DEAR EDITOR:
Anyone is entitled to his or her opinion. But when an opinion ignores reality it is rendered worthless, not equal to all others. And so I write this letter in cohesion with reality and in support of the inalienable rights that must be extended to a demographic of American society that deserves protection: gay Americans.
Throughout history, humans have sometimes used the Bible to justify irrational, destructive behaviors that have little or nothing to do with the spiritual foundation of Christianity. Slavery, misogyny and war have all been heralded ignorantly by those that knew nothing of the religion they proclaimed to follow. Biblical literacy and selective interpretation from certain translations of the Good Book have for too long served as a pathway to anti-gay behavior. But I can correct the rationale fueling those blunders easily and with few words, nonetheless.
As someone who was raised Catholic, I understand how some fall victim to the oversimplified rants of hate lurking in the minds of those who condemn homosexuality. What happens is that such people are simply misled about the actual teachings of Christ, the Son of God that preached compassion and understanding to all he encountered. Nowhere ever in the entire account of Jesus Christ's existence does he ever claim that gays deserve to die or be persecuted for being who they are. Christ taught that hate was never the answer, but that love always was.
And so on the matter of homosexuality, there was no sin or sinner to be judged at all.
Many attempt to distort the discussion further by taunting, "If two people of the same gender can get married, then is polygamy OK too?" But this kind of red herring is as absurd as the similar jab that homosexual marriage is immorally equivalent to child brides or other such indignities. Fortunately, those hokey slip-ups of rhetoric are all too easy to refute: it is the marriage of two consenting adults that is right and moral, regardless of sexuality. Anyone failing to grasp that implication probably suffers from mental incontinence. Connecting these dots, in this case the rainbow-colored ones, is quite easy.
To reappropriate the verse of Keats "beauty is truth and truth is beauty: "gay marriage is as moral and fair as heterosexual marriage. Additionally, the fixation on the physical arousal component of homosexuality often clouds the judgment of those who condemn gays and lesbians. All Americans, of any sexuality, simply want to be able to live their lives, hold the hand of their loved one in public, and be able to better themselves.
So I have saved one final statement to the individuals that thump their highlighted copies of the Bible as they persecute gay Americans: The devil can quote scripture to serve his purpose. If that sounds like I'm quoting Shakespeare, it's because I am. So tread carefully, since you are not the last word on the ways of God.
Nor am I.
Robert Heltzel
Niles