What the Bible does (and doesn't) say about homosexuality

take me to church
I'll WORSHIP like a dog at the shrine of your lies
i'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
offer me that deathless death
good god, LET me give you my life
-take me church, hozier

Radar Magazine

homosexuality has suffered a great deal of ridicule throughout history and recently gay marriage has taken the spot light. and all the negativity originates from a book, thousands of years old, that 'supposedly' claims it as a sin against God. 

The morality and resentment of "gay rights" is the hot topic in our country right now. Should or shouldn't same sex couples be allowed to wed? Some people suggest this would allow for an already flawed system to be open to more loop holes, involving taxes and medical benefits. And even more people are raising issues of morality and Biblically proclaimed acts of sin. But how much legitimacy do these opposing views hold?
First we have to address the issue of "gay rights" as an incorrect term in and of itself. These are not "gay rights" we are calling into question, they are "human rights".

I love this quote by Liz Feldman,

It's very dear to me, the issue of Gay Marriage. Or as I like to call it: Marriage. You know, cause I had lunch this afternoon, not gay lunch. I parked my car, I didn't gay park it.

Sexual orientation is not something that should be used to label anyone unless speaking specifically of sexual orientation. I believe as a country we are viewing this entirely the wrong way. The question isn't "should we allow these two men to get married?" , it is "Do we believe in marriage between two people who are in love?". Because the sexual orientation of anyone is a personal fact, it is not any else's business, especially not the general population. Therefore it is ludicrous to allow the general public to vote on an issue involving an issue that has to do solely on someone's personal details and lifestyle choices. 
As far as all other opposing views, based on a legal stand point... my question is how is this any different than allowing two straight people to be wed? There is no difference between a 'straight' couple getting married and a 'gay' couple getting married, besides what happens in the bedroom after the wedding...and sometimes not even then. (*wink*) We face issues with illegitimate marriages all the time, involving American citizens wedding foreign aliens allowing them access to citizenship, in exchange for money. People commit tax fraud all the time, regardless of race, social status, or sexual orientation. These things have and continue to be issues within our country, but the subject of gay marriage holds no weight or relevance to them.  

The Bible declares homosexuality a sin against God. 
or does it?

Lesbi-honest... (see what I did there?..made a funny) The only real problem that is taken with the issue of homosexuality and the marriage between same sex couples is one that is based on morals. The greater part of the country believes Homosexuality to be a mortal sin against God, and punishable by an eternal trip to the hot-box. (I'm funnyin all over the place) And this makes sense because as far as religions go, Christianity makes up 78% of our country, and the common belief is that it is a sin. 
However, the Bible makes no mention of homosexuality being a sin. When homosexuality is mentioned, it is under the topic of entire cities being condemned (Like in the book of Jude, involving the city Sodom and Gomorrah). The sexual immoralities of these people are listed as adultery, bestiality, rape, abuse, and pre-marital sex. Not homosexuality. Believe it or not, God is worried about WHEN you're having sex, not who with. In these verses, there is fault taken with same sex marriage, as well as sex between a man and woman, because of the context in which it is happening. 
The most quoted verse (and the longest) involving homosexuality are written by the Apostle Paul in Romans 1:26-27

Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another.

During these times 'sexual orientation' was an unknown idea. Homosexuality was not only unlawful, but unacceptable, even to Jesus' apostles. But never a sin. Interestingly, according to Daniel A. Helminiak (an ordained Roman priest, a theologian, psychotherapist, author, and current psychology professor at the University of West Georgia) 

The Greek term para physin has been translated unnatural; it should read atypical or unusual. In the technical sense, yes, the Stoic philosophers did use para physin to mean unnatural, but this term also had a widespread popular meaning. It is this latter meaning that informs Paul’s writing. It carries no ethical condemnation.

Compare the passage on male-male sex to Romans 11:24. There, Paul applies the term para physin to God. God grafted the Gentiles into the Jewish people, a wild branch into a cultivated vine. Not your standard practice! An unusual thing to do — atypical, nothing more. The anti-gay “unnatural” hullabaloo rests on a mistranslation. 

Read the rest of Helminiak's article here. 

On the subject of God's Divine plan for procreation, which is another angle used to argue against homosexuality...Modern means of procreation have greatly increased the ease at which babies and families are made. That being said, I feel two men who have adopted a parent-less baby are fulfilling God's command; as are two women who chose adoption or insemination. 
I think, instead of using one of the  most popular religions (whose foundation above anything else, is love) to spread condemnation and hate, we should instead use it for its intended reason, focus our attention on verses whose messages are much clearer and spread love. 

1 Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. 4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:1-5

When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." John 8:7

The entire law is summed up in a single command, "Love thy neighbor as thyself". Galatians 5:14

There is only one lawgiver and judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But you - who are you to judge your neighbor? James 4:12