Some people DISGUISE their homophobia under a veil of supposed religious beliefs by PICKING AND CHOOSING “OUT OF CONTEXT” passages to fuel their ANTIGAY hatred. Guess what? The bible also bans the following! >>
Divorcing Someone -MARK 10:8
Cursing -EPHESIANS 5:4
Football on Saturdays -EXODUS 20:8
FROM LEVITICUS:
Shaving & Getting Tattoos On Your Body 19:27-28
Gossip 19:16
Eating Lobster or Pork 11:10
Wearing Cotton/Polyester Blends 19:19
Associating With Women Who Are On Their Periods 15:19-20
Further, heterosexuals have DESTROYED the sanctity of marriage with a 50% divorce rate, 1 out 3 straight women MURDER babies through abortion, MILLIONS of heterosexuals DEFY God's "Ten Commandment" to not "commit adultery," 1 out 5 women in the USA will be raped or sexually assaulted by straight men in their lifetime, millions of heterosexuals have MULTIPLE marriages, or marry for wealth, opportunity and other UN-Christian reasons, and 40% of children in the USA are born to parent's "out of wedlock" (unmarried).
Moreover, the bible has lead to the slaughter of more people than ALL wars combined "in the name of God.” The bible has been used to persecute Jews, to prove that Whites can OWN Blacks as slaves, and now individuals want to "butt" into my life and say I can't marry who I want. All of the aforementioned has been sanctioned and is currently being instigated (anti-gay animus) by Christianity.
In his book, "Holy Horrors," James Haught chronicles 1,000 years of RELIGIOUS HATE (the Witch Hunts, Crusades, Holy Inquisition, and anti-Jew sentiment). Also, Richard Rubenstein wrote in, “After Auschwitz: Religion and the Origins of the Death Camps,” that the Nazis "did not invent a new villain...they took over the 2,000-year-old Christian tradition of the Jew as a villain. The roots of the death camps must be sought in the mythic structure of Christianity."
Here's just one biblical passage that fueled Jewish hatred: "You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, "WHO KILLED THE LORD JESUS" [...]. The wrath of God has come upon them at last." (1 Thessalonians 2:14-16).
Throughout history, people have also used biblical passages to VALIDATE slavery. The book, "Noah’s Curse" by Stephen Haynes explains that the biblical passage, "A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren," reads Noah’s CURSE on Ham. Ham is later identified as the ancestor of black Africans, and historically, this biblical passage has been used to JUSTIFY Black slavery.
Also, many Christian clergymen SUPPORTED SLAVERY. Larry Hise says in his book, "Pro Slavery," that ministers "wrote almost half of all defenses of slavery published in America." He also lists 250 religious men who USED the Bible to say that Whites were entitled to own Blacks as slaves.
James Haught says, "Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burned, tortured, fined, and imprisoned, yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of the coercion? To make one half of the world fools and the other half hypocrites."
In 1967, when the Supreme Court ruled interracial marriage bans as unconstitutional, 72% of Americans were AGAINST "interracial marriage." Most Americans did NOT want Whites to marry Blacks, Whites to marry Latinos and Whites to marry Asians. MOST Americans believed that interracial marriage was immoral, unnatural, and contrary to God's will.
Further, marriage has NEVER been between 1 man and 1 woman. In the bible: King David had 6 wives, King Solomon had 700 wives, and Rehoboam had 18 wives. In Exodus 21:10, it even says: "a man can marry an infinite amount of women without any limits to how many he can marry." So, yes, the institution of marriage DID change and HAS evolved over time.
As it relates to LGBT rights, people can spin their "erroneous" interpretation of religion all they want. However, thankfully, I can choose to believe what they believe, or NOT believe what they believe, and I can be a part of a religion, or NO religion. That's MY right as a US citizen.
Also, a religious book DOES NOT "trump" our US Constitution. NOWHERE in our US Constitution does it say Blacks and Whites couldn't marry (when it was ILLEGAL at one time), nor does it say same sex couples cannot marry. As such, all "bible" arguments are INVALID. Our "country's bible" is the US Constitution, NOT a religious book!
Lastly, as long as our government IS involved in marriage, religion has NO place in these discussions. We DON'T live in a theocracy, we live in a DEMOCRACY. Equal rights belong to EVERYONE, including LGBT Americans!