Testimony from a gay man

[Ridgerunner]

As you can see, this is hurting me. I live with this hurt day in day out. It’s not a huge portion of my life, admittedly, since there are plenty of other things for me to do, but I am missing out on something I don’t believe I should be, and I haven’t found a good reason for that other than, effectively, “because we say so, and we’re always right”.

If I had chosen to follow my heart ten years ago, when I did fall in love with someone, I believe that I would have been happy and at peace. As it happens, I was too nervous. And I have real trouble believing that that is what God wants for me.

Your argument is really with the Church, not with individual posters, notwithstanding that your very first post was a rebuttal of all of the arguments against homosexual relations that you have seen people give, and notwithstanding your perception that people have said uncharitable things.

Because you feel you would be acting “naturally” and morally in engaging in homosexual relations, it is your position that the Church ought to agree with you. But it doesn’t. Even if every poster in here affirmed you in engaging in homosexual sex, even if you somehow persuaded every last one, your argument is still with the Church.

From the Church’s standpoint, you would be sinning in engaging in homosexual sex. You might confess, you might repent, you might resolve not to do it anymore and then fall again. Every sinner does that.

But the reality is that the Church isn’t going to say it’s morally correct to do it, and you are going to have to work that out with God and your confessor. What gets said in here does not affect that in the slightest.

 

[Do_Good_Then_Go]

Hello, my friend! First, I’m very sorry to hear that you have been hurt by comments on here that assume the worst about “all” people with SSA. I’m trying to look at it from your perspective, and** I would be hurt, too, to see that some people automatically assume you’d be out to corrupt the youth, hurt kids, and make others turn gay.** You sound like a very decent guy and I have a ton of respect for you for following your faith.

**I suggest looking up Cardinal Dolan’s recent comments about the need for the Church to reach out more to people with SSA. **

Also, do you know the blog by Steve Gershom? It’s Called “Catholic, Gay, and Feelin’ Fine, thanks” and, to me, it is humbling and inspirational. One article written by him is quoted in this website: mattfradd.com/2012/06/14/catholic-gay-and-feeling-fine/

You asked if you should leave the Church – No!! Please, we love you and we want you with us! If I may humbly offer some perspective, do you believe in God? That Jesus Is the Son of God, who, in dying, redeemed our sins? Do you believe he gave us the Eucharist, and entrusted Peter to lead the Church on Earth? That His love is infinite, and transcends anything experienced in this world?If so, doesn’t my own sexual urges, or yours, for that matter, pale in comparison? He’s so much bigger than all of that. In giving that up some individuals have made insulting comments, you may be in danger of making a false god out of your own pride. We can all be tempted in this way! I know I have! In giving up the Church because of your sexual orientation, you may be in danger of creating a false god out of your own sexuality. Plenty of straight people have left the Church because of this, too (no sex outside of marriage, no contraception).

You have an important role in the Church, too! I am thankful for your original post because it helps point out where we are failing to love our neighbor, where we are being uncharitable. You also offer a good perspective on how we can reach out to our loved ones who are gay. For example, my dear BIL is gay, left the Church over it, and is engaged in extremely promiscuous and dangerous practices. Like, he has no problem having casual sex with an HIV-positive stranger. We are worried for him. But if anyone questions this, it’s because we are Catholic, so we must “hate him.” Or, we are afraid of gays. Your (name removed by moderator)ut in this situation would be helpful.

Anyway, please don’t leave the Church. I’d be honored to sit next to you at Mass IRL.

Great post IBombAtomically.

 

[LongingSoul]

I would be hurt, too, to see that some people automatically assume you’d be out to corrupt the youth, hurt kids, and make others turn gay.

You have to quote with integrity to be credible, IBombAtomically. No one apart from trolls who might even be gay radicals in disguise stirring the pot, have suggested such things. That isn’t tolerated by the Church either.

 

[Casey123]

As you can see, this is hurting me. I live with this hurt day in day out. It’s not a huge portion of my life, admittedly, since there are plenty of other things for me to do, but I am missing out on something I don’t believe I should be, and I haven’t found a good reason for that other than, effectively, “because we say so, and we’re always right”.

If I had chosen to follow my heart ten years ago, when I did fall in love with someone, I believe that I would have been happy and at peace. As it happens, I was too nervous. And I have real trouble believing that that is what God wants for me.

Well said! Regret is a horrible emotion, so don’t let anyone define happiness for you. Only you can do that for yourself. Your heart doesn’t lead you astray.

