SEXUAL EXPRESSION AS A SACRAMENT

I wrote this post a few years ago and would like to reprint it at this time:

The following excerpt is taken from Michelangelo Signorile's Sirius radio program, where he interviewed former Gay rights activist Michael Glatze who says he renounced, and now denounces, homosexuality, having become a professing Christian. Part of what he said is as follows:

"Every time I was tempted to lust, I noticed it, caught it, dealt with it. I called it what it was, and then just let it disappear on its own. A huge and vital difference exists between superficial admiration -- of yourself, or others -- and integral admiration. In loving ourselves fully, we no longer need anything from the 'outside' world of lustful desire, recognition from others, or physical satisfaction. Our drives become intrinsic to our very essence, unbridled by neurotic distractions...Now I know that homosexuality is lust and pornography wrapped into one."

Although he's quite young, he is doing great violence to himself and to so many other Gay people, by spouting the same lies that the "ex-gay" industry has been spouting for years, garnering psychological and/or material gain based on a discredited ideology that does immeasurable harm to countless numbers of Gay people and their families.

First of all, denying one's sexuality is not the same thing as transforming oneself from being Gay to being Straight! So many "ex-gays" have appealed to their celibacy, and their love of Jesus, when asked about such alleged change. I've rarely heard of a case where when one is asked about his/her apparent transformation regarding his/her sexual orientation, who said that his/her erotic and emotional attachments have become deeper with members of the opposite gender than with people of his/her own gender.

Glatze epitomizes this fact when he says, "In loving ourselves fully, we no longer need anything from the 'outside' world of lustful desire, recognition from others, or physical satisfaction." I didn't hear him say here that his primary affectional/sexual interests have shifted from men to women!

Not needing "anything from the outside world" doesn't even come close to even hinting at such a transformation! No longer needing "lustful desire" or "physical satisfaction," is certainly not very healthy in and of itself, to say nothing of them being indicative of anything other than the expressions of one who loathes himself for being who he is, Gay, and substituting renunciation of that label into one, not of becoming "heterosexual," but into one of self-denial, which is a far cry from transformation from being Gay to being heterosexual!

Moreover, he says, when one loves him/herself fully, "Our drives become intrinsic to our very essence, unbridled by neurotic distractions." The implication here is that Gay people can't possibly love themselves fully; only heterosexuals can do that, which, of course, is foolish on its face. And, if many Gay people don't "love themselves fully," it's because of the Glatzes of the world who distort the reality of being Gay, and publicly demean and condemn it every chance they get.

No! When we love ourselves fully, and are emotionally/sexually healthy, be we Gay or Straight, our drives don't "become intrinsic to our very essence, unbridled by neurotic distractions," but we recognize that our drives ARE intrinsic to our very essence, and they are, indeed, unbridled by "neurotic distractions," as such drives are healthy and normal, and should be celebrated as gifts from God!

Finally, he says, "Now I know that homosexuality is lust and pornography wrapped into one." As if heterosexuality isn't frequently just that! Gay people have no more of a corner in their interest in pornography than do Straight people! If anyone doesn't believe this basic fact of life, I have a bridge to sell them!

Healthy heterosexuality and healthy homosexuality and their expression is good for us! It expresses the deepest intimacy possible between two people who love each other. It nurtures the other person and, as such, nurtures ourselves! Expression of our sexuality in the context of love between two adults, be they same gender or opposite gender, is healthy and good, and is truly a gift from God!

Indeed, the expression of healthy sexuality is a profoundly spiritual act! But the confused or twisted Glatzes of the world, not only are deprived of this ability, but impose their own distorted views of love and sex onto others, claiming that they are living godly lives by so doing, when all the while they are denying the very gift that God has given to all of his children, so that in both heterosexuality and in homosexuality loving physical union represents the deep intimacy that God has with each and every one of His children.

There is absolutely NOTHING in a vibrant and healthy expression of one's sexuality that is in any way inconsistent with one's spirituality! Indeed, such expression is a wonderful, fulfilling, manifestation of that spirituality!

If we just stopped listening to the rhetoric of emotionally/sexually warped or confused people who are, unfortunately, given so much media attention, and listened to our own deepest desires placed there by God Himself, we would learn that we are not only expressing emotional/sexual health, but we are listening to God and are to become very grateful for His gift of sexuality (as we are for all the other wonderful gifts He has given us) with which He blesses us, whether we be Gay or Straight!

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