This thread has been most enlightening, Heywood & Alpha Male. You both have presented well-reasoned and nuanced views on homosexuality. In contrast to this, the hysteria and extremist rhetoric of non-believers continues because of their basic intellectual errors, as follows:
EQUATING SINCERELY HELD BELIEFS with BIGOTRY
Reason applied to experience suffices to show that homosexual activity is wrong. The highest good all people desire is to be happy. People are happiest when personal circumstances and societal order allow them to freely act in accordance with reason and they do so, i.e. in harmony with the essence of human nature. Examination of the physical body reveals the natural functions and proper uses of its parts. Homosexual actions, like all other types of sexual sin, go against the natural functions of sexuality (procreation and conjugal love) and the organs with which it is expressed.
Heywood, Alpha Male, and I hold this opinion, which obviously differs from that of our opponents. But that is all it is: a difference of opinion. In order for our position to express bigotry, it must reflect an irrational prejudice against immutable features. This leads to their next error.
CONFUSING GENDER IDENTITY with SEX or RACE
People are born either male or female. Likewise people are born having noticeably different ancestries, i.e. various types of skin & eye color, facial structure, hair type, etc. These physical features are permanent and outwardly observable biological facts. In a just society people are not held responsible for biological facts about themselves over which they have no control.
Unlike race or sex, we recognize that gender identity is a social construct similar to masculinity and femininity. People self-identify themselves according to gender categories that express their proclivities and cultural affinities. Prejudice based on gender identity represents a reluctance to associate with people with certain attitudes and inclinations. In a free society, people must be free to decide with whom they associate.
CONFLATING ORIENTATIONS with ACTIONS
Our pro-gay opponents claim that homosexuality is not a choice. In so doing they fail to distinguish between a psychological disposition (orientation) with physical behavior (acts). If for the sake of argument, we take as given that people cannot change their sexual orientation that does not mean people must engage in the behavior. For example, married heterosexual men may still desire other women but they do not need to practice adultery. Whether they do or not is their choice.
EQUATING SINCERELY HELD BELIEFS with BIGOTRY
Reason applied to experience suffices to show that homosexual activity is wrong. The highest good all people desire is to be happy. People are happiest when personal circumstances and societal order allow them to freely act in accordance with reason and they do so, i.e. in harmony with the essence of human nature. Examination of the physical body reveals the natural functions and proper uses of its parts. Homosexual actions, like all other types of sexual sin, go against the natural functions of sexuality (procreation and conjugal love) and the organs with which it is expressed.
Heywood, Alpha Male, and I hold this opinion, which obviously differs from that of our opponents. But that is all it is: a difference of opinion. In order for our position to express bigotry, it must reflect an irrational prejudice against immutable features. This leads to their next error.
CONFUSING GENDER IDENTITY with SEX or RACE
People are born either male or female. Likewise people are born having noticeably different ancestries, i.e. various types of skin & eye color, facial structure, hair type, etc. These physical features are permanent and outwardly observable biological facts. In a just society people are not held responsible for biological facts about themselves over which they have no control.
Unlike race or sex, we recognize that gender identity is a social construct similar to masculinity and femininity. People self-identify themselves according to gender categories that express their proclivities and cultural affinities. Prejudice based on gender identity represents a reluctance to associate with people with certain attitudes and inclinations. In a free society, people must be free to decide with whom they associate.
CONFLATING ORIENTATIONS with ACTIONS
Our pro-gay opponents claim that homosexuality is not a choice. In so doing they fail to distinguish between a psychological disposition (orientation) with physical behavior (acts). If for the sake of argument, we take as given that people cannot change their sexual orientation that does not mean people must engage in the behavior. For example, married heterosexual men may still desire other women but they do not need to practice adultery. Whether they do or not is their choice.
