Rev. Gary (from Bloomingdale) on Homosexuality

From the "intolerance section" of todays Daily Enterprise. A letter from Gary "the good ole days were better" Shene professing his "facts" on homosexuality. Here it is.

The debate of whether gays should be allowed to marry in New York has jumped to the forefront in the last few days. I listened to “Talk of the Town” and the many comments on this subject and came to the conclusion that there is really no answer to the debate.

Firstly, is it a sin? Only if there is a God, and if so, only he knows whether it is or isn’t. So any debate cannot come from a religious point of view, as the Bible teaches that such would be considered judging, and it says that judging others is wrong.

Is being gay natural? Is one born gay? Putting God and religion aside, I do not know of any other form of life on earth that practices homosexuality; anyone that believes that thing about the penguins in the New York zoo, I got a bridge to sell you. I personally know people who WERE gay and now aren’t, and vice versa, so that sort of tells my common sense that no one is born gay.

I believe the general public has a view of homosexuality that is very clouded. It is a choice, not a condition; it is something someone DOES, not who or what someone is.

Loving someone of the same sex is not unnatural; we love our sisters, cousins, people who aren’t related to us. The question is, where do we draw the line on our sexual yearnings that have nothing to do with love?

Should one’s sexual yearnings dictate the laws of our society? If so, we had better hope, as a nation, that pedophiles and child molesters don’t get any more support, or we’ll be legalizing them; after all, their desires are of a sexual preference just as gays’ or straights’ are. What if one wants to marry both a man AND a woman? Where does it end?

If the law gets passed by the Senate, so what? Laws change, and we must obey them, no matter how we feel. I can remember when abortion was considered murder, as many of you can. A law may not be right, but it’s the law all the same, and to live in this society we must obey them.

Let’s face facts: Society is changing, sex seems to be the most important aspect of life nowadays, self-indulgence and narcissism seem to be the direction of our culture, and these trends and fads will only grow and grow. Whether or not these changes are for the good of our country, only time will tell, although as much as I try, I can’t shake that feeling that it’s the start of a slippery slope and we’d better give much, much thought to the decisions we make that will have far-reaching consequences on our children and the future.

The only way anyone can change things is by voicing your opinions to your representatives, although that doesn’t seem to go as far as it used to. Like it or not, the liberal left seems to shout much louder than the conservative right.

In the end, if there is a God, he’ll sort it all out. If there isn’t, it won’t matter, will it?

Garry Shene

Bloomingdale