I’m a Christian and I Support Gay Rights

I love this picture SO MUCH. One of my very favorite photographs. Ever.

Since all of the positive feedback from my slut-shaming post, I decided to discuss another sticky subject I run into in the Christian sphere, gay rights and gay marriage. But there’s really no issue, you, say, the Bible is clear:

“If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination.” (Leviticus 20:13).

See? Blog post done, we can all go home and forget about all of this.

Just kidding! Leviticus also includes the following:

“you are to offer a dove or a young pigeon. ¹⁵ The priest shall bring it to the altar, wring off the head and burn it on the altar; its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar. ¹⁶ He is to remove the crop and the feathers^[a] and throw them down east of the altar where the ashesare. ¹⁷ He shall tear it open by the wings, not dividing it completely, and then the priest shall burn it on the wood that is burning on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

“‘Of the animals that move along the ground, these are unclean for you: the weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard, ³⁰ the gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon. ³¹ Of all those that move along the ground, these are unclean for you. Whoever touches them when they are dead will be unclean till evening. (Lev 11:29-31)

¹⁹ “‘When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly periodwill last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.

²⁰ “‘Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. ²¹ Anyone who touches her bed will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. ²² Anyone who touches anything she sits on will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. ²³ Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, they will be unclean till evening. (Lev 15:19-23)

²⁷ “‘Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.

²⁸ “‘Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am theLord.

“‘Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.” (all from Lev 19)

There’s so much more, but you get the point. There are rules in Leviticus for EVERYTHING, and I believe they did serve a purpose at the time. Many were to set the Isrealites apart from other groups, and many for safety reasons. A lot of the food laws seem to me like they probably prevented disease. Not sure why they couldn’t touch geckos, but it is true that reptiles are know to carry diseases like Salmonella. At the time, these rules probably seem arbitrary, but many of them have rational explanations. Though, honesty I don’t get the part about women on their periods…maybe it was just the “ick” factor or a cleanliness issue, you know, since there wasn’t a Target full of tampons around the corner?

In modern times, however, with the advent of food safety measures, cotton/poly blends and the cultural changes that have taken place, these mandates are outdated. I hear Christians quote the top verse about homosexuality and I want to scream at them, “Did you bother to read the rest of the book?!”

Leviticus is an Old Testament book, and the point of the New Testament, and the coming of Christ, is that the Israelites were free of the heavy burden of the law. It even opened the door to Gentiles (like me!!) to seek Christ. This was all EXTREMELY progressive and controversial for the time. The Jews were not excited about welcoming Gentiles, nor were they thrilled that Jesus liked to hang out with women and tax collectors.

My point is, Jesus was NOT into complicated and oppressive rules. This is His message:

³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Get it? We are called to love one another. it says so. Three times no less! Not love straight people, or white people, or men, or love-able people, but ALL PEOPLE. Jesus never says anything about homosexuality, but he does say this:

“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” (Romans 12:16-18)

and this:

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. …” (Matthew 7)

So, though I admit I struggle with being critical, I do feel like I know that He is not be ok when Christians hate on gays (or “promiscuous” women). Below I have outlined several ways of arguments I have heard, and why I think they don’t hold up:

1. God hates gays: Ummm no. Have you read the Bible at all? God loves them. God made gay people, so God loves gay people. Isn’t this reason enough? It should be..

2.  Homosexuality isn’t natural: Ok, so maybe you believe God made us to be attracted to the opposite sex. I get that. But sometimes, people are born not perfect (shocker!). Some people are blind, or only have one leg, etc. Do we make wheelchairs illegal because people are SUPPOSED to be able to walk? Umm ya that sounds dumb, right? I want to be clear, I DO NOT believe that homosexuality is a “birth defect,” but I do believe people are born that way, so I wanted to use this example for those of you in the “people weren’t designed to be gay” camp.

2. It’s not Biblical: 5 words for you, my dear: Separation of Church and State. Maybe you’re a “choicer,” as in you believe homosexuality is a choice. Do you know what else is a choice? Your faith. YUP. Do you want the government telling you what to do in Church? Then stop telling the government what they it can and can’t do out of the Church. It HAS to go both ways. If you don’t think gay marriage is Biblical, fine, join a church that holds that principle and doesn’t marry gays. That doesn’t mean you get to push your beliefs on THE ENTIRE COUNTRY. Should we force the whole country to attend mass every Sunday? Of course not! Then you cannot force the whole country to follow YOUR PERSONAL BELIEFS on marriage.

3. Gay marriage can’t produce children: This one mystifies me the most. Who cares?! So, should barren couples divorce because they can’t have children? Lots of people can’t have kids. This is just ridiculous.

4. Children in a gay marriage won’t have “normal” family: hahahahahahhahahaha. OK sorry, I have to compose myself. Who has a “normal” family life? My parents are divorced. Perhaps we should make divorce illegal, as well as having children out of wedlock. None of those situations are “normal” by the definition implied in that argument.

I believe we, as Christians, owe the homosexual community a huge apology for the absolute CRAZINESS we have put them through. I don’t care if you believe it’s “immoral” or not, it is WRONG to persecute them. Christ called us to love everyone and we are not doing it.

I am tired of keeping quiet about this issue to avoid “offending” people I know who are VERY anti gay anything. Sometimes, in progressive circles, I am almost afraid to identify myself as a Christian for fear they will think I’m a total homophobe. There are others like me. I know there are, there have to be, we just need to get a little louder.