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== Biblical Views on Homosexuality ==

== Biblical Views on Homosexuality ==

Homosexuality is referred to four times in the Bible; it is not a topic mentioned by Jesus in the four gospels, and the only reference in the New Testament is in the letters of Paul. As the Bible is the source of western morality, it is obvious that a biblical condemnation of homosexuality should translate into a legal one in the western world.

Homosexuality is referred to four times in the Bible; it is not a topic mentioned by Jesus in the four gospels, and the only reference in the New Testament is in the letters of Paul.  

<small>All references in Amplified Version</small>

<small>All references in Amplified Version</small>

* Leviticus 18:22 - ''You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.''

* Leviticus 18:22 - ''You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.''

* Leviticus 20:13 - ''If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.''

* Leviticus 20:13 - ''If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.''

=== New Testament (Epistles) ===

=== New Testament (Epistles) ===

* 1 Corinthians 6:9 - Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality

* 1 Corinthians 6:9 - Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality

* Romans 1:26-27 - ²⁶ For this reason God gave them over and abandoned them to vile affections and degrading passions. For their women exchanged their natural function for an unnatural and abnormal one, ²⁷ and the men also turned from natural relations with women and were set ablaze (burning out, consumed) with lust for one another--men committing shameful acts with men and suffering in their own bodies and personalities the inevitable consequences and penalty of their wrong-doing and going astray, which was [their] fitting retribution.

* Romans 1:26-27 - ²⁶ For this reason God gave them over and abandoned them to vile affections and degrading passions. For their women exchanged their natural function for an unnatural and abnormal one, ²⁷ and the men also turned from natural relations with women and were set ablaze (burning out, consumed) with lust for one another--men committing shameful acts with men and suffering in their own bodies and personalities the inevitable consequences and penalty of their wrong-doing and going astray, which was [their] fitting retribution.

== Homosexuality in the Law ==

== Homosexuality in the Law ==

Treatment of homosexuals by the law has increasingly suggested that discrimination based on homosexuality employs a "[[suspect classification]]" subject to "[[strict scrutiny]]" under modern [[Fourteenth Amendment]] jurisprudence, with judges and scholars employing language to equate discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation with already forbidden racial discrimination practices.<ref>Pamela S. Karlan, "Loving Lawrence," available online at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=512662</ref>  Where federal law forbidding discrimination against homosexuals remains scant, the several states have more than taken up the burden, and many have made sexual-orientation based discrimination actionable at law and equity.<ref>See, e.g., N.Y.C. Admin. Code, s 8-107</ref>  Perhaps this can be seen as an example of the robustness of the [[United States]]' [[federal system]], as the states are acting just as [[Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes]] and [[Justice Brandeis]] expressed hope that they would, as "laboratories" of experimentation on the border of developed federal law.<ref>Brest, Levinson, et al, "Processes in Constitutional Decisionmaking: Cases and Materials," Fifth Edition.</ref>

Treatment of homosexuals by the law has increasingly suggested that discrimination based on homosexuality employs a "[[suspect classification]]" subject to "[[strict scrutiny]]" under modern [[Fourteenth Amendment]] jurisprudence, with judges and scholars employing language to equate discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation with already forbidden racial discrimination practices.<ref>Pamela S. Karlan, "Loving Lawrence," available online at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=512662</ref>  Where federal law forbidding discrimination against homosexuals remains scant, the several states have more than taken up the burden, and many have made sexual-orientation based discrimination actionable at law and equity.<ref>See, e.g., N.Y.C. Admin. Code, s 8-107</ref>  Perhaps this can be seen as an example of the robustness of the [[United States]]' [[federal system]], as the states are acting just as [[Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes]] and [[Justice Brandeis]] expressed hope that they would, as "laboratories" of experimentation on the border of developed federal law.<ref>Brest, Levinson, et al, "Processes in Constitutional Decisionmaking: Cases and Materials," Fifth Edition.</ref>

==Homosexuality in Humans and Genetics and Environment==

==Homosexuality in Humans and Genetics and Environment==

Statistical studies give ample evidence that homosexuality is not caused entirely by genetics<ref>http://www.pureintimacy.org/gr/homosexuality/a0000057.cfm</ref>, although genetics plays a part, along with the environment.  For example, research has shown that adoptive brothers are more likely to both be homosexuals than the biological brothers, who share half their genes.  In the journal ''Science'' it is reported that, "this . . . suggests that there is no genetic component, but rather an environmental component shared in families" <ref>(''Science'', Vol. 262, page 2063, December 24, 1993)</ref><ref>http://www.trueorigin.org/gaygene01.asp</ref><ref>[http://www.freetobeme.com/r_biol.htm</ref>. However, there is also a large amount of research that shows that homosexuality is caused by a combination of environment and genetis. For instance, Dean Hamer, a gay researcher, conducted a study of thirty-two pairs of brothers who were not related and exclusively homosexual. As they were not related, they should not share the same genes. However, two-thirds of the pairs (22 pairs)) shared the same type of genetic material, supporting the hypothesis that there is an existing gene that either influences homosexuality, or is caused by homosexuality.<ref>http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f97/projects97/Newman.html A report done by a student at Bryn Mawr College, but is nonetheless verifyable.</ref>

Statistical studies give ample evidence that homosexuality is not caused entirely by genetics<ref>http://www.pureintimacy.org/gr/homosexuality/a0000057.cfm</ref>, although genetics plays a part, along with the environment.  For example, research has shown that adoptive brothers are more likely to both be homosexuals than the biological brothers, who share half their genes.  In the journal ''Science'' it is reported that, "this . . . suggests that there is no genetic component, but rather an environmental component shared in families" <ref>(''Science'', Vol. 262, page 2063, December 24, 1993)</ref><ref>http://www.trueorigin.org/gaygene01.asp</ref><ref>[http://www.freetobeme.com/r_biol.htm</ref>. However, there is also a large amount of research that shows that homosexuality is caused by a combination of environment and genetis. For instance, Dean Hamer, a gay researcher, conducted a study of thirty-two pairs of brothers who were not related and exclusively homosexual. As they were not related, they should not share the same genes. However, two-thirds of the pairs (22 pairs)) shared the same type of genetic material, supporting the hypothesis that there is an existing gene that either influences homosexuality, or is caused by homosexuality.<ref>http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f97/projects97/Newman.html A report done by a student at Bryn Mawr College, but is nonetheless verifyable.</ref>