Homosexuality is an Abomination

The following letter is something I stumbled upon on the internet; at the bottom is a short video clip from the television show West Wing that probably preceded the actual letter. In any case, they both demonstrate a reaction to Dr. Laura's condemnation of homosexuals as an "abomination" of God's standard of living as set forth in the old testament book of Leviticus.

Click to view reaction letter to Dr. Laura

Now I think that everyone is entitled to their own religious or cultural perspective; however, when that perspective endangers or discriminates against someone or a group of people, I have a problem with it. Our culture (and most cultures - frankly, the U.S. is one of the more tolerant cultures as far as the issue of homosexuality is concerned) has always discriminated against and refused to give civil rights to gay men and women. This appears to be changing, as California at least is recognizing gay marriage.

For the Christian church and other religious groups this is an especially hot topic - since obviously passages of scripture speak out strongly against it. I think that most Christians zone in on those particular passages of scripture to justify their fear of the "other" rather than because they wholeheartedly follow everything the scripture says. As the letter and video point out, it is absurd, and even impossible in our contemporary culture to follow the exact letter of the biblical law. Hasidic Jews are the only ones who still try to follow the old testament literally, although with some obvious exceptions (I don't know of any stonings!).

I think one reason our culture and religious groups especially fear the "other" of homosexuality so much is because people see it as a threat to the traditional family system - a mom, a dad, 2 or 3 children, some pets, and a picket fence. Suddenly when 2 women get together, it is not like the family that we are used to and expect to see. On a darwinian scale, it also poses a problem for reproduction - not that humans are in any way under-populated!

I know that I was brought up to believe that 1) gays were an anomaly in our culture (and they CERTAINLY didn't exist in my Mennonite subculture - gasp!) 2) gays should not be allowed to be part of the church, UNLESS they agreed to live a celibate lifestyle - because that is SO healthy. Since I moved away and lived in urban regions where I had some gay and bi-sexual friends I realized that 1) gays are PART of our culture and 2) gays should have the same rights as everyone else. They should be able to go to church, get married, have the same freedoms as I have.