Weekend Beach Bum:  

I have yet to hear a cogent, logical, reasonable argument against the inclusion of the GLBT community in every aspect of our society and extending us every right taken for granted by heterosexuals. Not long ago, I exchanged e-mails with a woman who stood adamantly against any sort of gay rights. At first, she attempted to present scientific and logical objections, but after a few e-mails, after I had shot down all of her supposed studies and logic, the little man behind the curtain was unveiled. She sent me a venomous e-mail detailing my burning in fire for all of eternity. In all recent rants against out gays in the Church and gay marriage, opposition boils down to religious objections. Let us not forget that religion was also used as a major last-ditch argument against equal rights for women and African-Americans. We have come to our senses on these two issues, and I hope we can come to our senses regarding equal rights for gays.

Laws should be based on reason and logic, not religion. The Constitution purposely set a solid boundary between Church and State, and we must observe that boundary. Reason shows us that gays are every bit as human as heterosexuals are. The American Pediatrics Association now supports gay adoption, citing studies proving that children raised in a gay family are every bit as well-adjusted and happy as those raised in a heterosexual one.

Respected countries like Canada and Israel allow out gays to serve in the military and have reported no negative repercussions on morale or quality of service. Several nations have legalized gay marriage, and more are moving in that direction. Their social structures have not fallen apart, and God has not smote them with fire and brimstone.

Jesus Christ gave us a personal and philosophic message to love one another—nothing more, nothing less. Conservative Christians twist Christ’s message to support their own political agenda—specifically, that everyone should be just like them—heterosexual. The "you should think and act just like me" message has served as a catalyst for every prejudice, war, massacre, and incident of genocide since the beginning of time. Tens of thousands of gays perished in the concentration camps, along with Jews, blacks, the mentally handicapped, and gypsies. That’s not a fact that many holocaust historians mention often.

The Bible is an historical document. It has been revised and rewritten by so many of those in political and religious power throughout the centuries. Is it not possible that many of those in political and religious power felt the need to twist its message to support their own political intentions and personal beliefs, just as many on the "religious right" do today? Also, for over seventeen centuries, the Bible had to be hand-copied and translated, which certainly resulted in a multitude of mistakes and opportunities for "subtle" revisions. Many of our opponents like to pick and choose from the Good Book. After all, the Bible states clearly that, "A camel has a better chance of passing through the eye of a needle than a rich man has a chance of getting into Heaven." Still, I don’t see any televangelists or conservative politicians donating their $1,500 suits to Goodwill, or their mansions and cars to the homeless.

As for Biblical arguments against gay rights, it makes me want to laugh, but it’s no laughing matter. The place in the Bible which people point to and say, "gay is bad," is found in Leviticus. It is "an abomination for a man to lay with a man as he would a woman." What none of these people care to point out is that this admonition is only one in a long series of other admonitions for equally serious sins, including touching the skin of a pig, sitting where a menstruating woman has sat, and blending materials in your garments. (I suppose that butchers, along with anyone who has not thoroughly cleaned their Lazy Boys, or wears a cotton/polyester blend, will be burning right alongside gays, lesbians, and bisexuals in eternal Hell.)

These admonitions came at a time when the Jews were a very prosecuted, endangered people. Most serious Biblical scholars agree that these admonitions were meant to preserve the physical health and the "continuation of the tribe," since, for example, touching the skin of a filthy pig could lead to horrible diseases, and gay sex would not propagate the race.

Perhaps more importantly, the Bible was the only way to preserve Jewish tradition, whether in sexuality or clothing. People did not have today’s scientific knowledge, and reason wasn’t very popular either, for that matter. To keep the Jewish people from doing dangerous or nontraditional things, they had to be threatened by the Principal in the Sky with his paddle ready for a whipping. Also, there’s the old Sodom and Gomorrah tale, which has much more to do with the strict rules on how to treat guests in your home (a serious issue in Jewish culture at that time), than it does with homosexuality. Some Biblical scholars suspect that homosexuality was not even an issue in the original story, but was worked into the story at a later time.

With all the headaches and heartaches in the world today, I cannot fathom why religion cannot find a higher calling than to encourage discrimination against a minority that has been persecuted for a longer time than any race, gender, or religion. I also cannot help but wonder how many conservatives have even read the Bible from beginning to end. I studied the Bible extensively in college, and had a wonderful, tough professor who knew its verses inside and out. He stressed the historical aspects of the Bible, urging his students to consider the Bible not only as a religious text but also as cultural and political propaganda, which it is. Jehovah was a vengeful, jealous God, and then Jesus Christ came to teach love, acceptance, and tolerance. If homosexuality were such a sin, wouldn’t God have directed Christ to at least give it a little lip service during one of his sermons?

Conservative Christians fail to point out that Christ never once mentioned homosexuality. In Christ’s time, he did not associate with the rich, the politically powerful, or religious leaders. Instead, he spent time with the diseased, the poor, prostitutes, and the otherwise socially disenfranchised. I can’t help but to suspect that, if Christ were alive today, he’d be flying a rainbow flag himself, proclaiming himself "straight but not narrow."