With the month of June comes Pride month, the celebration of the LGBT community through rainbow flags, parades, political messages, and endorsements through the media. I won’t lie, this month can be challenging for many of us who try to be faithful Christians while at the same time love our brothers and sisters who identify with this community. That’s why I want to spend the next couple of posts explaining the nuances of my position concerning homosexuality, transgenderism, and the LGBT community.
There are couple things that I need to mention right at the start, just so there’s no confusion later. First, you’ll notice that my title includes the word Catholic instead of just Christian. This is because there are some non-Catholic Christians who do not hold the same views on homosexuality that I do, and I want to be fair that I am speaking only in terms of official Catholic teaching and cannot claim to represent any other Christian denomination but my own. Secondly, though no official Church teaching uses terms like gay, lesbian, and bisexual etc., I will be using them for the sake of brevity. Catholics are taught to use the phrase “people who experience same-sex attractions” when talking about the LGBT community. This is because it places more emphasis on the personhood aspect of the community, rather than one’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Now that that’s out of the way, I can begin trying to introduce my position on this highly controversial subject.
Made in God's Image
In the creation story of Genesis chapter 1, the author states that God has made humanity in his image (Genesis 1:26). A simple statement to be sure, but there’s a lot to unpack there. If God has made humanity, including gay people, in his image, what does this mean? It means that the God who is truth created each gay person individually out of his infinite love for that person. Since Christians believe in the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that means that those who experience same-sex attraction were not only created out of the God who is love, but they were created for love too. God made only one of that particular person, never to be repeated, and deserving of the same respect that those without same-sex attractions should be given. This is why when speaking about homosexual people the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “… They must be accepted with the fact, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided…” (CCC 2358).
This is why it breaks my heart hearing stories of teenagers were beat up by classmates just for being gay. Bullying in this regard is always a sin, and the need to be treated better as our brothers and sisters in Christ. The first step toward loving the LGBT community better is reminding ourselves of the fact that they are indeed made in God’s image. I believe that any person should not be forced to “live in the closet” when it comes to questions of sexuality and gender identity. As I will discuss in other posts, there are ways in which these men and women can truly live an authentic Christian life; the first step is recognizing that they have these attractions. A majority of these men and women did not choose to be gay, and I do not think that they are “born gay,” but without Christians walking alongside them and hearing their stories, I’m certain that they will never be able to achieve the happiness God wants for them. Let’s love our gay friends and family members well enough to remind them that they’re more than just a rainbow flag. They’ve been made by God.
Comments