Gays and intermarriage

This Posting was forgotten in Draft on 9/2 of last year. 

Given Obama's decision that the government should no longer defend the "Defense of Marriage Act," it seems appropriate to issue it now.

We are forgetting the state of nature.
Every individual, through no fault of his own, is born bisexual, aggressive, and self-centered.
Civilization trains this individual in behaviors the specific civilization finds acceptable. In Gaza, to hate Jews, in Germany (pre WWII) to hate Jews, in America, to consider blacks inferior.
We hope that with the passage of time, we can change these civilizations to be more congruent with our Jewish background and the teachings of the Torah. Even within the civilizations involved, there are minorities whose efforts seek to change the society and may eventually do so.
In Germany, overt anti-Semitism is a crime. In America, overt discrimination against recognized minorities is a crime. In Gaza, overt peacefulness is a crime. We all evolve.
For millennia, male homosexuality has been a Toeva in Judaism. Did we not read this on Yom Kippur afternoon? Yes, we have autonomy; we need not be bound by Torah; but we need not reject it either!
Sexual morality is a basic tenet of our faith. Perhaps in the future those who seek to eliminate male homosexuality from our religion will succeed in explaining it away. After all we have done that with quite a bit of our heritage. We will then have a new heritage which will include the acceptance of male homosexuality. We will then fully embrace the concept that any group of people who love each other can do whatever they want with their bodies as long as there are no deleterious medical effects.
I am talking about our religion, not the individual “autonomous” decisions of a Rabbi, a congregation, etc. who act to eventually influence the whole.
While this process is going on, we need to respect dissent. We need to respect the minorities of Yesterday (conservatives) and the majorities of tomorrow (liberals) and understand that these positions do reverse from time to time (see the current political state compared to two years ago).
In marriage we stress Ahava, Ahva and Re-ut. Let us at least keep Re-ut between us Rabbis.
Leon