Don’t be bothered by people that throw Levitical codes and Bible verses in your face. The Bible says all sorts of “interesting” (read:ridiculous) things, especially in the same section that talks about sexuality (make sure you check your closet for cotton/polyester blends and make sure you never, ever set foot in a Red Lobster for dinner!!).

If you fall in love with someone and he falls in love with you and you two want a life together, there’s nothing wrong with that. Don’t let people make you feel “less than” because of something that doesn’t concern them, and chances are, they’ll never understand.

Live life for you, not for anyone else. Follow your own heart, make your own decisions. Not to sound cliche, but you have one life to live, so I urge you to be yourself, not who anyone else wants you to be.

God doesn’t make junk; he made you, he loves you and always will, no matter who you are or who you love. If you’re happy, and you’re in a loving and fulfilling relationship, then I pray that God blesses you both with joy and peace. We’re all only on this planet for a relatively short period of time… so live life to the fullest and follow your heart.

Totally on your side,
Casey

 

[classica87]

Well said! Don’t let anyone define happiness for you. Only you can do that for yourself. Your heart doesn’t lead you astray.

Don’t be bothered by people that throw Levitical codes and Bible verses in your face. The Bible says all sorts of “interesting” (read:ridiculous) things, especially in the same section that talks about sexuality (make sure you check your closet for cotton/polyester blends and make sure you never, ever set foot in a Red Lobster for dinner!!).

If you fall in love with someone and he falls in love with you and you two want a life together, there’s nothing wrong with that. Don’t let people make you feel “less than” because of something that doesn’t concern them, and chances are, they’ll never understand.

Live life for you, not for anyone else. Follow your own heart, make your own decisions. Not to sound cliche, but you have one life to live, so I urge you to be yourself, not who anyone else wants you to be.

God doesn’t make junk; he made you, he loves you and always will, no matter who you are or who you love. If you’re happy, and you’re in a loving and fulfilling relationship, then I pray that God blesses you both with joy and peace. We’re all only on this planet for a relatively short period of time… so live life to the fullest and follow your heart.

Totally on your side,
Casey

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9.

God’s truth is unchangeable; it does not matter how we feel about it. There cannot be more than one truth, or there is no truth at all. Faith is an assent of the intellect and an act of the will. Does it involve emotions? Sure it does, but it can’t be all just “following your heart.” If it were, we’d leave the Church every time we were spiritually dry or just having a “bad day.” God’s truth is the only way to eternal life. We are not here to please ourselves. We are here to love and serve God with our whole heart, mind, and soul.

God loved us enough to suffer, and if we love Him and desire to be his disciples, we too must suffer. It cannot always be about making yourself happy or getting what you want. True love comes at a price. True love demands selfless sacrifice. God is bigger than sexuality. God is more important than physical pleasure, earthly desires, and emotional infatuations. We are pilgrims looking forward to Heaven. You are right; this life is short, and we must live that short time serving God. Perhaps it is not always happy, but we have an eternity ahead of us to make up for lost time.

 

[TimeEntrance]

I recently heard an Australian bishop say that the Church needs to grapple with how to maintain fidelity to the Church’s teachings and understanding of homosexuality while at the same time working to defend and uphold the dignity of homosexual people. I think this is very true and I don’t think it’s helpful to say ‘well, we all have our crosses’. Yes, we do all have our crosses but it seems to me that homosexual people have some specific issues that heterosexuals never even have to consider like the discrimination towards homosexual people that still exists and the fact that staying faithful to Church teachings means no possibility of marriage.

If a single heterosexual says they’re a bit lonely and they’d love to get married one day if only they could find the right person, everyone is sympathetic and encouraging and ‘well, you never know’. If a homosexual says the same thing, it is dismissed and the person is told in great detail why it can never happen and why they’re at fault for even thinking about it.

I think with the secular world being the dominant world in the West the hierarchy of the Catholic Church will come to accept gay marriages like it accepts Islam and Protestantism.

My personal view is that if homosexuality is sinful then homosexual attractions are sinful too. That does not mean a person is evil it means they are attached to certain things. Like all of us. I’m not 100% certain but I think the Buddhists might describe it (our attachments) as “cravings.”

I personally regard homosexuality as a form of addiction. But that’s my view. There are far worse addictions or attachments to have.

A lot of heterosexual males are addicted to sex and viewing porn and things like that too. Often not to any point that their lives become dysfunctional. For a minority number it does though.

I think ultimately people have to choose their path and follow what their heart tells them.

