The Good News in New Jersey

Even if the "homosexual offenders" were not to inherit the kingdom of God, that does not mean the law should punish them by depriving them of the same legal rights as heterosexual couples.

Today is a happy day at Harvard. At
about 3 pm, the highest court of New Jersey, the home state of many of my
classmates, ruled that homosexual couples will be entitled to the same rights
as heterosexual couples, although they have yet to decide whether the state
will issue marriages or civil unions. At a school where over 10% of the student
body is gay, this is big news. Unlike many Christians here, I’m happy for them.

With such a high proportion of gay,
lesbian, bisexual or transvestite students, it is more than likely that if you
go to Harvard, you will find out that one or more of your close friends are
gay. I, for one, have been blessed by the friendship of many gay students, with
whom I discuss our future aspirations: where will be live, what we will do for
a living, what life will be like when we are married to the man of our dreams.
I am convinced that homosexuality is not a choice; that God made certain people
gay. I am also convinced that my gay friends have the right to spend the rest
of their lives with someone that they love, and love often entails physical
attraction.

I wasn’t so sure that such a partnership
between two gay people necessitated the state’s approval until three years ago
when I attended a presentation by one of Massachusetts’
foremost gay rights lawyers. She presented the importance of the recognizing
gay civil unions by showing how difficult it was to protect the rights of gay
couples prior to the Massachusetts’
decision to recognize gay unions. In one case, a gay man was forbidden from
seeing his partner, who was on his deathbed. The family of the dying man did
not approve of their union, and so forbid the two from seeing one another, a
ban which would not have been possible if they were a heterosexual couple whose
union had been legally recognized by the state. But because they were gay, the
state’s protection for their union did not apply. This and many other cases
highlight the importance of recognizing gay unions.

But, conservative Christians often
protest, isn’t homosexuality against the Bible? For example, Paul says in I Corinthians 6:9-10: “Do you not know
that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom
of God? Do not be
deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male
prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards
nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
Perhaps. I have my doubts, which is another topic for another day, but even if
homosexuality is a sin, it does not mean I cannot love my friends who are
homosexuals. Lying is a sin; I love my friends who I know lie. If I only cared
about people who were not sinners, I would have no friends.

Furthermore, even if the “homosexual
offenders” were not to inherit the kingdom
of God, that does not mean
the law should punish them by depriving them of the same legal rights as
heterosexual couples. Not more than a page later, Paul says, “To the married I
give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her
husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to
her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife,” and yet our laws do not
prevent people from getting divorced or from remarrying. (I Corinthians
7:10-11)

 
As we are all too often reminded, the laws of this world are not
those of Heaven. We, and certainly the government, cannot force people to be
Christian, or to live like Christians. But what we can do is to love them, and
to support their quest for life, liberty and happiness.