Rev. Al Mohler causes a firestorm with comments

To say Al Mohler's blog article on March 2, 2007, Is Your Baby Gay? What If You Could Know? What If You Could Do Something About It? caused all "hell" to break loose on both sides is an understatement. Why? The evangelicals accused Mohler of conceding that "homosexuality" is genetic, which is what the evangelicals count on not being true so that they can say we "choose" our "homosexual lifestyle." (Note the quotes around "homosexual lifestyle" and click here to see how the religious right and others have co-opted this term to denigrate gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons). The GLBT community accused Mohler of wanting to "genetically" tamper with babies in utero if it was determined that the unborn was going to be gay.

Then an Associated Press article, Furor Over Baptist's Gay-Baby Article, by David Crary, AP National Writer, followed on March 14, 2007, brought it to national attention in newspapers throughout the country. We read it in the Colorado Gazette while we were in Colorado Springs to "face the judge" for our Feb. 19 arrest at Focus on the Family for an act of civil disobedience.

Mohler denies that either side has it right and wrote a follow-up article on his blog, Was it Something I Said? Continuing to Think About Homosexuality. He seems flabbergasted at the firestorm, starting out the article,

"I must admit much frustration about the way many in the media have handled the issue. Headlines proclaimed "Seminary President Says Babies Born Gay" -- something I neither believe nor said. Other articles and reports claimed that I suggested that homosexuality may be genetic in origin and that genetic therapies should be used to create customized and corrected babies. I never even mentioned genetic therapies or germ-line experiments, and I am adamantly opposed to genetic therapies of such a sort -- real or hypothetical. Reading these reports and headlines was a painful and exasperating experience. If I believed those things attributed to me, I would not agree with myself and would condemn myself."

For some of you, this might be like saying "Who's Waldo?" when everyone else was playing that game "Where's Waldo" as they looked for Waldo in a picture. So, if you are thinking, "Who's Mohler?" keep reading. He is the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

How do I believe we need to approach this situation? I have said for a long time that our argument that "we are born this way" is the wrong one. Why? The truth is we don't know WHAT causes sexual orientation, homosexual or heterosexual, or gender identity. True, most of us become "aware of who we are attracted to," and that natural attraction (which, indeed, is not "chosen," but is an aspect of ourselves to which we become aware) defines our sexual orientation as being either homosexual (attracted to same gender) or heterosexual (attracted to opposite gender) or bisexual (if we are attracted to both genders). Likewise, gender identity happens "between the ears." It is the sense that we have of ourselves as either male or female. Sometimes, that sense of ourselves does not equate with the biological equipment with which we were born.

Why am I mentioning this? I have encouraged our community to elevate the arguments above the level in which they are normally rooted, the one of saying "We are born this way" so that people will not in any fashion be able to accuse us of "choosing" either our sexual orientation or gender identity. The problelm with this approach is that we are feeding right into the hands of the religious right. This week, we got a glimpse of how that is starting to shape up.

I believe that we need to rise above the hooks and triggers to say, "It is curious to understand more about how sexual orientation and/or gender identity occur, but it doesn't matter HOW it happens, discrimination is wrong...period!" Cut to the chase. I don't become defensive if people say I have "chosen" to be who I am. It doesn't bother me at all. Frankly, I feel that "who I am" is a gift to the world, just like it is for any other person, and that I honor and respect myself. A person should not be discriminated against merely on the basis of sexual orientation, whether that is homosexual or heterosexual, or on the basis of gender identity...period...no matter "how" it occurs. Again, discrimination is wrong...period!

Back to what has happened this week. If you missed what caused the "flap," read what Mohler said at the end of Is Your Baby Gay? What If You Could Know? What If You Could Do Something About It?

"Christians must be very careful not to claim that science can never prove a biological basis for sexual orientation. We can and must insist that no scientific finding can change the basic sinfulness of all homosexual behavior. The general trend of the research points to at least some biological factors behind sexual attraction, gender identity, and sexual orientation."

My thoughts? Well, I think that Mohler stays abreast of ALL the current research involving homosexuality. He and others now realize that they are losing the battle regarding society (especially young people) accepting AND celebrating people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender, just like they would any other human being. They are losing control and they don't like it. That means that they now have to change direction regarding their approach. They are now pitting "moral" choices against one another. See how he weaves that in his response article which I previously mentioned, Was it Something I Said? Continuing to Think About Homosexuality.

As long as he is considering the dynamics involving weeding out a child for being gay, it brings up other questions. What if people want to "choose" a gay child. What happens if they turn out to be heterosexual? Will they be able to sue their doctor? Or, vice versa. Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out makes gives some great food for thought regarding some of the dynamics that Mohler might want to re-consider, now that he is opening up Pandora's box. Click here to read.

In another generation, this will all be over. The majority will come to realize, much like the civil rights era, that this over arching disminishing of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people was a horrific tragedy and unnecessary in a free country. As in the past, there will be apologies.

One last article that he has written is called The Compassion of Truth: Homosexuality in Biblical Perspective. I don't know about you, but if this is "compassion," I don't need any.

Check out the articles and let me know what you think.

Namaste, Dotti