LGBT rights are the following, in rough order of how important they are:
First, freedom to engage in consensual sexual activity without violating the law.
Second, actual justice for victims of hate crimes (but not hate crime laws). So if someone is beaten for being gay, I want that person to be arrested and have a fair trial, but not for that person to face additional penalties for doing it because the person is gay. Basically, equal protection under the law.
Third, if the government recognizes marriages and privlidges/rights are associated with it, the government must recognize gay marriage as well.
Fourth, the ability to serve in the military and government openly (with the exceptions of people going through surgical transition in the military, and closeted people from handling sensitive material).
Fifth, a ban on child conversion therapy, which is basically child abuse in practice, and completely unscientific. If you are an adult, you can do whatever stupid stuff you want to do to your body, but putting a child through some of that stuff, including electroshock therapy, etc, disgusts me.
Sixth, if we are going to have antidiscrimination laws, they should include orientation and gender identity, but also have a big exception for religion (which ours does) allowing for non-participation in thing that violate their marriage. So for example, a baker can choose not to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, but can't stop a gay man going in and buying an already made cookie that's being sold to the public. Personally, I'd prefer no discrimination law, but if it does exist, LGBT is a part of this.
Thank you for your response. Here's my take on each of those points, as a conservative Christian:
1: Basically necessary in a secular society. It is outside the bounds of government to dictate what people can do with their bodies (as long as they're not ending another human being's life in the process). So that's something I would grant.
2: I'm against violence and beating in general, for any reason, and I think that a essential function of government is to ensure the safety of its citizens from such violence and to seek justice for victims of violence. I would certainly extend that protection to anyone targeted for violence because of being LGBT.
3. Here's the problem. As a Christian, I see marriage as a sacred institution, not a secular one. And I believe marriage has been clearly defined by God in the Bible as being between one man and one woman. I think government oversteps its bounds when it seeks to redefine marriage as something other than that. Therefore, I don't support candidates and policies that presume to redefine marriage.
4: I don't think it's appropriate to legally bar LGBT people from military or government in a a secular society. However, if someone is living an openly single sinful lifestyle, it's a strong deterrent from me giving my support and my vote.
5: This one's sticky. I agree that "conversion therapy" like ECT is unscientific and abusive. I also think it's unbiblical - there's no Biblical rationale for acting like you can "cure" sin with some sort of therapy. The question is, where do you draw the line? Let's say a teenager with Christian parents comes out as having same sex attraction. Are their parents allowed to teach that teenager that same sex relationships are sinful, and forbid them from such relationships? Can the parents put the teen into counseling with the pastor - the point not being to "cure" them of homosexuality, but to help the teen live with the attraction while never acting on it?
6: I think we're finding more and more that having an religious exception for discrimination laws is untenable. Either individual liberty and freedom of association is the highest value, or anti-discrimination is the highest value. So I don't necessarily disagree with you here, but I think it's bound to lead to more conflict.
I am not religious, but from what I understand, they want to be able to live a sin free life as they determine sin, without government forcing them to sin, and want to help others sin less, along with a family oriented lifestyle.
The way LGBT rights fit this is that the more LGBT people get rights, we can see a considerable decline in them sinning. For one clear example, monogamy gets more and more common the more LGBT people fit into society. Basically in 50 years, we've gone from homeless orgies in the back of tractor trailers to largely monogamous families that adopt and raise children. And it's still improving. That sounds like a win for family values to me.
I think therein may lie a fundamental misunderstanding. As a conservative Christian, my goal isn't to "help others sin less". I think any sin makes a person subject to God's divine wrath and judgement. Simply lessening sin doesn't solve this, and I don't think it's even possible for a person to live completely without sin. The solution, from a Christian perspective, is for a person to be moved by the Gospel to have faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, thus receiving grace for their sins. That's why Christians preach and proselytize, so that more will hear and believe.
So, from my perspective, a "decline in people sinning" doesn't solve anything. Monogamous LGBT people are still sinful, still living in active rebellion against God, and still needing to hear the Gospel.
You’re right, it’s what he told the Roman Centurion.
What's your point in bringing up the Roman centurion, exactly?
The nature of humanity and of different peoples and leaders and groups, where they failed and where they succeeded and where that is and isn’t moral and on how to live your life, and on the succession of leaders, men, their descendants culminating in the birth of christ. I take issue with saying they are all Jewish in the same way I think it would be laughable to say that my Irish ancestor in the eighth century is an American because I am an American and I can trace direct descendence from him, meaning he too was an American.
Ok. I actually agree that a key theme of the Old Testament is revealing the nature of humanity in relationship to God. But, how did God reveal the nature of humanity in the Old Testament, exactly?