What does God say?

We have to distinguish between the faith and the official representatives of religions. Almost every official religion has a problem with sexuality, in particular homosexuality. For centuries, gay men and lesbian women have been persecuted and murdered in the name of God. Even today, many religions dismiss homosexuality; in some countries, it is still persecuted, and lesbians and gay men imprisoned or executed.

But if God made me the way I am, how can my homosexual love be a sin? This is a question everyone should answer for themselves. In Austria, religion is a private affair and it’s nobody’s business what I believe in. However, particularly young people who are active members of religious communities may face a daunting choice between their faith and their sexual orientation. The Catholic Church and the representatives of Islam have a very negative attitude on homosexuality, invoking the Bible and the Qur’an. The same goes for Judaism. If you read in detail, however, you can see that the Bible, the Qur’an and the Torah do not give an unequivocal condemnation of homosexuality. It is a question of interpretation as much as of who is interpreting the verses. There are, however, liberal forces and congregations in all religions that live their faith and their sexual orientation in harmony.

The Protestant and Old Catholic churches have significantly reduced prejudice towards homosexuality over the past years and have increasingly integrated officially religious gays and lesbians in their community. In Buddhism, sexual behavior is generally taboo. Even if the Dalai Lama promotes rights for gays and lesbians, there are Buddhist countries where homosexuality is still punishable. Hinduism has a principally tolerant attitude towards gays and lesbians, and ancient books even speak from an equal, “third gender”. However, homosexuality is prohibited in India, most probably because of laws adopted from the former British colonial authorities.