 

[St_Francis]

Porn, masturbation, etc, do have an effect because they would cause me to devalue the object of the porn, masturbation, theft, etc. There’s a natural harm that comes from it.

Where is the natural harm in two people of the same sex freely giving themselves to the other in a bodily way? It’s not done selfishly, it’s done for the love of the other person. Isn’t that what the marital act is meant to be? The mutual love and support of the other that comes from the giving? Of course it’s not open to procreation with two gay people, so it’s not ‘marriage’ if ‘marriage’ is to be defined as the situation wherein babies can only be created legitimately. So that makes marriage twofold - one, for the love and support of the partner and two, for the creation of life. But plenty of people get married who can’t have children, and that includes people who know this before they are married. So if two straight people may legitimately have only that one aspect of marriage open to them, and if that same aspect is possible between two people of the same sex, then why are they denied it?

God gave humanity a gift: the gift of sharing in His creativity. We are permitted to share in the creation of new members of God’s highest creation.

God gave us a gift to go with that, the pleasure and closeness of the procreative act.

When two people of the opposite sex marry, they then engage in an act which has the potential to being about children. If they themselves interfere with the act to render it incapable of bringing about children, then they commit a sin. However, if through no fault of their own, they do not conceive, no sin is committed.

In a homosexual act, there is no capacity for conception, and yet the two choose to engage in an act which is inherently, by its nature, sterile. Thus, it *also *is sinful; along with contraceptive acts it is sinful.

It’s not right just to do so. I can’t believe that God requires me to bottle up that love that I could give another person and never express it. He said himself that we are to love one another as we ourselves would be loved. Why are we, his people, putting up barriers to stop that?

God put up the barrier to same-sex sexual acts. He decreed the way it is supposed to be, not the Church. That is the case with Church teaching, that the Church merely teaches what Christ taught the apostles.

Moreover, anyone can look on tv any night of the week and see two people meet in a bar and go off for sex. Is this love? No. What is love? Love is sacrifce: Greater love hath no man than that he lay down his life for another. Love is not sex; love is *sacrifice. *You are Catholic, you have probably grappled with the concept that love sometimes requires that we give up a pleasure for the good of another. Leading people into sin is bad for them; we sacrifice our own desire into to do the good of *not *leading another into sin.

There are millions of people in the world who will not marry, who will be in a position where they are required to hottle up sexual expression. It is not only homosexuals. There are many people, people who are disabled, ill, disfigured, ill-favored, poor, mentally disabled, people who married and whose spouses are unable to participate, and they too live with the exact same knowledge that you live with. It is indeed a cross, a sacrifice that God asks you to make in order to be with the One Who died on the cross to save you.

 

[MarkInOregon]

Well said! Don’t let anyone define happiness for you. Only you can do that for yourself. Your heart doesn’t lead you astray.

Don’t be bothered by people that throw Levitical codes and Bible verses in your face. The Bible says all sorts of “interesting” (read:ridiculous) things, especially in the same section that talks about sexuality (make sure you check your closet for cotton/polyester blends and make sure you never, ever set foot in a Red Lobster for dinner!!).

If you fall in love with someone and he falls in love with you and you two want a life together, there’s nothing wrong with that. Don’t let people make you feel “less than” because of something that doesn’t concern them, and chances are, they’ll never understand.

Live life for you, not for anyone else. Follow your own heart, make your own decisions. Not to sound cliche, but you have one life to live, so I urge you to be yourself, not who anyone else wants you to be.

God doesn’t make junk; he made you, he loves you and always will, no matter who you are or who you love. If you’re happy, and you’re in a loving and fulfilling relationship, then I pray that God blesses you both with joy and peace. We’re all only on this planet for a relatively short period of time… so live life to the fullest and follow your heart.

Totally on your side,
Casey

If you look or ask you’ll find many who have let their heart lead them astray. Who found they sought happiness in the wrong place.

Do you not believe the Bible is the Word of God?

I thought we were to live our lives for God? To attempt to live as he calls us to live?

Do you understand that we have fallen natures? That we do not exist in that unfallen state in which man was originally created? And that this is not the fault of God?

Yes God loves us all but again – I ask you what do you think love is? What did Christ call us to while he was here on earth?

If we are here on this earth but a short time and in either heaven or hell for an eternity – which life should we be most concerned with?

Isn’t the question that should be asked–How does God want me to live rather than how do I feel and how do I want to live?

