The Church is not Anti-Gay

I am so tired of all the anti-gay, anti-LBGTQ, and anti-same sex attraction allegations that are hurled constantly at the Catholic Church. It simply is not true. The Church teaches and commands all Her members to love and accept all people. While many of us in the Church often fall short of this, and not just toward these groups of people, hatred and exclusivity is not what the Church promotes and teaches, and not what we as Christians stand for.

Now, let me explain why I think there is such confusion and misunderstanding about this. The Church does not see the individual and their sin as one. The individual and sin are two separate things. We are all sinners, but the Church does not recognize our identity as the sin we commit. The two are distinctly separate, and we strive as individual Christians united by the Church to be totally free from our sinful behavior.

In contrast, people from the gay/LGBTQ are immersed as individuals in their sinful ways. They identify themselves as their sin. How many heterosexuals do this? How many “straight” people identify themselves as “heterosexual” or “straight”? How many rallies do we see for heterosexuals. Heterosexuals have no sign or emblem. We just don’t see these things happening because we are not defined by our sexual orientation as individual people. We are so much more than that. I am not saying that our sexuality is not an important and integral part of who we are. I am just saying that the behavior resulting from our sexuality does not define us as people. The sexual union of married couples is a glorious and divine covenant between a man, woman and God. That covenant was created by God and intended for a conjugal sexual unity that has a purpose for procreation. It is the first command given to us by God, to be fruitful and multiply. God blesses such a union, as he did the union of Adam and Eve.

The Church abhors and condemns all types of sexual perversion including fornication (sex outside of traditional marriage), adultery, sodomy, pornography, masturbation, and sex between people two men or two women. The Church is losing the battle against many of these sins because society and many Catholics have decided to ignore Church teaching and authority on the matter. We cave to the accusations of intolerance and hate; but instruction of virtue and truth is not hatred and intolerance, but charity. It is a Spiritual Work of Mercy. When we chose to follow the authority of our own ill developed consciences we are rejecting God’s law and will; God’s Supreme Authority. You see, the authority of the Church and Jesus are the same, Scripture says so. When we reject Church teaching, we reject God. This is called apostasy, and it happens every day, everywhere. It is committed by everyone.

Rejecting God doesn’t just mean that you deny him to your family, or friends, or even society. It means that you reject his Church and Her teachings as well. Not one of us is above God’s law and the Church that executes and interprets it. We will all be held accountable at our Judgment by Christ upon death, and receive are just punishments. Forgiveness does not alleviate penance.

I extend an enormous amount and respect to the Catholic Church for standing up against the heresy and apostasy of society on these matters. The Catholic Church is one of the only Christian denominations that has not folded on the issue of birth control, artificial contraception, gay marriage and immoral sexual behavior. They alone hold firm on all the moral standards that God has dictated. The Catholic Church remains faithful and true to these teachings, and I thank God for that courage and strength which only comes from the Holy Spirit.

It isn’t a sin to be gay or LGBTQ, or to suffer from same sex attraction. It all boils down to how you act on those tendencies and temptations. We all have our own crosses to bear, every single one of us. We all fall into sin, but there is always the opportunity to do better, start fresh, and try again.

So, if you find yourself in one of these categories, don’t let that category define you as a person. We are not gay, or transgender, or homosexual. We are all children of God. We are one. We are a family, and God is our Father. We must not allow a group of people to cram their immoral choice of lifestyle down our throats. We are not our sin! Rise above the temporal, and look toward the eternal. Friendship and love are much bigger than who we sleep with.

We must resist and not be sucked into the lies and intolerance of the devil, we can’t let our pride get the best of us. Don’t let the standards of society define us, God already has done so.

God created us, he loves us, and he accepts us. God does not make mistakes, but he does call us all to “sin no more”.