GAY TRUTH

So Disney is going to have an “ exclusively gay moment ” in the live-action film version of   Beauty and the Beast.   It’s not going to be a big thing, just a moment in the action of LeFou the manservant. Something “nice.” Something very feelings-oriented. That news follows close upon Disney Studios’  first animated same-sex kiss . We’ve been talking about this behind the scenes here at  The Stream.  Al Perrotta, our managing editor, made this prediction by email: Let’s not kid ourselves. The reason you put in a lighthearted, perhaps even obvious, gay attraction theme in  Beauty and the Beast  is to soften the ground so a Disney princess or heroine can be gay. That’s the goal. They’ll get away with it here because it’s likely to be humorous, over-the-top fun, and done with much skill. (The  Modern Family  lesson well applied. And the film’s director Bill Condon is no slouch.) But I guarantee Disney is eyeballing a feature w...

Conservative Christian groups unveiled a media campaign to oppose same-sex marriage with a full page ad in Sunday’s New York Times .The “Declaration of Dependence” pledges reliance on God and the Bible and is modeled on the Declaration of Independence . It cites among the “unalienable rights,” the right to “exercise our Christian beliefs as put forth in God’s Holy Bible.” “We . . . reserve to right to refuse any mandate by the government that forces us to fund or support abortion,” it says. “We are asking for 1 million signatures,” said Karen Conrad, director of marketing for Andrew Wommack Ministries of Colorado Springs, which paid for the advertisement. Among the original signers of the declaration are a number of well-known ministers such as David Barton , founder of WallBuilders of Aledo, Texas , Kenneth Copeland of Newark, Texas , Dr. Bob Nichols of Calvary Cathedral of Fort Worth and Creflo Dollar of College Park, Georgia . According to the website DependenceonGod.com , su...

In a prominent video on its website’s homepage, a Catholic university is promoting an alumnus who left his wife to pursue same-sex relationships and homosexual activism. Loyola Marymount University (LMU), which only recently   reinstated an employee who faced a “hate crime” investigation for her Catholic, pro-family views on human sexuality , is celebrating its former student and openly gay professional baseball player Billy Bean with a video touting his LGBT activism. The video, titled “Billy Bean’s Path to MLB Ambassador for Inclusion,” details Bean’s journey from LMU star baseball player to Major League Baseball (MLB) player to LGBT activist. Bean now is the MLB’s “Ambassador for Inclusion,” a role designed to provide “guidance and training related to efforts to support those in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community throughout Major League Baseball” and develop “educational training initiatives against sexism, homophobia and prejudice,” accordi...

Southern Baptists will be heading for Baltimore in just a few days, and the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention is to be held in a city that has not hosted the convention since 1940. This time, Baptists attending the meeting will face an issue that would not have been imaginable just a few years ago, much less in 1940 — a congregation that affirms same-sex relationships. Just days before the convention, news broke that a congregation in suburban Los Angeles has decided to affirm same-sex sexuality and relationships. In an hour-long video posted on the Internet, Pastor Danny Cortez explains his personal change of mind and position on the issue of homosexuality and same-sex relationships. He also addressed the same issues in a letter posted at Patheos.com. In the letter, Cortez describes a sunny day at the beach in August of 2013 when “I realized I no longer believed in the traditional teachings regarding homosexuality.” Shortly thereafter, he told his 15-year-old ...

EVERY PERSON COMES TO THE matter of homosexuality with an established opinion, which has been shaped by a worldview. By worldview I mean a person’s concept of self, the world, and everything else. Every worldview encompasses what one views as real, the nature of truth, how we come to know what is true, and how we define what is “good” in an ethical sense. One’s worldview determines whether homosexuality is perceived as right or wrong. My own worldview is founded upon my confidence in the existence of a creating and governing God . This God has spoken or communicated both in general revelation through the created order and in the special revelations of Scripture and His Son, Jesus Christ . General revelation includes the complexity of the design and creation of the human body, the awareness of the spiritual self and conscience, and the unfolding of a plan that is shown through history. Reality encompasses both seen and unseen dimensions, the earthly and the heavenly. Jesus Chris...

An “LGBT” ministry at a New York City Catholic parish participates in and promotes gay 'Pride' events, promotes groups that encourage those with same-sex attraction to join the lifestyle, and otherwise implicitly encourages those suffering with same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria to act upon their inclinations in conflict with Church teaching. Out at St Paul ( OSP ) is a group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and “transgender” individuals hosted by the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City. The group states that it “seeks to engage our Catholic faith through service to our community, social activities and the exploration of Catholic spirituality.” St. Paul the Apostle is the mother church of the Paulist Fathers , the religious community that runs Paulist Press, which recently published a book by German Cardinal Walter Kasper , the leading force behind a proposal at last year’s Extraordinary Synod on the Family to allow Communion for divorced and civilly remar...

Moses with the tablets of the Ten Commandments, painting by Rembrandt (1659) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) To determine whether God considers homosexuality a universal wrong, one should consider other references to the practice. The defense of the thesis that homosexuality was the sin of Sodom and Gibeah provides support identifying its universality. Interpretation cannot relegate Sodom and Gibeah to Jewish ritual or ceremonial law. Most revisionist interpreters admit that Sodom was destroyed centuries before God gave the Law. The existence of toʿeba in Ezekiel 16, argues for the universality of the prohibition of sodomy. There, three terms—zōnāh, toʿeba, and zimmah—seem to be synonymous. Ezekiel compares Jerusalem to Sodom and says that she has walked according to Sodom’s abominations (vv. 46ff.). In verse 50, Ezekiel applies toʿeba to Sodom. Paul clearly describes homosexuality as the sin to which God delivers the Gentiles because they turn to idolatry (Rom. 1:24–27). Paul’s desc...