By Rev. Thaddeus Ping

I am writing a few words about homosexuality and why it is neither sinful nor immoral.

For the record I am completely heterosexual. I was raised as a Catholic, and in my younger years was much less educated and open minded. I was shocked but supportive when my best friend came out to me ten years ago. That's when I started doing research on the topic. It is my intent with this article to dispel the myths surrounding homosexuality.

People try to claim that homosexuality is a choice and therefore homosexuals should simply choose to be straight. With a little bit of logic balanced with today's scientific research it becomes painfully clear that this could not be further from the truth. Don't you think that if homosexuality was a choice that gays, lesbians and transgender people would choose not to be picked on, ridiculed, and in some cases even assaulted?

It has been scientifically proven that homosexuality is not a choice. In a recent scientific study it was discovered that the brains of homosexual males have many structural similarities to the brains of heterosexual females; similarities which are not present in the brains of heterosexual males. There is also believed to be a connection between the hormones present a woman's body during pregnancy and the sexual orientation of her child.

Some people also try to claim that homosexuality is unnatural. I ask these people to take a careful look at nature. Homosexuality and bisexuality is represented in every species - from man's best friend the dog, to man's closest relative the chimpanzee, to dolphins. Even some species that take lifelong mates such as parrots have same sex relationships. And to those people who claim that humans are not animals, I recommend that they take a basic biology course.

Worst of all are those people who attempt to use The Bible to defend their hatred and as moral leverage in justifying taking basic human rights away from homosexual and bisexual people. If these people really dug deep and thought hard about their aversions they would realize that this simply cannot be done for two very important reasons.

• We do not live in a theocracy; therefore The Bible should have no bearing on our laws. If you base your arguments solely on The Bible, you're leaving out a rather hefty percentage: about 24% of the American population and a whopping 60% of the global population.
• The Bible does not condemn homosexuality. Open up your Bible and follow along if you don't believe me. I think you'll be very surprised. The following are common Biblically based arguments against homosexuality and why they are completely invalid.

"God created one man and one woman," aka "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve."

This is absolutely true. However it has absolutely no bearing on the issue. Never mind the fact that God made man, the beasts, then woman and even made the beasts to serve in the same capacity as woman. By following this logic, bestiality is more pure in the eyes of God than heterosexual sex. (Genesis 2:18-23) I'm not saying I support bestiality, I'm just demonstrating how flimsy this argument is.

"God Destroyed Sodom for homosexuality"

The Bible never says anything about Sodom being destroyed for homosexuality, and if you actually read The Bible you'd see that the villagers didn't want gay sex. They wanted to rape the foreigners and brutalize them in the most humiliating way possible. If they just wanted gay sex, the travelers could have said something like, "No we don't get down like that." and it would have been fine and the villagers would have left and just had gay sex with each other. But the villagers are clearly there in a threatening manner, and even threatened Lot with worse if he didn't give them his guests. (Genesis 19:9)

But that doesn't even rate in the top five reasons God gives in The Bible for Sodom being destroyed! (Ezekiel 16:49) Sodom was destroyed for its selfish pride, and for raping foreigners. So the word "sodomite" does not mean "gay." It means "rapist." Keep this in mind whenever you see the word "sodomite" in The Bible.

"Leviticus says it is an Abomination."

It does indeed. But Leviticus has all kinds of silly laws. for example: No round haircuts, no tattoos, no working on the Sabbath, no wearing clothing of mixed fabric, no eating pork, shellfish, or eagles, no playing with the skin of a pig, etc. The list goes on and on. To point to Leviticus and demand selective compliance is ridiculous. Never mind the fact that it says right there in Acts 15 that we gentiles do not have to follow those laws. (Acts 15:28-29)

"God clearly punishes homosexuality (Romans 1:26-27)"

This is nothing more than blatant, intentional deception. They deliberately leave off the first part of the passage so that the part they want to use can be put into whatever context they want! When you back up and read (Romans 1:21-25) it becomes clear the they were not being punished for homosexuality but rather for their participation in orgies in the worship of false gods in the celebration of ancient pagan rituals.

"1 Corinthians clearly says that gays will go to hell"

This one is a bit tricky and I can understand why it trips people up. I went to some experts and asked why this verse varies so greatly in different version of The Bible. The NIV translates the word used here as homosexual, but that wasn't even a word until the late 1800's and was added to The Bible in the 1900's. Paul actually uses a made up Greek word that has also been translated as perverts, abusers of themselves with man, child molesters, and sexual deviants to list a few. Many times it is given two different definitions in the same Bible! The word Paul uses is arsenokoitai. the prefix, arseno translates as male. The suffix koites means sexually active. (1 Timothy 1) also uses Paul's made up word, and in some Bibles it refers only to prostitution.

Some people won't even quote The Bible. Instead, they blather on about the sanctity of marriage. This, of course is complete nonsense. Marriage isn't a religious thing. If that were the case, Atheists would never marry. As it stands if I wanted to, I could go up to the courthouse with a woman I love, or conversely a woman I hated, if I really wanted to, fill out some paperwork and be married. If we stuck to what marriage originally was, we'd only get married for political and financial reasons. Most of the time the couple would first meet a few days before the wedding, and the woman would become the property of the man! Is this really what they want? Never mind that originally, not only was polygamy legal, but it was commonplace and desired as a way to increase your standing, wealth and power in your community because of the ties they forged! Is this the sanctity they're defending?

Or is it the sanctity of Brittney Spears 55-hour-just-for-fun marriage? Same sex marriage does not in any way shape or form threaten the marriage of heterosexual couples. If they're really concerned with the sanctity of marriage, why not worry about the fact that nearly 50% of marriages end in divorce?

Some will try to use the fact that gays can't reproduce as evidence for their arguments. I fail to see how that has any bearing at all. Are they saying couples who can't have children due to genetic or hormonal imbalance, deformation, or injury should be condemned to loveless, sexless and marriage-less lives? Does marriage suddenly end when a couple is no longer fertile? I think not.

Currently, only 5 states recognize same-sex marriage, and these same people who throw the bible and the laws of nature as the only way to live, are fighting to do away with these enacted laws. People should be ashamed of themselves but this is not the worst part of this travesty of justice. The worst part is that these people know they are taking away people's basic human rights! They know what that they are fighting for is unconstitutional and yet, they think they're doing a good deed! I would like now to direct you to one last Bible verse. (Luke 17:34) I'll let you read it for yourselves and decide what it means.