Being LGBTQ is Not a Sin

Last week, a friend and I were discussing our spirituality. He believes homosexuality is a sin but says he has many gay friends and doesn’t judge them.

“Doesn’t judge them…” The words hung in the air.

“For what?” I asked. “For being who they are? For being who God made them?

How can there be no judgment when you say WHO THEY ARE is a sin?”

The first time I learned about homosexuality was at the age of seven. I found an article about two men having sex in an old magazine. It surprised me! I’d never heard such a thing. But when I asked my father whether it was real, he said yes. Little me shrugged — love is love, right?

However, my parents were religious, which made “Christian religion” a significant part of life. And good ole Christianity loves to try and tell you what’s right and wrong. I say “try” because most of it never made sense to me.

How could a God who loves the world only give everlasting life to a select few? Or send people to a place called hell? Don’t we all have icky sides? And when it came to homosexuality, how could God condemn someone for who they love?

I was an odd child, seemingly born in relationship with God and who at the tender age of three asked my parents questions about God they couldn’t answer.

But thankfully, God gifted me with a curious mind, one that enjoys learning, listening to stories and opinions and then goes deep inside for truth. I wasn’t ever a blind follower. I was (and still am) open to opinions but made my own choice. And no church or religion could ever change that — especially one that is ripe with hierarchy.

My curiosity about homosexuality surfaced again in my final senior high school paper a teacher did NOT want me to write. But that’s another story…

The year was 1999 and homosexuality was a hot topic making research, interviews, and stories readily available. My paper set out to determine whether homosexuality was spawned from birth or born of trauma. At the time, the Christian community was proclaiming trauma as the cause and said it could, therefore, be reversed. But that didn’t make sense to me either.

Why would homosexuals choose a life of judgment, ridicule, open themselves up…