I have seen this question addressed a few times quite recently. Jeromy wrote about it recently on his blog The Germ Worm and I wanted to share his post as well as something that came up in a different exchange. “I was chosen to be gay,” he says embracing this calling and the meaning it brings to his life and, in his eyes, God’s plan.
Andrew Sullivan devotes the final chapter of his book Virtually Normal to this topic. What is the part of homosexuality in God’s plan? Is it simply another trial or does it bring a sense of purpose and meaning as Jeromy suggests?
A friend recently brought up the following passage from Sullivan, a practicing Catholic:
“Or perhaps their role is to have no role at all. Perhaps it is the experience of rebellion that prompts homosexual culture to be peculiarly resistant to attempts to guide it to be useful or instructive or productive. Go to any march for gay rights and you will see the impossibility of organizing it into any coherent lobby: such attempts are always undermined by irony, or exhibitionism, or irresponsibility. It is as if homosexuals have learned something about life that makes them immune to the puritanical and flattening demands of modern politics. It is as if they have learned that life is fickle; that there are parts of it that cannot be understood, let alone solved; that some things lead nowhere and mean nothing; that the ultimate exercise of freedom is not a programmatic journey but a spontaneous one. Perhaps it requires seeing one’s life as the end of a biological chain, or seeing one’s deepest emotions as the object of detestation, that provides this insight. But the seeds of homosexual wisdom are the seeds of human wisdom. They contain the truth that order is in fact a euphemism for disorder; that problems are often more sanely enjoyed than solved; that there is reason in mystery; that there is beauty in the wild flowers that grow randomly among our wheat.”
While this quote poses more questions than it answers, one thing is certain: the lives of gays and lesbians, although dissimilar, are (in essence) no different from a straight person's.
We have different conflicts and experiences that make up the puzzle of our lives, but our experiences are no less valuable or important in the eyes of God as everything has its purpose-- even if we don’t understand it.
9 comments:
Very deep. I would love to answer this question from a biological perspective, if not from a spiritual perspective.
Interesting point. There's some very interesting theories I've discussed with some friends in SLC. Perhaps this topic deserves a future multi-angled analysis.
Guest column, Mr. future Dr.?
After all , we are just human. Sexuality is just part of us not the main defining trait either. Why would we want different things. Even though some think we lost our morals because of sexuality. They are forgetting we have always been just human . Other than who we love and mate with . We still people for the most part that want good and better for the world around us. I know my sexuality hasn't never once change this ... Lee
A future multi-angled analysis sounds intriguing. I'm up for thinking about it.
It's a conundrum: on the one hand, gay is how you're born (which I believe), but on the other hand, if gay is how you're born, then how come gay is also a lifestyle? Go to any so-called "gay pride" parade, and the message being sent, apparently, is that being gay is about counterculture, sexual promiscuity, and oppositional behavior. Now, of course, the intelligent response involves fancy phrases like "internalizing the perceived morals of the aggressor" and "reclaiming one's identity from negative stigma", but achieving this level of logic requires a certain degree of sympathy to the cause.
But if you're starting from an anti-gay perspective, what's motivating you to look further? The obvious explanation is the most convenient. It's frustrating, because the basis of the argument for equal marriage is that people are people, and relationships are relationships; gay relationships are fundamentally no different.
I know a lot of really boring gay guys (including my best friend, who told me it took him a couple of years, after coming to terms with his sexuality, to realize that he could be gay and boring at the same time), but they're not too visible. I'd like to see a "gay pride" parade made up of lawyers, accountants, executive assistants, and teachers, marching along in golf shirts and chinos.
@Just: I must agree. Sexuality might not be what defines us, and shouldn't inspire any sense of shame.
@Mr. C.: We can discuss this later. Perhaps via email. I have only come up with three defined dimensions for such a series.
@C.J.: That last image you threw out of a parade of lawyers, doctors, etc. is really wish were emphasized more. While we are people like anyone else, the more moderate picture of the homosexual is marginalized by a culture that is more reactionary.
Well, ideally, there shouldn't be "homosexual culture", there should just be different cultures that people--gay and straight--are a part of.
Oh, for God's sake, we're here and we're queer and if straights don't like it, that ain't our problem. What's the point of 'multi-angled analyses'?
Hi!
I'm 21 and from Indonesia. I just converted to LDS Church 6 months ago and I'm gay
ANyway, I agree with what you (A Gay Mormon Boy) said about "the lives of gays and lesbians, although dissimilar, are (in essence) no different from a straight person's.".
We should not let the word "gay" alone define the whole us. There are far many more good strait in us than just being gay.
If we keep being contributive and helpful to our society, people will recognize us for our works instead of sexuality.
Thank you
Joned ^_^
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