosexuals in a kind, yet firm manner. The church should never turn its back on homosexuals who are searching and seeking to heal the hurts within their lives. The term “homosexual” must be viewed as a descriptive adjective, not a fixed noun that can never change. Reconciliation with the Father can occur within His glorious grace. Therefore, homosexuals should be treated as human beings with the rights afforded all individuals in the Constitution and Bill of Rights; they should be allowed human dignity even if one adamantly opposes their lifestyle. While God hates the sinner in his sin, we are called to love the sinner and hate the sin. In doing so, Christ can work through our lives to touch those lost in a world of confusion and darkness. (See also 1 Timothy 1:10; 2 Peter 2:6; Jude 7; Revelation 22:15).
1 Roger Magnuson, Are Gay Rights Right? (Portland, Oregon: Multnomah Press, 1990), pp. 90-91.
2 Roger Magnuson, Are Gay Rights Right? (Portland, Oregon: Multnomah Press, 1990), pp. 21-25.
3 Reuters, “More Americans Having Gay Sex, Study Shows,” The New York Times (March 15, 2001).
4 Journal of Sex Research 2001; 37: 333-343.
5 Robert Knight, “Sexual Orientation: Faulty Research in the Homosexual Debate.” Family Policy (Washington, D.C.: Family Research Council, 1992).
Fn6. M. Kirk and E. Pill, Guide (a homosexual magazine in the Pacific Northwest), (November 1987).
7 USA Today, 7/27/92, 6D.
8 Henlee H. Barnette, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry (retired), “Christian Ethics and Homosexuality.” (Louisville, Kentucky: University of Louisville, School of Medicine).
9 Gallup Organization (June 1998) as cited in Richard L. Berke, “Chasing the Polls on Gay Rights,” The New York Times WK (August 2, 1998), p. 3.
10 “Homosexual Sex=Death from HIV Infection,” Traditional Values Coalition at traditionalvalues.org (May 24, 2001); see also the Centers for Disease Control Web site (cdc.gov) for more information.
11 Erica Goode, “Study Questions Gene Influence on Male Homosexuality,” The New York Times (April 23, 1999); “Study Challenges Evidence of Sexual-Orientation Gene,” The Wall Street Journal (April 23, 1999).
12 Simon LeVay, Science, 253 (1991): 1034.
13 Tony Marco, “Oppressed Minority or Counterfeits?” Citizen (Focus on the Family, April 20, 1992), p.3.
14 Timothy J. Biblarz and Judith Stacey, “(How) Does the Sexual Orientation of Parents Matter?” American Sociological Review 66, no.2 (April 2001), 159.
15 Henry B. Biller, Fathers and Families: Paternal Factors in Child Development (Westport, Connecticut: Auburn House, 1993).
16 Henlee H. Barnette, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry (retired), “Christian Ethics and Homosexuality.” (Louisville, Kentucky: University of Louisville, School of Medicine).
Further Learning
Learn more about: Family, Sexual Purity, Homosexuality
3 comments (post your own) feed
1 On Jun 30th, 2006, at 5:21am, Dan Valdes wrote:
We gay people need the church to begin to stand up for equality and truth and to stop the prejudice and homophobia indicative of this essay. Gay is born gay and when you look at your own sexual lives you should be able to see that forces of attraction are not subject to whim or capricious fancy. PLEASE stop bashing us. We need the church and all the institutions society has. We are not a threat. We need you to be on our side and not to continually use the Bible to bash us.
Thank you
Dan Valdes
2 On Jun 30th, 2006, at 9:13am, Staff wrote:
An accurate reading of this article will show that any accusation of ‘bashing’ is fabricated. Nothing in the above article fits with any definition of ‘bashing’ or harassment.
It states quite clearly that we DO SEE ‘gay people’ as equals.
We agree that the church should minister to people in the homosexual lifestyle. It is a far different matter, however, to condone a behavior which is physically, emotionally and spiritually damaging.
One of the most encouraging Scriptures for all humans is found in 1 Corinthian 6:9-11 were Paul describes a list of behaviors which will forfeit entry into God’s kingdom BUT he goes on to say (and here’s the good news)…
“11 Some of you were like this; but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
This is indeed good news for all of us, regardless of what particular sin we may struggle with individually.
3 On Apr 7th, 2007, at 2:08pm, Julia wrote:
I also believe to be true, which is stated in the Bible, no one sin is greater than the other. Although murder is considered a greater sin than many others, in God’s eyes, murder is the same as disobeying parents, is the same as stealing. It is certain people’s own views, that make homosexuals believe that the whole Christian faith believe this is the worse sin of all.