With the passage of Amendment One in North Carolina many people are discussing the Bible and sexual orientation.  A prior question is the issue of theological method.  See my blog entry  http://www.liberalbaptistrev.com/?p=3181.

Some GLBT and GLBT allies, with good intentions, try to make the Bible out to be better than it is.  A word of caution from Rebecca Alpert is in order.  Alpert, writing to a Jewish audience and from a Jewish perspective, in Like Bread on the Seder Plate:  Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition admits what must be admitted:   “the problem is not only with the reaction of Jewish individuals and institutions but with the ancient sacred texts that form the core of Jewish belief and practice.”  (p. 6)  Or put another way, the problem is not just with interpretation.  There is a problem with some Biblical texts.  And this is true for many other issues, not just sexual orientation.  It’s way past time for us to be honest about the Bible.

Here’s a link to one of my articles published in Fuse, an Australian GLBT magazine, titled “No Way To Clean Up the Bible.”  Fuse, No Way To Clean It (the Bible) Up, April 2010

http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1o5t6/FUSE13TheGaySpiritua/resources/38.htm

The good news is there are homoerotic texts in both the New Testament and the Old Testament.  (See http://www.liberalbaptistrev.com/?p=688.  They didn’t teach us this in Sunday School, did they?

As we discuss the need to rid our society of discrimination against gays let’s be honest about the Bible, even as we demand opponents of gay rights be honest about the Bible too.