UNDERSTANDING HOMOSEXUALITY

by Bernadette Chow

[This article first appeared in the October 2003 edition of Catholic Asian News and is reproduced with permission. Click here to read an article about the seminar written by Kenneth Lau.]

The Family Life Society of the Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore organised a public forum on understanding the issue of Homosexuality, which featured five speakers who covered pastoral, medical, legal, personal and theological perspectives.

Pastoral Care

La Sallean Brother Michael Brighton an experienced educator, speaking from the pastoral perspective, lamented that dialogue with homosexuals was lacking in the church's approach to the issue. " Right up to now we talk about them. We say what's wrong with them, but there's no dialogue with them," he said.

He noted that there were no trained, dedicated or specialised pastoral care either in Singapore and Malaysia. Owing to this, he felt that "paranoia comes into an area that you know less", which therefore can be damaging in attempting to offer pastoral care.

"Counsellors and pastoral agents are anxious to keep the balance of sticking to the teachings of the Church and being pastoral", he added. The Church's exhortation of "love the sinner, hate the sin" could get a bit murky when drawing a line between the person and the action. He also noted that the language used in the documents from the Church on this issue was not contemporary and hoped that with more dialogue with homosexual themselves, better guidelines with clearer understanding could evolve.

Medical Perspective

Dr Ian Snodgrass, speaking from the medical view point, expounded the pertinent question as to whether homosexuality is caused by genes or the environment. He explained that errors could happen in the formation of the XY chromosomes in the determination of the sex, resulting in a "female" with testes and a "male" without testes.

Quoting from "The Biology Research on Homosexuality" (Dr Jeffrey Satinover), he however, said that no "gay gene" had been found and that 90% of those with homosexual tendencies have " broken relationships with the same gender parent, ineffective bonding, no role model, no affirmation, no security" . It was concluded that biological, family and social factors worked together to set the stage for homosexuality.

He was quick to add that there was a need to separate being "formed that way" from "acting that way". Citing that just as a person been born a diabetic did not mean one did not need treatment, he said that being born with bad genes or being brought up badly did not mean they could not do anything to overcome them.

He also said that homosexual practices are dangerous to one's health, citing the more prevalent diseases that are common in homosexuals.

Legal View

Lawyer Thomas Aqbal started off by citing the recent Ontario Court of Appeal case where two men won the right to marry and the US Supreme Court decision preventing state legislatures from enacting laws prohibiting oral and anal intercourse. He said that these decisions overturned centuries of traditional laws (institution of marriage) in the name of a free and democratic society (which he termed a new religion).

He said that no new ideology could erase the tradition of a marriage between a male and a female (who are God's co-creators) which was prevalent in every culture.

He was of the opinion that as Catholics we should be pro-active and play our part in affecting the impact of these decisions as "legal developments are also influenced by culture and the way you practice your religion".

Personal Struggle

Leslie Lung who authored a book called Freedom of Choice, which tells of stories of people's struggles to free themselves from sexual bondage, shared one of the stories contained in the book.

The story captured the vivid, poignant and even traumatic struggle of a male who found himself being attracted to another male and his final realisation that there could be real freedom only if it was limited by responsibility and sensibility.

Theological Perspective

Dominican Friar David Garcia said that Scripture, tradition and teachings of the Church coincide consistently in the rejection of homosexual practices. Quoting extensively from scriptures (Gen 19:1-11; Lv 18:22; Lv 20:13, Rm 1: 18-32; 1 Tim 1:10; 1 Cor 6:9) and teachings of the Church (CCC 2357-2359, 2396), he said that God intended man and woman to be one flesh in the marital act, sharing in the creative power of God through reproduction.

He pointed out the consistent rejection of homosexual practices in both Old and New Testament in spite of being surrounded by cultures that accepted those practices.

He also said that God created complementarity (Gen 2:18ff; Mt 19:4; 1 Cor 6:16) and cited three elements of God's plan for marriage:

• Male and female in the image of God
• Communion of persons using the sexual faculty.
• Sexual complementarity and fruitfulness

Homosexual acts fail to meet these elements.

However, he reiterated that only the sin was condemned, not the homosexual person. Homosexuals "must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided." (Letter on the pastoral care of homosexual persons, Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith).

Drawing a distinction between curable and incurable homosexuals, Garcias urged Christian homosexuals to "enact the will of God in their life by joining whatever suffering and difficulties they experience in virtue of their condition to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross".

He reminded Christians who are homosexual that they are called, as everybody else, to a chaste life, saying that chastity is also part of sex. Chastity controls the sexual urge ordering it to the communication of love, and it can go to the extent of choosing to renounce the use of the sexual faculty.