A few months ago, I attended a talk given by a sister about masculinity and femininity. Her name was Sister Maria, and she was a brilliant speaker. Her presentation really opened my eyes on one of the most controversial topics of our time: homosexuality. I thought, this is great. This is definitely going to help me defend my position on the subject.
So the next day, I went to school and one of my friends who opposes homosexuality (we'll call her Laura), who also attended, launched right into a debate at lunch. I didn't quite want her to, because I didn't plan on using the material on the offense, but I went along with it.
My pro-homosexuality friend (we'll call him Patrick) immediately jumped in. “So tell me what you want to debate.”
“Nobody is born homosexual,” Laura said. “It usually develops from a lack of something important in their early life.”
“…Okay,” Patrick said. “That doesn't mean it's wrong.”
But it is, I thought. I didn't quite know what I was going to say before I started talking, but I went for it anyway. “Yes it is.”
He turned to me. “Why?”
“Because…” I stumbled. “Because that's not how humans are made. It's okay to be homosexual, but not if you, you know, get married homosexually or anything.”
Patrick smiled, like he knew he'd won. “So what you're saying is it's not okay to do anything that expresses who you are?”
Stumped, I weakly answered, “Um, yes.”
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I wish I could go back and redo that little lunchtime debate. Now I know how I could have responded. I could have said, “It's not who they are. Homosexuality is just a temptation, and acting upon it is a sin, as is any sex outside of sacramental marriage.” I could have won that debate, because truth was on my side. But knowledge wasn't. I didn't know enough. Since then, I've been making an effort to learn more and more on the subject, and how to debate it.
And we can never stop learning. Recently, my mom purchased a series of books on how to defend common Catholic beliefs. We decided that we're going to go through them together, and after studying them for a bit, we're actually going to practice debating. One person will play the Catholic role, and the other will challenge her.
Unfortunately, homosexuality is not covered too much in these books. Some great controversial topics are, such as abortion, euthanasia, and contraception, as well as core Catholic beliefs like the Eucharist and existence of God.
The lack of homosexuality in the books is especially frustrating for me, because I'm at an age where it's a much more commonly discussed topic than the ones mentioned above. People my age are still impressionable, some more than others. It all comes back to how we are raised; in my opinion, the size isn't the only remarkable thing about my family (I’m the oldest of 14.). I'm also very proud of the strength, morally and faith-wise.
I've found that those who support homosexuality like to twist things. I've seen televised debates on the subject before, so I'm not only speaking from personal experience. Pro-family people are often called “homophobic,” “close-minded,” “biased,” and “old-fashioned.” I've been called these myself. Well, we're not homophobic. We accept the people: in fact, we love them enough to try to help them out of sin. In fact, it would be far easier to stay silent and avoid the confrontation. Love the sinner, hate the sin. We aren't close-minded, because the only reason to have an open mind is to learn enough to eventually close it on something, and we have. We aren't biased, we just have an opinion, just like people who support homosexuality have theirs. And since when does having an opinion with older roots make it old-fashioned? So long as it's right, it doesn't matter.
The point is, I have learned a lot since that discussion at the lunch table, and I have to keep learning. Today's world is drowning in sin, and the few of us who know the truth of these moral issues must have the courage to try to save it. We may be a minority, but we can't lose. Not with truth on our side. We've got a big advantage.
I was lucky enough to be raised with parents who know what their beliefs are, and how important it is to pass them along to the next generation. But not everyone was, which is why we have to spread the truth through trying to educate people with love. During Sister Maria's talk, she told us this: the world acts how society acts. Society is made up of communities. Communities are made up of families. And in order for families to be strong, there needs to be strong individuals. Strength is standing up for what's right. Strength is defense. And defense is the best offense.