Today in spite of scientific and medical research about homosexuality, many continue to live with “acquired” guilt and remorse accepting their sexual identity.

Please note that I used the word “acquired.” The book “Born Gay,” co-authored by Dr. Qazi Rahman, a lecturer in psychobiology at the University of East London and Dr. Glenn Wilson, a member of the faculty of the University of London write: “It is quite clear now that homosexuality in gay men and lesbians is caused by biological factors.”

If you have the opportunity to study the different belief systems around the world, you will become immediately aware that “sin” is a matter of geographics. In other words, different things are taught to different people throughout the world. One of the most enlightening and many times frightening facts that we are confronted with is that Theologies are what man thinks God said.

Many of us have been raised with the idea that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God! We have been raised to believe that this is the final word and that nothing can usurp its power. However, a wide variety of completely discredited practices have been supported with this concept. Many so-called Fundamentalist and the Religious Right in America use the scripture of Leviticus 20 to carry out gross prejudices against those who were born with a sexual orientation different from the majority.

You might be interested to know that in the same book, the death penalty was required for cursing (24:14) , blasphemy (24:16), and dishonoring your parents (10:9). It also inflicted dietary laws upon the Jewish people (20-9) and dictated many other prohibitions now long abandoned.

However, the texts regarding homosexuality, bolstered by the ignorance and discrimination of the ages, are still literalized and used to discriminate.

In conclusion, “We’ve all got scars,” acquired from our social and religious upbringing. However, “This too shall pass!” In the meantime, we need to accept ourselves as a worthy child of God, and remember the words of Popeye, “I am what I am!” God must love us---because he made so many of us!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxRev. Rick Frank, March, 2009