Posters on this site believe (on what they find to be strong evidence) that God ordained marriage as between one man and one woman–and that God calls all who are not married to live a chaste life. That is not a popular message today. We are called haters for simply stating that belief. We are scoffed at by all those who think sex is nothing more than some pleasurable activity to be engaged in like going out to dinner or to the theatre.

How does God want us to live–that is the question. You are free to disagree with us regarding how God wants us to live–but you do a disservice to others when you suggest that what is really important is how you want to live over and above how God wants us to live.

The world is filled with and has seen many over the centuries who denied themselves and found great peace and happiness even in the midst of their suffering as they strove to live as God called them to live.

Peace of Christ,
Mark

 

[livingwordunity]

Your argument is really with the Church, not with individual posters, notwithstanding that your very first post was a rebuttal of all of the arguments against homosexual relations that you have seen people give, and notwithstanding your perception that people have said uncharitable things.

Because you feel you would be acting “naturally” and morally in engaging in homosexual relations, it is your position that the Church ought to agree with you. But it doesn’t. Even if every poster in here affirmed you in engaging in homosexual sex, even if you somehow persuaded every last one, your argument is still with the Church.

From the Church’s standpoint, you would be sinning in engaging in homosexual sex. You might confess, you might repent, you might resolve not to do it anymore and then fall again. Every sinner does that.

But the reality is that the Church isn’t going to say it’s morally correct to do it, and you are going to have to work that out with God and your confessor. What gets said in here does not affect that in the slightest.

This

Love the sinner, but hate the sin.

 

[Robert_in_SD]

Well said! Regret is a horrible emotion, so don’t let anyone define happiness for you. Only you can do that for yourself. Your heart doesn’t lead you astray.

Your emotions, free from prayerful thought and reason, can most certainly lead you astray.

Casey123:

Don’t be bothered by people that throw Levitical codes and Bible verses in your face. The Bible says all sorts of “interesting” (read:ridiculous) things, especially in the same section that talks about sexuality (make sure you check your closet for cotton/polyester blends and make sure you never, ever set foot in a Red Lobster for dinner!!).

The moral teaching of the Church from the very beginning has been entirely consistent. Engaging in a homosexual act is an objective moral evil. It’s not really a point up for debate, except by those who seek to rationalize their own life choices, or the decisions of persons that they are too afraid to charitably admonish. Perhaps it is not “politically correct” to tell someone when they are in danger of harming themselves or others by engaging in such activity. But it is also cowardly to see someone engaged in such harmful actions and not warn them that they are in real danger.

Casey123:

If you fall in love with someone and he falls in love with you and you two want a life together, there’s nothing wrong with that. Don’t let people make you feel “less than” because of something that doesn’t concern them, and chances are, they’ll never understand.

The Church’s position on gay marriage, and chastity, does not deny the real feelings that people with same sex attraction may feel for each other. You are not less of a person for having those feelings, and no Catholic following the teaching of the Church would suggest you are somehow diminished by feelings alone. But you are a creature of spirit as well as flesh. You have the ability to rise above the carnal and turn that love into something that is healthy and good.

Casey123:

Live life for you, not for anyone else. Follow your own heart, make your own decisions. Not to sound cliche, but you have one life to live, so I urge you to be yourself, not who anyone else wants you to be.

Consider this advice in the context of Genesis, Chapter 3:

[1] Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?" [2] And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; [3] but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
[4] But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die.
[5] For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3)

Put God at the center of your life. Follow God’s heart and mind. Don’t make your own desires into an idol.

Casey123:

God doesn’t make junk; he made you, he loves you and always will, no matter who you are or who you love. If you’re happy, and you’re in a loving and fulfilling relationship, then I pray that God blesses you both with joy and peace. We’re all only on this planet for a relatively short period of time… so live life to the fullest and follow your heart.

I wholeheartedly agree that God does not make junk. But this world and all its people are broken and in need of Christ Jesus. I believe you cannot find life and happiness apart from Jesus:

I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (Jn. 10:9-10)

You need to conform your life to what Jesus asks of any of us. In that way, you will know true happiness. Living a life that is ruled entirely by emotion and apart from God is not the way to happiness.

I sincerely hope that you consider this, and do what is good and correct, and ultimately what leads to real joy and abundant life.

Peace,
Robert

 

[andrewstx]

Unforturetunatly (sp) just being chaste does not in and of itself help. I am as chaste as a Cistercian and was a novice in a religious congregation that had “particular friendships” but never the less rejected me for vows.

