Thursday, August 30, 2007

The Preacher Who Knew Too Little

New Jersey Pastor Salvatore Roggio, representing the Cumberland County Community Church, has sparked a major controversy this week by posting a sign outside his sanctuary that reads "Help for the Homosexual." He apparently intends to conduct official sermons on this topic. The Pastor, whose 29 year old daughter recently professed that she is a lesbian, has publicly voiced that he does not believe people are born gay and can "become straight" through the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Um, okay....

This, as any rational man or woman will attest, is plain and simply not possible. Human sexuality, in as much the same vein as attraction, is what it is. A gay person can no more turn straight than a straight person can turn gay. For this man, or anybody else for that matter, to maintain that I deliberately chose to embrace a desire for other men is utterly outrageous. Have you ever noticed the few who cling to this hilarity never once mention how they, themselves, applied such a foolhardy belief to their own lives? If homosexuality really is the bonafide choice these people claim it is, why haven't they ever addressed it with their significant others? On second thought, allow me to rephrase that. For any straight readers out there, I hereby issue this formal challenge. Try rolling over in bed tomorrow morning and telling your wife or your girlfriend that you feel like dating other men, and then confess to the world how simple that "choice" actually was. Chances are, if the attraction isn't already there, an equal gender switch is not going to happen.

It genuinely amazes me how select individuals, such as Pastor Roggio, seem so lost on this matter. Why would God want me to alter who he created me to be? God is perfectly fine with who I am. He knows me far better than anybody on this entire planet, thank you very much. Choice played no role in my sexual awakening and it isn't for anyone else to decide who I should or shouldn't be attracted to. I came out to my parents because I was tired of hiding who I was. I also did not savor the notion of lying to myself while marrying some woman simply because it was what society dictated. Pastor Roggio, unlike many in the gay community, grew to adulthood in a world that accepted who he was without judgment or reprisal. It is therefore easy to understand why he could not possibly fathom the inner torment that I and others like me were forced to endure throughout our respective adolescence. What he deems as proper or improper, in direct regard to my life as a homosexual male, is ultimately irrelevant. Common sense is what it all boils down to. If he possessed a single minute ounce of it, he would realize just how totally pathetic his current actions within the body of his church really are.

No comments: