Why I Support Same Sex unions

Why I Support Same Sex Unions

Moralists who subscribe to the Judeo –Christian value system are very fond of reminding us that the Creator made Adam for Eve and not for Steve.  While it is true that the account in Genesis does support this notion, it is equally true that the story of Adam and Steve is as old as the Genesis record.  Same sex unions seem to have been the rage in the cosmopolitan cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.



The prohibitions against same sex relationships in the Pentateuch, suggests that same sex relationships were an issue in Israel and the surrounding nations in ancient times.  There truly is nothing new under the sun.  What is has been and what was will be again.  There is no doubt in my mind that people who embrace the Judeo –Christian moral framework should not practice same sex unions.  However I must hasten to add that these fine folk cannot be allowed to impose their value system on the rest a plural society.



Politically we are a democracy.  One of the inconvenient features of a modern democratic society is the protection of the right of all including those with whom we strongly disagree.  In a democracy, one group’s point of view is not supposed to have a monopoly over all other points of view.  Christians in a plural society cannot expect to have Christian values imposed on the rest of society. They should be free however to use moral persuasion to win others over to their world view.



No group should be allowed to hijack the political process for the purpose of enforcing their peculiar moral agenda.  A truly democratic state should resist all such attempts by moralists to shove their agendas down the throats of the rest of society.  Moral correctness is not and cannot be the issue.  The issue past and present is and must be the right of every individual to practice freedom of conscience.



Theologians have argued that no individual has the absolute right to chose that which is morally wrong.  While this argument may have some merit in a theocratic state, it certainly has no place in a modern democratic state.  The concept of free will as taught by the same theologians suggests that the Creator Himself is more open to diversity than many of those who claim to represent him.



The biblical narrative begins with one man, one woman in marriage.  However as the biblical narrative proceeds, polygamy enters the picture.  Many of the stalwarts of the faith added wife to wife.  Abraham took Hagar in addition to his wife Sarah.  Jacob married two sisters and had children from the servants of his two sister wives.  King David had several wives and was told by the prophet Nathan that if he had wanted more God would have given him more.  King Solomon took polygamy to the next level by marrying 700 women and taking another 300 as concubines.



To the best of my knowledge God did not close the gates of paradise to these great men of the faith.  Technically speaking, all these men lived in adultery most of their lives if we use the New Testament as our yardstick.  Naturally we tend to grade the great men of the faith on the curve.  We invoke the arguments of culture, and time, and place, and maturity.  After all in time of ignorance God winks.



If the Creator is changeless, then it stands to reason that if he winked back there on the men of the faith( who by the way had greater light that those in Sodom and Gomorrah) he most likely is winking on those engaged in same sex unions today.  Same sex partners are not evil or wicked people.  They are decent hard working men and women just like the rest of us.  Their sexual preference is different but they are human beings just like you and I.



Denying two men or two women the right to form a stable committed relationship is a position that cannot be defended logically.  In the age of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases societies should do whatever they can to encourage more monogamous relationships. Encouraging same sex unions can have a positive effect on the spiralling incidence of AIDS worldwide.



Same sex partners deserve to be treated with the same level of respect granted to  heterosexual partners.  We should not lose sight of the humanity of same sex couples.  They are simply human beings whose sexual preference is different to that of heterosexuals.  As beautiful human beings they need to be affirmed accepted and respected.  Anything less than that would be inhumane.