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“Yes! I mean, that’s not the whole reason, but for me it makes sense to say that sex is ordered towards making babies and uniting men and women for their good and the good of any babies they might create. To my surprise, one of the young men said, “Procreation?” For me, the big question I ask when I think about tough issues like same-sex attraction is: What is sex for?” But that would be wrong, because sex isn’t just for satisfying your urges. “For example, if a straight guy has been in prison for a long time and he just wants sexual release, he might have sex with a man, even though he says he’s not gay. They raised their eyebrows at the unexpectedness of what I said, and I went on. That means it’s wrong for anyone to engage in same-sex behavior, even if they’re straight.” This is important, because the Church teaches that we shouldn’t use sex for a purpose it wasn’t intended for. Or, as Batman would say (switch to guttural Batman voice), “It’s not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me.” But our actions do define us, and we can be held accountable for them. “So our desires don’t define us, and they don’t condemn us. I wouldn’t say that I’m straight or that you’re gay, but that you and I are men made in God’s image with different desires for sexual intimacy.” Wrong even for straight people You also can’t say someone is sinning just because they have certain desires because, like I said, you can’t control them. We can’t control our desires, and so they shouldn’t be central to our identity. “Well, the Church makes a distinction between someone’s desires and someone’s actions. I was nervous but also felt the Holy Spirit giving me the right words and tone. One of them then asked, “So what does the Church say about me being gay?” I explained that I worked for an organization called Catholic Answers and that my job is to explain and defend the Catholic Faith. “Until the gays showed up!” one of the young men interjected. I said that my wife was out of town and I decided to go on a jog through the park until. All three of them identified as being gay, and they asked me what I was doing at the festival. I asked him what he thought of the Christians, and we began to talk, along with his two male friends. One young man, whom I’ll call Greg, was especially memorable. So I wandered around the pride parade asking people who were staring at “the big, ugly Christians” a simple question: “What do you think of those guys over there?” I ended up having several conversations about the Bible, same-sex morality, and faith in general. I would just ask students looking at the pictures, “So what do you think of this big ugly thing?” Pretty soon we were off to the races having great conversations. I wouldn’t lie about who I was, but I also wouldn’t immediately say who I was with, either. We would setup exhibits with large pictures of unborn children before and after abortion and talk with college students about the pro-life worldview.ĭuring those outreaches I would sometimes walk around and act like a student on campus. Deja vu all over againĪfter college I used to travel the country with a pro-life group named Justice for All. I’m here today to help you people.”Īs the police stood warily nearby, I watched and observed alongside the festival attendees, getting a feel for the whole situation. Why aren’t you there?” The Christian responded, “I go to the jail all the time. One woman said, “There are real sinners down at the county jail. Others stopped to yell at the Christians or even just plead with them. An unexpected springboardĪs the Christians preached through bullhorns, most of the LGBT festival-goers walked by laughing or saying things like, “You know you’re probably gay!” or “God is love!” They also said a lot of other things I can’t repeat without diving into indecency. They weren’t doing anything I considered offensive or outrageous, but I also thought their approach would not be very effective-and I was right. The Christians, who I assume were conservative Evangelicals, held signs that said things like, “Jesus is the only way to salvation” and “Love is self-giving.”
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The participants were joyful and carefree-until they walked by a group of Christians protesting their event.