Anti-Gay

You'll hear the term anytime a Christian speaks out about the morality of the behavior. The media almost certainly will refer to them as "anti-gay remarks" or something like it. Oh, sure, you'll hear it when some nutjob like the Westboro Baptist types says, "God hates fags," and we all get that. It is, without a doubt, "anti-gay" because they are opposed to the existence of such a thing. But when applied to your average, everyday Al Mohler or John MacArthur or Atlanta Fire Chief Kevin Cochran who are simply saying, "The Bible says that behavior is a sin," I have to wonder if the accusation is accurate.

So let's take it apart and look. We get "anti". You're opposed to something. "Antifreeze" opposes freezing. Easy. An "anti-terrorism" group would be working to stop terrorism. No problem. So this term, whatever it means, is opposed in some way to the subsequent "gay". So, what is "gay"? Now that all depends. If you asked me as a youth, it was commonly used to refer to being happy, or, perhaps, to cheerful colors. "She was gayly dressed" meant simply she wore bright and cheerful clothes. "Everyone was feeling gay" meant they were all happy. In its original sense, that's what it meant. By the middle of the 17th century, a second use became "an immoral or loose life". In the 1920's, right alongside the "happy" theme, it could be used to refer not only to a promiscuous man, but to one who had sex with other men. It was, apparently, just such men who drove the meaning from "cheerful" to "homosexual". They felt "homosexual" was demeaning, but "gay" sounded less offensive. By 1955 it was their mostly private term for themselves. In my youth it still meant "happy", but that has long since been excised from the word. So, when we say something is "anti-gay" today, what do we mean?

Well, I'm still unclear. You see, "homosexual" once referred to the acts committed by same and, therefore, so did "gay" in that sense. "Homosexual" today is primarily a reference to a state of being. People are offended if you call it a "preference"; it's an "orientation". They're "born that way." It is likened to race. It's a birth condition and you can't do anything about it. Never mind that people routinely move in and out of just such an "orientation". Set aside any evidence that it's flexible, even a choice. And by no means consider the moral question. It is just part of a definition of particular people. Thus, "gay" no longer means "what they do", but "who they are". So, is that in view with the concept of "anti-gay"?

When Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church says "God hates fags", he is "anti-gay" by any definition of the term. He is opposed to their behavior. He is opposed to their existence. But when Louie Giglio, that guy nixed from the Obama inauguration in 2013 because of his "anti-gay sermon" said, "We’ve got to say to the homosexuals, the same thing that I say to you and that you would say to me … it’s not easy to change, but it is possible to change," was that opposition to people or to an act? When the Bible says, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 6:9-10), is that opposition to people or to an act?

So we come down to the question of the meaning of words again. If, by "anti-gay", you mean "Anyone who makes a moral judgment on people who identify themselves by their sexual attraction to the same gender", I don't believe it's accurate. Sure, there are some, but I think those are the exceptions, not the rule. On the other hand, if the Bible is correct in warning that those who practice homosexual behavior will not inherit the kingdom of God and people warn them about that, can that be classified as "anti"?

If the term "gay" refers to a behavior, then Christians are "anti-gay". That's because the Bible is anti-gay ... in that sense. If the term "gay" refers to a definition of a particular group of people, then Christians aren't--should not be--anti-gay. And warning those people who categorize themselves by that term is not opposition to those people. It is a service. So, tell me again. Just what do you mean by "anti-gay"?