The liberal media seems obsessed with promoting gay rights. In recent weeks we’ve been inundated with news features about the first openly gay professional basketball and football players, the thirty-four same-sex couples married at the Grammys and the Arizona governor’s decision to veto a law that allowed business owners to refuse service to gays and lesbians on the grounds of religious conviction. This past week the big story locally was a federal judge’s ruling that gay marriages performed out of state must be recognized as valid in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. On and on it goes.

We were once told that what people did in their own bedrooms should be a private matter, now it’s front-page news and advocates demand public approval. Frequently the pro-homosexual decisions are labeled as “advances” in the battle for gay rights. Kentucky’s Attorney General refused to appeal the federal judge’s ruling saying, “I came to the inescapable conclusion that I would be defending discrimination.” An editorial lauded that decision as, “Bold”.

I can understand why the 3-5% of society who practice homosexuality celebrate each decision in their favor, but why are the media and the entertainment industry so consumed with the approval of homosexuality?

The obvious reason is that the gay agenda is wrongfully equated with civil rights. Progressives regard the issue as comparable to the African American battle for equality in the 50’s and 60’s. Liberals want to be compassionate and to come down on the right side of history. They conclude those of us who stand for the traditional family are as backward and bigoted as the prejudiced southerners who opposed racial integration a half century ago.

I am of the conviction that homosexuality is not a civil rights issue at all. It is a behavioral issue. To have sex with someone of the same gender is an individual choice. It is not a distinctive like race, which is a God-given feature that cannot be denied.

The Bible teaches that every person inherits the sin nature of Adam. We all have carnal temptations that need to be restrained. Some have an innate inclination to temper, others to obesity and others desire relationships with a multiplicity of partners. There’s little doubt that some have same-sex attractions from youth. But for 6000 years of recorded history, every civilized society has encouraged any who are tempted in those areas to practice self-denial. The Bible urges us to “abstain from the evil desires that war against the soul.”

Smokers have that message preached to them daily. No matter how much a smoker craves nicotine, society demands they resist their desires and not contaminate public places with second-hand smoke. Their behavior is heavily taxed and is unlawful in many establishments. It’s not hateful to discriminate against smokers, but reasonable and compassionate to do so.

Clergy who have abused children are not given a free pass because they have an innate desire for sex with minors. All agree the offenders should be held accountable for not denying their impulses and putting the well being of others ahead of self.

There is now a nationwide crusade to train children to deny their desire for sweets and comfort food. We are told that to refuse to serve soft drinks and candy bars at school is not denying teens their civil rights; it’s encouraging disciplined behavior that results in better health.

To those who struggle with same-sex attractions the solution is not endorsement of a behavior that shortens life spans, transmits diseases and offends the basic values of a large portion of society. The solution is to encourage abstinence. Or, at the very least, to keep what is done in the bedroom a private matter and not demand society celebrate it as healthy behavior.

If gay marriage is a civil rights issue then the liberal media and activists judges are right in favoring it. On the other hand, if homosexuality is an individual choice to participate in immoral behavior, those who promote it are expediting the disintegration of the family, paving the way for a national collapse and inviting the wrath of God.

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:7-8)