I received a letter the other day from my step-grandmother.
The Lord had put it upon her heart to write to me about the "homosexual way of life." She included a tract from church which lamented the horrors of a homosexual lifestyle.
Businessdictionary.com has a very good definition of lifestyle:
"Way of living of individuals, families (households), and societies, which they manifest in coping with their physical, psychological, social, and economic environments on a day-to-day basis. Lifestyle is expressed in both work and leisure behavior patterns and (on an individual basis) in activities, attitudes, interests, opinions, values, and allocation of income. It also reflects people's self image or self concept; the way they see themselves and believe they are seen by the others. Lifestyle is a composite of motivations, needs, and wants and is influenced by factors such as culture, family, reference groups, and social class..."
Stereotyping is one of the oldest tools in the book for keeping a hated group isolated and feared.
The idea that there is a "homosexual lifestyle" is the first myth we have to overcome.
How ridiculous!
What is the heterosexual lifestyle? Do they all have the same activities, attitudes, interests, and allocate their income in the same manner?
Talk with anyone who admonishes the "homosexual lifestyle" and ask them if they actually know any homosexuals.
My step-grandmother has never been to my home - not in 42 years. I have actually seen her about 20 full days in my life. Her opinions about my lifestyle are purely based on what her church tells her my lifestyle is about. She, and others like her, will not learn any different because they will hold firm to their stereotype. Because they have used the Bible to justify their mythical beliefs, they will accept no evidence that would contradict it.
Actually getting to know GLBT people would shatter the "lifestyle" myth. Examining their Bible in full context would shatter their literalist myth. Insisting that every single verse in the Bible be applied in it's most literal interpretation would expose the foolishness of their views.
There is no more a homosexual way of life than there is a heterosexual way of life.
Stereotyping is bigotry even when you use the Bible to justify it.
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