Did you know that in every instance that homosexuality is mentioned in the Bible, it very specifically uses language in the original Hebrew and Greek that mentions men with other men, and never once mentions lesbians? Lesbians existed. We have Greek poetry that proves it. But the Bible never said a word about lesbians. I believe that this piece of information is key to understanding why the Bible has rules against gays, and why those rules are no longer relevant.
In the times of the Bible, marriage was between one man and one woman because it was not seen as an equal partnership, but rather as a relationship that is similar to that between a master and slave. In a truly “Biblical” marriage, the woman can be purchased for a few goats and a cow, and her purpose and value are similar to that of livestock. She is there to be the passive recipient of sex, and to produce offspring. If she fails to produce children, she has failed in her only purpose as a woman and the man has every right to ditch her for a younger model.
This is where the rules against homosexuality come in. Men were forbidden to be with other men, not because they could not produce offspring or any of the other reasons you may have heard. It was forbidden because in a sexual relationship between two men, one of the men would have to “degrade” himself to the position of a woman, by being on the receiving end of sex. Behaving like a woman was as humiliating to the misogynist culture of the Bible as behaving like a goat. Men are masters and women are slaves. It is humiliating and wrong for the naturally-born masters to take the position of a slave.
This is why there are no Biblical rules against lesbianism. That is between two women and it is therefore not important. If two slaves want to play master in their own time, no one cares because everything they do is inconsequential.
Most Christians today believe that a healthy marriage is one in which both participants are equal and share ideas. Even if they defer to the man for final decisions, they believe that women are not passive objects, but active participants in a partnership. This is why, despite what the Bible says, women are now allowed to speak in church, head covering* is optional rather than mandatory and they are not the property of their husbands. Women today are recognized as humans, not as something one step above livestock, and the parts of the Bible that state otherwise are generally written off as “just part of that culture and no longer relevant.”
If you believe that women are human beings with rights, thoughts and opinions, then there is no reason to believe that homosexuality is a sin. If a healthy relationship is now seen as one of two equal partners, then it no longer matters if both of those partners are men or if both of those partners are women. A man who has sex with another man is not “degrading himself by behaving like a woman” unless you still believe that being a woman is somehow degrading.
The parts of the Bible that speak against homosexuals were just part of that culture and are no longer relevant.
*To be clear: there is nothing degrading or wrong about head covering. I include this only because it is spelled out in very clear language in the New Testament that women are supposed to keep their heads covered, and most Christians have decided to ignore this command simply on the basis of “part of that culture” or simply because they don’t feel like it.
