Should homosexual behaviour be criminalised?

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CutlerB

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Or to phrase it differently: “Was it good that homosexual behaviour used to be a criminal offence?”

Does the Church have a position on this? What is yours and why?
 
My objection to homosexual behavior lies in my religious beliefs, and last time I checked, we have freedom of religion in this country.
 
Homosexual behavior is contrary to the natural law and an injustice to children who are forced to be adopted into such relationships.

I believe homosexual “marriage” should never be institutionalized, but rather, prohibited.

It is impossible or very difficult to criminalize homosexual behavior itself, however, because obviously the state cannot look into everyone’s bedroom to check. Therefore, I believe that public displaying of such acts should certainly be prohibited, and propaganda supporting such behavior also prohibited.

I base these opinions partially on the moral law set forth by the Church, but also the natural law, which is the fundamental and basic law which all human beings have an obligation to conform to.
 
CutlerB said:
Or to phrase it differently: “Was it good that homosexual behaviour used to be a criminal offence?”

Does the Church have a position on this? What is yours and why?
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Yes, it was good to have aberrant sexual behavior classified as a crime. We still have laws against many other forms of sexual behavior.

My personal opinion is that it should be something that would get a person thrown into jail but keeping it out of the “norm” of accepted behavior was a good thing.
 
Ragamuffingirl said:
My objection to homosexual behavior lies in my religious beliefs, and last time I checked, we have freedom of religion in this country.
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My objection to murder lies in my religious beliefs as well. Should that also not be criminalized because God wrote the Ten Commandments?

That line of argumentation doesn’t go very far. Indeed, it would seem to proscribe religious speech and any members of religions to participate in the political process.

The question depends upon whether you want the state to enforce personal morals or not. If you think it is a good idea for the state to do something like that, and you wish to reduce the impact of homosexuality, then you might not have a problem with criminalizing homosexual behavior. On the other hand, if you don’t like the idea of a state enforcing personal morals, then you probably wouldn’t care for the criminalization of homosexual acts even if you personally believe those acts to be immoral.

I would caution anybody that when secular powers historically got into the business of enforcing personal morals, the result was less than ideal, especially in a democratic government which can sway from one direction to another according to the latest whims of the mob. The French republican government thought it was a fantastic idea to enforce morals. Before long, you had priests and bishops dragged to the guillotines.
 
My son is gay. All I want is for him to find peace and happiness. He is Catholic and has received his First Holy Communion, was confirmed, and is the godfather to his little brother. He no longer goes to church, and I can understand why. It’s sad that the Catholic Church can’t accept all people, as God does.
 
I don’t think it should be criminalized, except if engaged in while in a pubic place, but the same should apply to other sexual behaviors such as public nudity, fornication in public, etc. It should not be criminalized but neither should it be celebrated, just as adultery, fornication, and public lewdness should not be celebrated but discouraged.

Interestingly, adultery was once a criminal offense, and a person soliciting a relationship with another person’s spouse could be sued for ‘alienation of affection.’ Maybe those should have stayed on the books.
 
Chizzywinks said:
My son is gay. All I want is for him to find peace and happiness. He is Catholic and has received his First Holy Communion, was confirmed, and is the godfather to his little brother. He no longer goes to church, and I can understand why. It’s sad that the Catholic Church can’t accept all people, as God does.
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The Catholic Church loves and wishes to take all people under Her wing.

The Catholic Church WILL NOT condone sinful behavior.

God loves and wishes to take all people to Heaven.

God WILL NOT force a person who willfully rejects Him by disobeying his law to come to Heaven.
 
Criminalized? No. Restrictions (child adoption, etc)? Yes.
 
Chizzywinks said:
My son is gay. All I want is for him to find peace and happiness. He is Catholic and has received his First Holy Communion, was confirmed, and is the godfather to his little brother. He no longer goes to church, and I can understand why. It’s sad that the Catholic Church can’t accept all people, as God does.
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The Church accepts all people. The door is always open. What the Church does not do is reduce sin.
 
I don’t think sinful acts should be celebrated, but I also don’t want the government knocking on my bedroom door to make sure I’m not having sex with a woman, either.
 
  1. This is way outside the faculties of the secular state.
  2. It’s incredibly unenforceable
  3. It would overturn decades of legal precedent
  4. It would make us ask, “What can the government not do to control my life?”
 
No. To me, the idea of criminalizing homosexual behavior is absurd. I would rather everyone have the choice to choose their lifestyle. Sure, others have to witness those choices, but that is a far better outcome than some sort of fascist system where our lives and choices are regulated.
 
CutlerB said:
Or to phrase it differently: “Was it good that homosexual behaviour used to be a criminal offence?”

Does the Church have a position on this? What is yours and why?
Click to expand...
I can’t speak to the absolute morality of the issue, but I have a real problem with government having too much power. Setting up this kind of institutional infrastructure can be dangerous and turn on us.

It should be sufficient to preserve traditional marriage; I don’t want DC snooping around people’s bedrooms.

Now, there may some people in the afterlife who WISH it were criminalized. That’s a fair argument.

But government is too inherently corrupt.
 
KendraDZ1902 said:
I don’t think sinful acts should be celebrated, but I also don’t want the government knocking on my bedroom door to make sure I’m not having sex with a woman, either.
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The best solution in my view is for it be neither banned nor recognized nor subsidized.
 
“There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.”
 
Homosexuality was criminalized for well over 150 years in the US and look what it has gotten us! Locking up a homosexual in jail is like locking up a sex fiend up in a brothel with an unlimited credit card. It is an exercise in self defeat.
What should be done, if anything, is to raise an enormous sum of money and then hire the best public relations firms in the country to make homosexuality unpopular. The reverse of that is essentially what happened starting in the 1960’s continuing to this day. The only thing is, that today the Press has taken the place of the public relations firms and they are publicizing homosexuality for free…causing the mass of people to feel guilty of prejudice if they oppose it.
 
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