A couple conversations about the gay thing

So I have a ... friend who is a very attractive, bright (linguistics and piano performance), Sri Lankan.  Like most of my Subcontinental friends, homosexuality just doesn't make much sense.  I'll leave it at that.

Now, she is trying very hard to be both "tolerant" and affirm her own sense that there is something wrong with homosexuality.  She has decided that no, homosexuals are not going to hell.  And no, they are not like drunkards.  She has also not said that homosexuality is a "sin." 

Instead, she said, "gay people are like the obese.  There is nothing wrong with it.  But there is no reason to affirm it."

I was, of course, speechless.  I thought that maybe the church would find a new cause:  refraining from consecrating the corpulent.   For clearly, being obese is an indication of gluttony, a lack of self-control.  Self=control is clearly one of the episcopal virtues.

So I guess I should tell you that I've begun a body building routine.  Please humor the stereotype, but I admit, every gay man I know has a great body.   I will do this in solidarity with them. 

I take these as small victories:  at least she isn't comparing them to destroyers of western civilization or murderers.  I'm not one for PC puritanism - I'm looking for small steps at improvement.  If you were once a racist and have not learned to undo all your sterotypes, well, I'm with you.  Just try to do good by people and be humble about your worldview. 

My Lutheran colleague is very conservative, but we've become friends.  We disagree about many things (he calls my hermenutic about property, and sex foreign to scripture), but we are fighting remarkably similar battles in our parishes - especially the challenges of materialism and affluence.   I think we recognize that our battles are a bit more concrete than the theologies we discuss, so honest fellowship is what keeps us talking. 

I'm not much of a PC person - and I work hard to understand other people's perspectives.  But what is most important to me is not ideas, but lives.  And that includes both my conservative colleague, and the gay couple in my parish.  Its more important for me to encourage people in their call than to worry about their final state with God. 

Comments

[John Henry]

Simon Sarmiento (Thinking Anglicans - Aug. 21, 2006)has a link to ++Rowan Cantuar's recent interview with a Dutch evangelical paper, including a transcript of the interview in English translation.

Now we know about ++Rowan. He has bought into the "evangelical" line with regard to the question of "homosexuality". "Homosexual," according to ++Rowan, "are to change their lifestyles." ECUSA is the culprit in the Anglican split!

[Sun Warrior]

Homosexuality is a blessing to society. It brings out the massive gender issues that we have, 15 years after the feminist movement went to sleep.

Disguised in the discussion is 'what is a natural human?' Conservatives run to the Bible, and thus to God, to prove the natural order of Creation based on reproduction. Femininism showed that women can operate in male fields. The current conservative hegemony is determined it is not going to lose THIS battle! After all, rock'n roll was a sin in the 1950's. Now rock bands are the choir in many youth focused Churches. Got to stop this change and make things absolute sometime!

Being hetero myself, I can be conceptually tolerant. But I once saw a gay porno for interest's sake, thinking my enlightenment would brush it off. I was astonished to FEEL repulsed, despite my good upbringing. How could I feel such things?

So I can understand where the homophobia comes from. It 'feels' natural. But if we are going to create 'heaven-on-earth,' the fact remains that there is no gender in spiritual reality. Even Jesus said you don't need a wife in heaven! And the spectrum of masculinity and femininity in every individual is vast.

So, the gay question is a wake up call to all homophobes of spiritual bent. What's your conception of spiritual reality if there's no gender in God's reality?

[John Wilkins]

Hi John Henry: I actually liked the interview. he was clear that we have not really listened to the views of homosexual Christians. But I also think that he is right: the job of the archbishop is different than being a theologian. More on this later.

[J. C. Fisher]

"Being hetero myself, I can be conceptually tolerant. But I once saw a gay porno for interest's sake, thinking my enlightenment would brush it off. I was astonished to FEEL repulsed, despite my good upbringing. How could I feel such things?

So I can understand where the homophobia comes from. It 'feels' natural."

A lot of gay people feel the same way, re heterosexuality, Sun Warrior.

I mean, straights are our families (most of our parents). They're our friends, our fellow church-members...

...but what they do in bed, a man and a woman, together: Ewwwwwww!

;-/

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