There is prejudice out there and some ethnic groups are more prejudiced than others. Even though I am chaste there is an expectation that every single man and woman must be married and have children.

That is not possible for all, but when I am at mass it is always in a pew for one because I am shunned. Even though I am as chaste as the day is long.

Aren’t stereotypes fun?

When people on this forum post “the gay lifestyle” and the “gay agenda” they are seeming to imply that everyone with SSA has the exact same “Lifestyle and agenda”.

We all have different lifestyle and agenda, so that stereotype could not be further from the truth.

To just see me would make that clear. I don’t wear pink, makeup or feminized clothing.
I am also a big man former body builder and wear western clothes since I am a Texan.

 

[aemcpa]

When people on this forum post “the gay lifestyle” and the “gay agenda” they are seeming to imply that everyone with SSA has the exact same “Lifestyle and agenda”.

You can’t deny that there is a lifestyle and agenda out there, the chief goal of which is the normalization of homosexual sex in the eyes of society. Your faithfulness to Christ, I am guessing, would put you in a small minority and probably makes you an outcast in “the gay community”, such as it is, as well.

 

[Casey123]

Dear MarkInOregon,

Everyone picks and chooses which parts of the Bible they want to follow, because if you didn’t, you’d have people out protesting Red Lobsters across America, angling for divorce and adultery to be illegal, and putting up billboards to encourage wives to always actively try to submit to their husbands’ authority.

Changing my life completely, choosing misery, self loathing and loneliness because how one denomination’s interpretation of a 2,000 year old book - especially a book that, oh I don’t know, prominently features Jesus Christ: someone who was the perfect embodiment of love itself, who watches over me and guides me and whom I praise every day - is not at all on my to do list.

I haven’t disclosed two things: One, I was raised Catholic. How the church treats gays and lesbians is one of the reasons I left and joined another church. I felt it was the right thing to do, because, I’m sorry, I don’t believe Catholic teaching to be correct on this issue. Not one bit. Nor on other issues, either (don’t even get me started on the ordination of women).

Second, I’m a gay male. I have been through everything Antag’s going through. I know the pain he feels - not because of who he is, but how people treat him. I know how it feels to, as a man, be told by other men that I’m not as much of a man as they are. I know how it feels to walk down the street and have a passer by in a vehicle should “******!” at me. I remember going to the priest at my former Catholic church and wondering what was wrong with me; wondering what was so horrible about me that people have made it their life’s mission to make my life as miserable as they possibly could. I remember how the Church told me that - while they said they cared about my plight - that I should embrace chastity and accept that I’m not meant to be with anyone and to do exactly as many of you in this thread have been prescribing.

I remember how guilty that made me feel, every time I had feelings for anyone that were even slightly beyond a friendship. I was supposed to not listen to what every fiber of my being and natural instinct I had told me to do, and not ask a person that I loved if they felt the same, because a group of people don’t happen to like me doing so. They quoted the Bible to me, as they interpreted it - funny how someone’s interpretation of the Bible always coincides with their personal beliefs, hm? - and I remember how horrible it felt, almost like an icicle being driven through my heart to know that the God that I loved was “ashamed of me” because I had feelings for another male.

I remember trying to hide it. I remember feeling so ashamed of it. I remember days filled with self-loathing, the afternoons I spent crying, as well as the night I tried to kill myself. I was a Sophomore in high school. I took 21 pills and drank a decent amount of liquor to go along with it. I woke up the following day, surprised I was still alive, the sun shining on my face. I remember the birds singing outside my window, in the most beautiful song I’d ever heard. I learned later on that day that, due to a strange but life saving twist of fate, I’d taken my sister’s birth control pills and not the pain killers I thought I had. You know those days where they tell you, “this is the first day of the rest of your life”? That was mine. I’ll never forget that day.

I learned to respect myself, love myself, be proud of who I was. I stand up for myself, now. I went on to college and then out to pursue my career, and I’ve never had more positivity, more happiness. I’m 26 years old now, I’m due to be married this June to my partner of 3 years. It’s not a perfect life - no one’s life ever is - but it’s one filled with joy and hope for the future and optimism.

If someone offered me a magical cure - one that could allow me to go back in time and do everything over as a straight man instead, I wouldn’t take it. I’m a much stronger and wiser person now than I was then, in spite of and partly because of the struggles I’ve faced. I wouldn’t trade any bit of my life for anything; and that’s why I responded to Antag. Because I used to “be” Antag.

