God Loves Gays

Copyright 2003 by Shea Oakley

All rights reserved

This week the homosexual lobby here scored another victory in its relentless drive to force Americans to accept the gay lifestyle as normative. In the midst of a media circus the city of New York opened the newly expanded Harvey Milk School, officially making it the first high school in the United States designed to cater to an all-gay student population.

In a scene slightly reminiscent of the racial desegregation of public schools in the American South during the 1960’s, the students were escorted to the door by police while, in a decided shift from those times, a large crowd of mostly approving New Yorkers cheered them on. Meanwhile a counter-demonstration, consisting of about half a dozen individuals with signs reading "God Hates Fags" and "Repent!",did their best to make all Christians come across as exactly the homophobes we are so often accused of being. It was difficult to decide which was more appalling, the existence of such a school or the blind, unscriptural hatred represented by the counter-demonstrators.

All this happened in the midst of a secular debate as to whether Harvey Milk is a step forwards or backwards for the gay rights movement. Some have pointed out that if the idea is to mainstream the homosexual lifestyle and make it acceptable in society then why are gay teenagers being separated from straight ones by the New York City school system? This does lead to questions about double standards. Meanwhile the politically correct party line seems to be that such a facility is needed, at least for now, because so many intolerant people remain unenlightened about the goodness and rightness of homosexuality.

However this particular aspect of the debate pans out, the bottom line is that New York children are now being told by their city government and their teachers that it is completely acceptable to be both gay at a young age and proud of it. This is a major step towards achieving the long term goal of equating the battle for gay rights with the battle for civil rights and winning the hearts and minds of Americans based on that equation.

Meanwhile what is the Christian response? Apparently it is to allow a few angry fundamentalists to represent us as they try to convince the world that God hates both the sin and the sinner. This should not be.

The evangelical church needs to oppose the shoving of the gay rights agenda down our throats, yes, but we have to do so in a spirit of humility and love. Homosexuality is sinful. What it is not, however, is the unpardonable sin. Paul describes slander, gossip and greed as sinful in the same places he describes homosexuality as such. Homosexuality is not held up by the Apostle as something necessarily worse than any other transgression against the will of God. We in the church shouldn’t either.

It is time for evangelicals in America to make it very clear to the world, even to gay rights advocates, that we do not support the "God Hates Fags" faction. Our task is to reach out in love to the gay community with the Gospel just as we would any other worldly community. We must do this while unequivocally upholding the truth that homosexuality is morally wrong. This will not be an easy balance to maintain, especially when we are being broadly painted as hateful by aggressive gay organizations like "ACT UP". Ultimately, though, it will be worth the effort. The fruit will be the more effective reaching of a population who, whether they know it or not, are desperately lost. A determination to see a harvest of souls through the love of Christ is the best way to react to homosexuality. In fact, for the true believer, it is the only way.