As for me...

a forum for your ideas

Unless I am a terribly misled Christian, the essence of Christianity is love; love of God and love of fellow man. Unlike some earlier prophets, Christ concentrated upon preaching and living a life of love. If indeed the essence of Christianity is love, then I would assume that God and Christ do not frown upon the expression of one man's love for another, even if that love should include sexual relations. Rev. Robert Wood speaks quite well to this point in his book Christ and the Homosexual.

If God is indeed a God of love, who is all merciful and all forgiving, how can He also be a condemning, damning and vindictive God? How can he condemn any form of love? This paradox lies at the crux of John Stuart Mill's perceptive essays on religion. While Mill was led to reject religion, for reasons not dissimilar to those which alienate homosexuals from it, I have been able to reconcile myself to Christianity. That I have been able to do so is a result of my interpreting Christ's teachings in a manner contrary to that accepted by many clerics when the topic is homosexuality. Clerics who are intolerant of homosexuality are, in my opinion, misled Christians.

Some will say that my Christianity is merely the product of psychological defense mechanisms, that I have merely determined that God condones my homosexuality in order that I may escape guilt feelings. I happen

to believe that my Christianity is more than just that. It is a sincere interpretation of Christ's teachings, based on reading and a good deal of thought. I believe strongly in the validity of my interpretation.

It suggests to me that homosexual love is just as natural for some, as heterosexual love is for others. The widely held belief that it is unnatural is more a product of our cultural milieu, I would suspect, than of any intrinsic abnormality in homosexual behavior itself. Homosexuality becomes a perversion only to those who see it as such. It is no perversion to me. It does not make me feel "unnatural." I have seen no psychiatrists nor do I desire to see any. I have no need to escape into alcoholismor religion, for that matter.

What I have done, is to face my homosexual inclinations, accept them, and to lead my life accordingly. Because I had the temerity to do so, I find life gratifying and livable as a homosexual. I love men without shame or psychic misgivings. All, save a very few, of my heterosexual friends, who know of my homosexuality, accept me for what I am. I have several deep friendships with both straight men and women.

In answer to the suggestion that homosexuals run to the bottle or to psychiatrists because deep down they know their sexual drives to be evil and anti-Christian, I would suggest that alcoholism and the need for