From Don Hanratty, author of Working It Out:
We age in stages.
But if we’re lucky, we never stop learning about and enjoying the world around
us until the day we die. The only thing that can stop that process cold in its
tracks is to think at some point along the road that we know everything we
need to know about life and love to get by. Then we start to play defense, as
it were.
When I went to college and was busy celebrating my first freedom away from
my family, the word of the day was, “Never trust anyone over thirty [years old].”
Having had some years to consider that advice, I have to concede that there is
a kernel of truth to it. I say that because at least some people at that point in
their lives begin to rely solely on those values, ideas and experiences that have
seemingly worked well for them. Unfortunately, some of those individuals
never have a new or creative thought from then on because they resist being
exposed to such thoughts. Their minds are made up about almost everything.
Collectively, this tendency to begin closing our minds around the time we are
thirty years old tends to slow personal growth as well as social change,
including positive social change. Do we really know everything we need to
know about ourselves and about life at age thirty? That seems to be a
legitimate question to ask.
One of the hottest topics in American society right now is that of sexual
orientation. People are questioning whether homosexual persons should have
the same civil rights and privileges as heterosexual persons have when it
comes to marriage, or at least civil unions. High courts in states in the
Northeast and West are beginning to say that they should, and the battle is
joined.
Eventually the “Nine Old Men” (or more precisely for our day, the “Seven Old
Men and Two Old Women”) of the United States Supreme Court will probably
have to weigh in on the subject. Let’s not write them off out of hand, over
thirty years old though they be. They recently ruled in a split decision that
private sexual relations between gay, consenting adults may not be forbidden
by government.
Devoted Christians, or perhaps more to the point, their churches, are all over
the map when it comes to issues of sexual orientation. The spectrum of belief
on the topic ranges from groups requiring complete adherence to every verse of
Holy Scripture as the literal Word of God, to religious groups which believe that
only the hierarchy may interpret Scripture for the faithful, to groups which
collectively look at Scripture through an anthropological and sociological prism
in helping them decide what must be taken as truth.
That can be a confusing scene for any of us, at any age.
I can only speak for myself with regard to what our nation’s prevailing religion,
Christianity, can and does say about homosexuality and gay unions. I must
confess I am not as familiar as I should be about what other world religions
have to say about homosexual relationships, other than knowing that
Mohammedanism and strict interpretations of Judaism forbid them.
I offer what is admittedly only one Christian view on this subject. I do so in all
humility, knowing that there are many people of good will and the best of
intentions who may disagree with me:
1) Jesus said nothing about homosexuality in His earthly ministry, but He
summarized the very heart of the biblical Old Testament by offering the so-
called Summary of the Law, namely, “Love God and love your neighbor. There
is no other Commandment greater than these.” That should probably be
construed as including gay people, as I see it.
2) St. Paul was, as he said, “a Pharisee of the Pharisees,” a strict adherent to
Old Testament Law. He took a dim view of homosexuality, although some
interpreters believe that his criticism in his letters was aimed specifically at
ritual homosexuality in connection with sexual rites in the pagan temples of his
day.
3) Persons and faith groups who believe that the 4000 year old Levitical
proscriptions against homosexuality apply without exception to today’s world
should most likely be urging everybody in our country to follow other Old
Testament laws also, namely:
a) Don’t be eating pork, or any seafood that doesn’t have fins and scales.
That means no more shrimp, folks.
b) All debts must be forgiven completely every seven years. (Try telling that
to your mortgage company or the credit card company.)
c) Adulterers must be stoned to death outside the city limits. The same
punishment must be meted out to anyone who takes the Lord’s name in vain.
d) If your married brother dies without having had children, and you’re male,
you should marry your brother’s widow (in addition to any wife you may have at
present), so that your brother will have descendents.
There are a myriad of other examples I could cite, but in the interest of brevity,
I won’t. Why don’t I hear politicians and religious teachers, among others, who
are dead set against gay rights or same-gender marriage and/or civil unions,
touting the above examples of Biblical rules as worthy of enactment into
American civil law?
What I’m really suggesting is, that as wrong-headed as mankind generally is,
we have made some progress in the way we deal with one another as we’ve left
some of the ancient rules and regulations behind. They are artifacts of their
time. Contemporaries who insist on judging issues of sexuality in accordance
with 4000 year old rules and regulations, such as those listed above, should at
least be consistent in following the rules they so fervently espouse. All the
rules.
There is also a school of religious thought which condemns homosexuality
because it is “unnatural.” I think it’s legitimate to ask in response, “Unnatural
for whom?”
None of us knows all the reasons why some people turn out to be gay and
some, straight. If other patterns of information about human beings are any
guide, it may well be that some combination of genetic and environmental
factors will prove to be the answer.
Not knowing all the answers to issues of human sexuality, it’s nevertheless our
responsibility to try to live in peace and harmony with everyone, everywhere.
At the same time, we need to be unashamed and unabashed when it comes to
the true nature given to each of us by God, whether we’re gay or whether we’re
straight. No human being should be abused for what he or she is. That’s true
without exception. We can’t and we won’t settle for anything less.
This is easy advice to give and hard to follow. I’ll offer it anyway. Be brave, be
steadfast, be compassionate, be open, be understanding. Be warriors for what’
s right. When our personal stories are all eventually written, that’s all that
matters.
Respectfully,
Don Hanratty