A Gay Man Responds to Phil Robertson's quote in GQ

My dear Catholic brothers and sisters, 

We have to be a part of the solution, not the problem By that I mean that we all have to begin listening to one another instead of being so quick to anger and quick to get in “our” corner with “our team” against “their team”. We are all human. The Holy Father asks us to love one another and we all know that that does not mean sing around the campfire accepting sins as ok, it means loving a person despite the fact that they are sinners because God loves us despite that fact. 

This was written by Jacob Flores, the son of my best friend. I’ve known him since he was a child and I have loved him and watched him grow up into a wonderful man. I also watched his mother cry when he was being harassed by others when he was in school. It is not easy to watch that, and I’m sure it’s even harder to live through it. He’s brave, smart, courageous and I’m proud to call him my friend. 

Here’s Phil’s Original quote – “Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men. Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers — they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”

I, a proud homosexual man, am not offended. In an interview with GQ, he spoke about sin. I think what he was trying to say was that people in general are losing morality when it comes to following the bible, first, it starts with homosexuality and the development that gay is okay, and then it’ll be bestiality, then something else, and then something worse. The bible does say that men and women are ment to be together, and I really do think that it was just his opinion about the perceptions of sin. I honestly don’t think he was meaning to be hateful, but he was asked a question and he answered it honestly. I really see nothing wrong with the way he was raised and the beliefs he has come to on his own terms; that’s what he believes and it’s okay. If we as homosexuals desire the freedom to believe whatever we want to believe, then we should allow people on the opposite side of the spectrum to be able to respectfully do the same. He wasn’t being hateful in my opinion. He was just answering a question.

Right now, I see so much hate circulating through social media. So much of this hate is pointless. Everybody is so quick to judge. Everybody is so quick to share their hatred. Everybody is so quick to be angry at something. Simply knowing that there are so many hateful people out there makes me sad.

*** Any ugly comments will not be approved.

UPDATE: Comments are now closed. I thank everyone for reading this and commenting, it’s been a great conversation, but it’s the last days of Advent and I’m unplugging from the internet to enjoy the Birth of Christ. Here are a few links that I found to be great:

http://audreyassad.tumblr.com/post/70694147913/personhood-sexuality-and-phil-robertson

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/samrocha/2013/12/thoughts-on-phil-robertson-and-duck-dynasty/

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/theanchoress/2013/12/20/i-am-the-momma-bear-of-new-homophiles/

And a good book to read on the Catholic View of Marriage is

http://www.amazon.com/Men-Women-Mystery-Love-Responsibility/dp/0867168404

And you can always look up Marriage and Homosexuality in the Catechism of the Catholic Church if you want to actually know what we believe. It’s free online.

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM

Lastly, Love and Responsibility or Theology of the Body by John Paul II is also a great resource for anyone interested in what we believe and why instead of just listening to what people say we believe. There is a great Love and Responsibility PDF online that is an easy read.

Merry Christmas Ya’ll!