Is America Coming out of the Closet?

*Updated November 2015*

“Standing atop a giant wedding cake float, Aubrey Loots and Danny Leclair exchanged vows New Year’s Day in the first same-sex marriage during the Tournament of Roses Parade. Throngs of spectators cheered as the men, dressed in dark suits, faced each other and held hands before the Rev. Alfreda Lanoix, who officiated the ceremony aboard the AIDS Healthcare Foundation float.”^[1] This was a 2014 report by the Associated Press. It is now clear that the year 2014 ushered in a new era of homosexual acceptance within the United States of America.

Only weeks after the Rose Parade, the nation was again exposed to a live same-sex wedding ceremony on national television. According to the Washington Post, “Thirty-three gay and straight couples got married at the Grammy Awards on Sunday in a public ceremony officiated by Queen Latifah and soundtracked, appropriately, by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ same-sex marriage anthem ‘Same Love.’”^[2]

Today it is nearly impossible to avoid the issue of homosexuality. It is continually paraded before every stratum of society. In fact, according to a 2008 World Net Daily article titled “Decision to Teach Kids to Be ‘Gay’ Allowed to Stand:”

A federal court decision approving mandatory public school instruction for children as young as kindergarten in how to be homosexual is being allowed to stand, … The U.S. Supreme Court without comment has refused to intervene in a case prompted by the actions of officials at Eastbrook Elementary school in Lexington, Mass., who not only were teaching homosexuality to young children, but specifically refused to allow Christian parents to opt their children out of the indoctrination. … The dispute grabbed headlines when Parker, on April 27, 2005, “was arrested and thrown in jail by school officials over his insistence on being notified regarding his son in kindergarten being taught about homosexual relationships by adults,” Mass Resistance reported. … “The [Supreme] court did not even bother to notify the Parkers or their attorneys,” said Mass Resistance, which said what now will be enforced in the judicial district will be the lower bench rulings that the state has not only the right but “even the obligation … to promote homosexual relationships to young children.”^[3]

Shocking as it may be that a father would be arrested for insisting that he be notified regarding his son in kindergarten being taught about homosexual relationships, it is perhaps even more shocking to realize that we have a president of the United States of America who has declared that homosexual sex-education for kindergarteners is “just the right thing to do.”^[4] Something which would have been unimaginable a few decades ago is somehow now “just the right thing to do” and is supported by the highest government official in our country. Certainly, we have crossed a threshold into a paradigm shift for our country as relates to LGBT issues.

Today children as young as six can attend cross-dressing camps that teach them to embrace their “gender variation,”^[5] and a 2006 New York Times article reports, “Children as young as 5 who display predispositions to dress like the opposite sex are being supported by a growing number of young parents, educators and mental health professionals.”^[6] In fact, a 2008 World Net Daily headline reads, “3rd-Graders Asked to Help Classmate in Gender Change: Parents Given 1-day Notice of Presentation Explaining Boy Would Now Wear Girl Clothes.”^[7] Not surprisingly with headlines like this, a transvestite superhero cartoon is targeting children between the ages of two and 11,^[8] and the election of transvestite prom kings and queens is proving to be a growing trend in American high schools.^[9][10] Even the Boy Scouts of America have succumbed to the pressure of embracing homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle that may be flaunted before young children.^[11]

The pressure to embrace homosexuality is enormous and widespread. In 2013 Pope Francis shocked the world when he referenced a “gay lobby” in the Vatican and implied that active unrepentant homosexuals can be Christians accepted by God.^[12] Likewise, United States President Barack Obama has publicly supported homosexuality, not only in America but also internationally.^[13][14] And a growing number of Christian denominations are embracing homosexuality.^[15]

Most recently, the homosexual debate has focused on the definitions of “marriage” and “family.” The Internal Revenue Service began recognizing same-sex marriages from all 50 states even before the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges.^[16] The U.S. Department of Education has replaced “father” and “mother” on the FAFSA form with “parent 1” and “parent 2,”^[17] and the U.S. State Department has made similar gender neutral changes on passport application forms.^[18] In 2013 the majority of the U.S. Senate endorsed same-sex marriage, and Barak Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to publicly endorse same-sex marriage.^[19][20] Most Importantly, in a 5-4 ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court declared on June 26, 2015 that the U.S. Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage.^[21] Therefore, despite the fact that only eight states permitted same-sex marriages at the beginning of 2013, today same-sex marriages are legal in all 50 states of the Union.

In a sense it is as if America is in the process of coming out of the closet. Graphic homosexual relationships are openly portrayed on popular television shows,^[22] and songs such as Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” top the music chart.^[23] Even in the world of hip-hop rap, homosexuality is beginning to be accepted.^[24] According to a 2011 Pew Research Center publication, Americans are becoming progressively supportive of homosexual marriages with an 8–9% rise in approval for each successive generation.^[25] With our nation becoming increasingly accepting of homosexuality and moving ever-closer to embracing the legal judgment that same-sex marriages are both lawful and a human right, it is imperative that Christians know what the Bible has to say regarding this issue.

Be sure to read Timothy Zebell’s book Laid Bare: Uncovering the Relationship Between Homosexuality & the Gospel.