Questions for Thinking People: Discrimination Against People Who Are Homosexual

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Questions for Thinking People

Discrimination Against People Who Are Homosexual

Genesis 19 describes how two angels visited the Canaanite city of Sodom. The city had just experienced warfare (Genesis 14:1-2) and was probably on high alert to forestall more conflict. Lot welcomed the angels into his house. They had been sent to warn him that God was displeased with the wickedness of the city's residents. God had decided to destroy a large geographical area, including the city of Sodom. All of the people from the city gathered around the house and demanded that Lot send the strangers to the mob so that they might "know" the angels. Sensing evil intent by the citizens of Sodom, Lot refused. As an alternative, he offered his two virgin daughters to be raped by the mob, if that would appease them. The offer was declined. The angels blinded some of the mob. Later, the angels urged Lot and his family to flee and to not look back. Unfortunately, Lot's wife seems to have had an inquisitive mind. She looked the wrong way, so God killed her on the spot and turned her into a pillar of salt.

Religious Tolerance Website

The Genesis passage is very clear, that the sin of Sodom that brought on the destruction of the city was indeed linked to homosexuality.

A. Mohler, a conservative Evangelical Christian

In the Mideast then, once a man has entered into your home, your responsibility to his protection is your primary moral obligation, even if it's at the expense of your own daughters. The Bible is recording a story; it is not mandating behavior.

R. Kimelman, a liberal Christian

Deviance is whatever is condemned by the community. Most societies try to get rid of their deviants. Most cultures have burned and beaten their homosexuals and others who deviate from the sexual common. The queer are the mirror reflecting the heterosexual tribe's fear: being different, being other and therefore lesser, therefore sub-human, in-human, non-human.

Gloria Anzaldua

Even supporters [of a Supreme Court decision which struck down a sodomy law in Texas that had made sexual behavior between two consenting adults of the same sex a crime] expressed surprise at Justice Anthony Kennedy's language, given this court's allergy to broad social pronouncements. "The petitioners are entitled to respect for their private lives. The State cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime." The court's majority based its landmark decision on a belief in "a realm of personal liberty which the government may not enter." To opponents, it meant that any law based mainly on moral norms was now vulnerable; to supporters, it meant that the court had recognized the legitimacy of homosexual relations, so any law that discriminates against gays could be ripe for reversal. And with that, the latest battle over liberty, morality, and privacy begins.

TIME magazine, July 7, 2003

Discrimination Against People Who Are Homosexual

My e-mail address is:

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To what extent do I agree or disagree with the Supreme Court decision?

Why?

Do I believe the State has the right to regulate sexual behavior between consenting adults? [yes/no]

If so, what are these behaviors?

Why do I hold this view?

Even though I may feel strongly about my point of view on this topic, what is the merit of the arguments made by those who feel differently?

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