Letters to the Edor: I'm gay and don't want to patronize bigots. Thanks, Supreme Court

Contents:

• WHAT’S WRONG WH BEG “GAY”? HERE’S WHAT THEY DON’T TELL YOU -- AND ’S REALLY DISTURBG.
• "THAT'S SO GAY" IS JT SO WRONG
• IS WRONG TO BE GAY?
• 10 ANTI-GAY MYTHS DEBUNKED
• GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S HEALTH ISSU
• LETTERS TO THE EDOR: I'M GAY AND DON'T WANT TO PATRONIZE BIGOTS. THANKS, SUPREME COURT
• CALLG PRI JERSEYS A DISTRACTN IS SENDG THE WRONG MSAGE, SAYS NHL'S FIRST OPENLY-GAY AGENT

WHAT’S WRONG WH BEG “GAY”? HERE’S WHAT THEY DON’T TELL YOU -- AND ’S REALLY DISTURBG.

Those who are sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, men who subm to homosexual acts, men who practice homosexualy, thiev, greedy people, dnkards, revilers, and extortners will not her God’s Kgdom. The term “homosexualy, ” while sometim nsired anachronistic the current era, is the most applible and easily translatable term to e when askg this qutn across societi and languag and has been ed other cross-natnal studi, cludg the World Valu Survey.

"THAT'S SO GAY" IS JT SO WRONG

Dpe major chang laws and norms surroundg the issue of same-sex marriage and the rights of LGBT people around the world, public opn on the acceptance of homosexualy society remas sharply divid by untry, regn and enomic velopment. For example, Swen, the Netherlands and Germany, all of which have a per-pa gross domtic product over $50, 000, acceptance of homosexualy is among the hight measured across the 34 untri surveyed. The study is a follow-up to a 2013 report that found many of the same patterns as seen today, although there has been an crease acceptance of homosexualy across many of the untri surveyed both years.

However, while took nearly 15 years for acceptance to rise 13 pots om 2000 to jt before the feral legalizatn of gay marriage June 2015, there was a near equal rise acceptance jt the four years sce legalizatn. This staggerg 56-pot difference exceeds the next largt difference Japan by 20 pots, where 92% and 56% of those ag 18 to 29 and 50 and olr, rpectively, say homosexualy should be accepted by society.

IS WRONG TO BE GAY?

In South Korea, for example, those who classify themselv on the iologil left are more than twice as likely to say homosexualy is acceptable than those on the iologil right (a 39-percentage-pot difference). In Spa, people wh a favorable opn of the Vox party, which recently has begun to oppose some gay rights, are much ls likely to say that homosexualy is acceptable than those who do not support the party. And Poland, supporters of the erng PiS (Law and Jtice), which has explicly targeted gay rights as anathema to tradnal Polish valu, are 23 percentage pots ls likely to say that homosexualy should be accepted by society than those who do not support the erng party.

But even untri like France and Germany where acceptance of homosexualy is high, there are differenc between supporters and non-supporters of key right-wg populist parti such as Natnal Rally France and Alternative for Germany (AfD).

10 ANTI-GAY MYTHS DEBUNKED

Relign, both as relat to relative importance people’s liv and actual relig affiliatn, also plays a large role perceptns of the acceptabily of homosexualy many societi across the globe. In 25 of the 34 untri surveyed, those who say relign is “somewhat, ” “not too” or “not at all” important their liv are more likely to say that homosexualy should be accepted than those who say relign is “very” important. Among Israelis, those who say relign is not very important their liv are almost three tim more likely than those who say relign is very important to say that society should accept homosexualy.

GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S HEALTH ISSU

For example, those who are religly unaffiliated, sometim lled relig “non, ” (that is, those who intify as atheist, agnostic or “nothg particular”) tend to be more acceptg of homosexualy. Though the opns of religly unaffiliated people n vary wily, virtually every untry surveyed wh a sufficient number of unaffiliated rponnts, “non” are more acceptg of homosexualy than the affiliated. And I thk Pl 1 Corthians 6:9-10 lists a very unual phrase about homosexualy where he says, "Those who do such thgs"—and he lists along wh greed and vetons and other ss, so 's not unique by self this—"those who do such thgs will not enter the kgdom of heaven.

2) As I reflect on Romans 1 and the way Pl unpacks the problem wh homosexualy, appears to me that Pl is sayg somethg like this: When you exchange the glory of God for idols, the ma one that you exchange the glory of God for is yourself. In 1991, a study published the journal Science seemed to show that the hypothalam, which ntrols the release of sex hormon om the puary gland, gay men differs om the hypothalam straight men.

LETTERS TO THE EDOR: I'M GAY AND DON'T WANT TO PATRONIZE BIGOTS. THANKS, SUPREME COURT

Today, however, we know much more about the bra than we did when homosexualy was nsired a disease that required treatment, and the amount of knowledge that we have about the bra is creasg.

If we fe beg gay as engagg homosexual behavr (the ncept of “gay” as an inty is a Wtern cultural ncept – people who have sex wh both men and women may ll themselv gay, straight or bisexual, pendg on the l of their culture or subculture), then people stop beg gay as soon as they stop engagg this behavr.

CALLG PRI JERSEYS A DISTRACTN IS SENDG THE WRONG MSAGE, SAYS NHL'S FIRST OPENLY-GAY AGENT

I believe that people have the right to engage any behavr that they choose, as long as their actns do not harm others, and I believe that gay sex and gay relatnships do not e harm to anyone. If sexual preference n be altered, then people who support gay rights n’t rely on the argument that gay people should be protected om discrimatn bee gay people have no choice but to be gay – an argument that seems like an apology for homosexualy, as if homosexualy is a disease for which there is no cure.

Jt as gay people who are happy as they are should not be forced to change their sexual orientatn, gay people who want to be straight should have the right to change if they n – and the rrect word is “change” – not “cure”. Photo creds: Vanuver Gay Pri Para 2008 by edallaluna on Wikimedia Commons; DNA by ynse on Wikimedia Commons; Bra fMRI by views exprsed are those of the thor(s) and are not necsarily those of Scientific Amerin.

Third, as I reflect on Romans 1 and the way Pl unpacks the problem wh homosexualy, appears Pl is sayg somethg like this: “When you exchange the glory of God for idols, your ma idol is yourself” (see Romans 1:23). While there is no sgle “gay gene, ” there is overwhelmg evince of a blogil basis for sexual orientatn that is programmed to the bra before birth based on a mix of geics and prenatal ndns, none of which the fet choos. And I thk Pl 1 Corthians 6:9-10 lists a very unual phrase about homosexualy where he says, "Those who do such thgs"-and he lists along wh greed and vetons and other ss, so 's not unique by self this-"those who do such thgs will not enter the kgdom of heaven.