I realize this has been beaten into the ground over the years, but I have a variant on the basic question that I think deserves analysis – and it’s not a hypothetical. Thanks to the Lawrence v. Texas decision, the Canadian gay marriage decision, and the choice of the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire, a lot of people have been discussing the gay sex vis-à-vis the Biblical prohibitions stuff. I personally have a view that does not get impacted by the question, but I’ve had to talk to a lot of people who do.
Here’s the proposition: a person is himself/herself firmly convinced of the reality of the God of the Bible, and the idea that that God has some directives on living one’s life, which include the concept that sexual relations between two people of the same sex is forbidden. Nonetheless, this person recognizes that some people have sexual desires directed towards people of the same sex, and that these are not easily changeable. This person also recognizes that everyone deals with temptations of different sorts, and must make his/her own moral choices.
In short, this person is not a homophobe but is of the view that gay sex is sinful. Take that as a given. That there may be judgmental hypocrites running around is a quite real phenomenon, but we’re not talking about them. That there may be people like myself who have no problems with gay people having committed relationships including a healthy sex life is quite real, but we’re not talking about them either.
Obviously such a person is obliged to himself or herself abstain from gay sex if inclined to engage in it, by his/her own moral code. But the moral question of how to deal with gay people who do indulge themselves in sex is one that such a person is going to confront.
And I’ve seen people who are really distraught about the issue --believing themselves to be caught in a moral dilemma of neither wishing to condone what they see as sin, called by their own faith to love and care about gay people, and unwilling to be the sort of hypocrite who condemns gay people, who they recognize already get a lot of condemnation from the world generally.
This comes close to being a IMHO sort of thread, but I’m hoping some sort of principle for their conduct will come out of it. The basic question is, how can they both abide by their own moral standards – both in regarding gay sex as sin and in regarding gay people as human beings worthy of their respect – while not antagonizing gay people by appearing to be judgmental and condemnatory?
With this board’s cross-section of opinion, I expect some interesting comments. One ground rule: what you personally happen to believe about religion or sexuality is somewhat moot. I’m asking you to put yourself in their place, with the beliefs they espouse. If you’re convinced the Bible is nothing but myth, or that God has no problem with gay sex, fine – but they’re in another boat.