Saturday, June 25, 2011

NY Legalizes Gay Marriage- My Thoughts

I will be the first to admit, and some of you think that I may be a little hypocritical, that the issue of Gay marriage tears at my heart. I know and am friends with a lot of people who identify as homosexual, and they are wonderful people! My Graduate Studies Mentor, Dr. Richard Stevens, is an awesome and intelligent man who is openly gay and specializes in homosexual development studies. He fully understands that people have different political views and he urges to speak you mind as long as you stand behind your beliefs and defend them despite social pressure. I have taken classes on homosexual development and since I am fascinated with spiritual development, I am even more interested in the spiritual development of those who identify as homosexual.

Despite all of that, I understand and agree with the Catholic Church's stance on marriage. Marriage is a sacramental covenant between a man, a woman, and God. We enact the marriage covenant through the act of physical love and that act must be both love giving and life giving. If it is not open to love or life then it is degrading the act of the marriage covenant. That is also the reason why I am against contraception. If you practice artificial birth control, then you are degrading the marriage act. Scott Hahn described this as equal to receiving the Eucharist and spitting it out!

Therefore, since the homosexual act cannot conceive life, then it is not a marriage covenant and is an unholy act. HOWEVER, this does not mean that those who identify as homosexual are evil or anything of that nature! We are to show compassion to our LGBT brothers and sisters, though we do not have to condone their actions.

I do not believe that homosexuality is a learned trait and I don't believe that one can 'pray away the gay'. Those who promote that kind of idea I think are degrading the dignity of homosexual people. For some reason, one that I cannot explain, God gave them homosexual desires. But why? Is it some type of burden that is supposed to bring them closer to God? There are many who feel that their homosexuality is not a burden and those who feel that it is. I know some who have decided to live a celibate life and those who live openly with their partners.

Despite my confusion, I still think that marriage is between a man and a woman and that it is wrong for New York, and all of the other states to re-define that meaning.

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