There’s a story I heard once. You have a guy stuck in a hole in the ground, and a doctor walks by. He asks the Doctor to help him, and the doctor writes out a prescription, throws it down to him and walks away.

Then a priest walks by. He asks the priest to help him out. The priest writes down a few verses, throws it down to him, and walks away.

Then a friend comes by. He tells his friend that he’s in a hole and asks to help him out. The friend jumps down in the hole with him. “Why did you do that?” He asks. “Now we’re both down here!”

“Yes we are,” the friend says. “But I’ve been in this hole before and I know the way out.”

 

[andrewstx]

You can’t deny that there is a lifestyle and agenda out there, the chief goal of which is the normalization of homosexual sex in the eyes of society. Your faithfulness to Christ, I am guessing, would put you in a small minority and probably makes you an outcast in “the gay community”, such as it is, as well.

The point I was trying to make is not every one out there with SSA has exactly the same lifestyle or agenda.
And you are right, I don’t agree with the normalization of sodomy.

I would think that anyone who does would have A BREIF posting history on Catholic answers.

 

[aemcpa]

There’s a story I heard once. You have a guy stuck in a hole in the ground, and a doctor walks by. He asks the Doctor to help him, and the doctor writes out a prescription, throws it down to him and walks away.

Then a priest walks by. He asks the priest to help him out. The priest writes down a few verses, throws it down to him, and walks away.

Then a friend comes by. He tells his friend that he’s in a hole and asks to help him out. The friend jumps down in the hole with him. “Why did you do that?” He asks. “Now we’re both down here!”

“Yes we are,” the friend says. “But I’ve been in this hole before and I know the way out.”

If you’re like me, you heard Leo tell it to President Bartlet on “The West Wing”.

 

[aemcpa]

I haven’t disclosed two things: One, I was raised Catholic. How the church treats gays and lesbians is one of the reasons I left and joined another church. I felt it was the right thing to do, because, I’m sorry, I don’t believe Catholic teaching to be correct on this issue. Not one bit. Nor on other issues, either (don’t even get me started on the ordination of women).

“How the church (sic) treats gays and lesbians”? Or “the fact that the Church unequivocally holds that homosexual acts are sinful”?

It seems to me that you’re saying you left because you wanted to do something that the Church is immoral to do, and you somehow believe that finding somebody who will affirm your behavior somehow changes the morality of it. Whether you remain a Catholic or not has no bearing whatsoever on the morality of your actions. Either the Church is who she claims to be or she isn’t. There can only be one true Church.

 

[Casey123]

If you’re like me, you heard Leo tell it to President Bartlet on “The West Wing”.

Actually, it was quoted to me from a friend who was a big West Wing fan. He later got me into the show, partly because of him telling me that story and me looking up where the quote came from.

 

[aemcpa]

The point I was trying to make is not every one out there with SSA has exactly the same lifestyle or agenda.
And you are right, I don’t agree with the normalization of sodomy.

I would think that anyone who does would have A BREIF posting history on Catholic answers.

Agreed all around.

 

[Casey123]

“How the church (sic) treats gays and lesbians”? Or “the fact that the Church unequivocally holds that homosexual acts are sinful”?

It seems to me that you’re saying you left because you wanted to do something that the Church is immoral to do, and you somehow believe that finding somebody who will affirm your behavior somehow changes the morality of it. Whether you remain a Catholic or not has no bearing whatsoever on the morality of your actions. Either the Church is who she claims to be or she isn’t. There can only be one true Church.

There’s a Catherine Tate quote I’ve learned to appreciate…

 

[Do_Good_Then_Go]

Unforturetunatly (sp) just being chaste does not in and of itself help. I am as chaste as a Cistercian and was a novice in a religious congregation that had “particular friendships” but never the less rejected me for vows.

There is prejudice out there and some ethnic groups are more prejudiced than others. Even though I am chaste there is an expectation that every single man and woman must be married and have children.

That is not possible for all, but when I am at mass it is always in a pew for one because I am shunned. Even though I am as chaste as the day is long.

Aren’t stereotypes fun?

When people on this forum post “the gay lifestyle” and the “gay agenda” they are seeming to imply that everyone with SSA has the exact same “Lifestyle and agenda”.

We all have different lifestyle and agenda, so that stereotype could not be further from the truth.

To just see me would make that clear. I don’t wear pink, makeup or feminized clothing.
I am also a big man former body builder and wear western clothes since I am a Texan.

Hi andrewstx, why are you shunned at Mass? Are you saying it’s because you are homosexual?