I know this is long, but I implore you to read it
Okay, there should be a discussion about the thing with religion and homophobia. Like, first of all, where did you learn that? From a 2000 year old book written by men?
Sexuality was so unexplored back then that I doubt these people knew what homophobia was. I don't think it would be a thing. Homophobia is the hate against homosexuals and as far as they would have been very likely concerned, no one was gay back then.
(Obviously, this is statistically impossible, but the fact remains that men and women would most likely push down their attraction to the same gender in order to not get shunned).
I have seen interviews, read comments, watched movies and shows, listened to people speaking, etc. about homophobia. In almost all of these instances, they refer back to the Bible. They say that "the Bible says it's wrong, and so therefore it is." And that's it. No hesitation, no questions. No second guessing or extra thoughts over something so important. Just because, in a book that is over 20 centuries old, there is ONE line in it that says;
"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination." Leviticus 18:22.
Okay, let's deconstruct this.
First of all, this English citation of the bible from its original Hebrew language has been PROVED to be inaccurate. In fact, the original saying is supposed to be;
"You shall not lie with a boy as with a woman; it is an abomination."
This is a reference to PEDOPHILIA not HOMOSEXUALITY.
Well then, homophobic Catholics, Christians and others might say:
"Well, in that case, why wouldn't it say 'children' instead of referencing only males to avoid confusion?"
The Virgin Mary, (arguably the most famous woman in the Bible) would have been 12-14 when she had Jesus. When Samson met Delilah, he was 18. It would only by realistic to assume Delilah was younger than Samson (looking at the ages of all the other women in the bible compared to their significant others) and that would also mean that she was, at oldest, 17. Both of these women, by today's standards would be considered children. So, by that logic, most men in the bible now would be considered pedophiles. But, I digress.
What I am trying to say there is; girls were considered to be much lower than men (they kind of still are in some ways, but that is a point for another rant), and therefore didn't get the luxury to grow up before being forced to have a child by an adult male. Boys were different, because they can't birth children, and therefore, men were told not to take advantage of young boys. (THAT ADVICE STILL HOLDS UP NOW. DO NOT GET WITH A CHILD OF ANY GENDER, PLEASE AND THANK YOU)
Despite the sort-of-well-known knowledge that the Bible is inaccurately translated, religions dedicated to following the Bible still insist that gay people will go to hell.
This brings me to my second point.
Let's pretend that the Bible really does say "gay people won't go to heaven" or something along those lines.
If God really did think that people of the same gender falling in love / having attraction towards each other was wrong, he wouldn't create people with those attractions.
I can say, that being gay is 100%, for sure, NOT A CHOICE. This has been said before and it should be said again. BEING GAY IS NOT A CHOICE. How do I know this? I know this because being straight is not a choice for me. If I DID have a choice, I would not want to be attracted to the gender that I am attracted to. At least, not only this gender. So I'll say it again: BEING GAY IS NOT A CHOICE!
And that isn't a bad thing at all. No one, and I mean no one, should ever be made to feel ashamed for being gay. No one has the right to make gay people feel bad for something they can not control. No one has the right to make someone ashamed about having attractions and feelings for someone of their gender, something that is completely and utterly fine in every way I can picture.
It isn't a bad thing that being gay is not a choice and I emphasize this because something being seen as 'uncontrolable' is usually seen in a negative light. It's not and should never be seen as bad that gay people were born gay.
Okay, so, third of all, why would they go to Hell? The Bible never actually said that gay people will go to hell. Those words were never written down, nor have they ever been said by God, Jesus, or anyone else in the Bible. This is all just a load of crap made by people picking and choosing verses to listen to.
Do they know that the Bible also said to stone adulterers? I am pretty sure that stoning people for cheating in their significant others hasn't been incredibly popular for a while.
The point is, people pick and choose what to listen to. If they don't want to stone adulterers because "that's only how it was back then", then they can give that much-needed leniency for gay people as well.
Finally: what if they're good people? What if they are nice to everyone thet meet? What if they are the nicest person to have lived? What if they're brave, happy, generous, loving, accepting, forgiving, clever? What if, this person is the picture of kindness?
Are you telling me that religious homophobes would throw that all out the window just because the person is gay? All of that, all of those personality traits that would otherwise make them perfect for Heaven, all of them forgotten because this person is gay. They will go to Hell over something they cannot control, over something completely natural, over something that should be accepted. Just because they have an attraction to the same gender?!
So, the next time someone thinks that people should go to hell over being gay, think about whether they would go to heaven for literally every other amazing part of themselves. And being gay is definitely an amazing part of themselves.
If you are religious and a homophobe, you are entitled to your opinions. But please, don't shame other people for being part of the LGBTQ+ community.
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