I am the father of three sons and a daughter. None of them chose to be gay or straight at their respective moments of conception. One of my sons summoned the courage to share the fact that he was gay at the age sixteen. I began to learn then that being gay is not a choice. My gay son had no more choice or control over being homosexual than did my children who were heterosexual. Religious leaders inform people that being gay is a mortal sin. A mortal sin requires full consent of the will, sufficient reflection and grievous matter. Since one cannot will him or herself to be either gay or straight, it is impossible to sufficiently reflect on being either. We are who we are. Therefore, it is not a grievous matter to live one's life according to the sexual orientation we are prone to before birth given that we are conceived gay or straight, we had no choice.
To preach otherwise causes discrimination, stigma and prejudice justified by dogma. Promulgation of misinformation of this sort at the highest levels of religious institutions breeds hate crimes, persecution and contempt without a scientific basis or moral justification. It is time to point out that seeing no evil in preaching false information is a mortal sin because that is something over which one can choose or not choose to do upon sufficient reflection and full consent of the will to avoid perpetuation a grievous matter.
Obama has precipitated a full-throated discussion in the US and abroad by choosing Rick Warren to participate in his inauguration. I hope the opponents and proponents of his choice in this discussion promote a paradigm shift in favor of acceptance of the fact that we are all human beings with an innocent origin.
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