By Al Williams

This gay marriage thing is one of the most emotional issues here since Prop.1. It redefines marriage in a way that obviates millennia of traditional concepts of normality. Estimates of homosexual population range from 2 percent to 20 percent which is more than most of us thought. It apparently is endemic to all races, ethnic groups, and families, as well as in the animal world as cited by a Supreme Court decision. Moreover, growing indications are that it isn’t a choice so much as it is a deep integral part of a person determined by genetic specificity and perhaps influenced by environmental experiences.

Opinions about it range from abominable abhorrence with militant malevolence to perplexed acceptance or gracious understanding. Some writers have cited the Christian Bible in support of their notions. That’s interesting since anyone who has independently read that pile of ancient literature rather than with supervised prejudice or self-serving notions, has to recognize that it is so diverse that one can pick and choose support for just about any concept, theology, or social compact one wants from peace to war, or polygamy and concubinage to monogamy. That ancient cultures had homosexuality to consider is evident in its pages too. It isn’t an aberration that suddenly popped into modern life.

The most militant biblical opposition comes from writings of the Apostle Paul who while being the most prolific writer of the Bible’s New Testament, was not one of Jesus’ disciples, didn’t learn from Jesus himself, did not become an apostle until after Jesus departed from Earth, and the basis of his alleged apostolic authority are all from his own accounts. What’s more, his writings and attitudes are nearly 180 degrees different from those of Jesus of whom I’ve found no record of even mentioning homosexuality even though it had to have been as prevalent in his time as that of the alleged apostle. So how can Christendom condemn homosexuality? Certainly it is creepy-crawly-strange to most of us which makes it hard to understand, appreciate, or accept. But ungodly?

I was among those rejecting any thought of acceptance until discovering that we have respectable members of our own family so “afflicted,” one of whom told me that I had no idea what it is like to wake up one day to realize that you are no longer a beloved member of the family, but instead are detested and ostracized because of something you had no choice in becoming. So how could either God or we condemn someone for something that had no choice?

We are a democracy where majority rules. But we also are a people with feelings and conscience. We go out of our way to provide for the rights of minorities which is good since most of us have found ourselves as part of a minority of one kind or another somewhere along the line. The institution of Domestic Partnerships recognized the rights of this minority. But gay marriage? Should the normality of human life on this planet over many centuries be redefined? Will it pass the test of time? I guess we’re about to find out.

Al Williams lives in Oak Harbor