Dear Catholic Church,

      I am writing to you today in my efforts to convince you to change your views on an issue that is a large problem in society today through religion, society, as well as politics. As is known, your stance on gay marriage is that any form of homosexual act is sinful because these acts go against the natural laws of nature presented by God. This is argued validly by Catholic Standard stating that, "God created mankind, male and female, in his own image and likeness. The male and female sexes complement each other, and men and women are called to reflect the inner unity of the Creator" (Standard). From my interpretation, I believe that this is built off the idea that all sexual acts must be in favor of procreation, and if it isn't then it is sinful. This also comes from Catholic Standard stating that, "Homosexual activity is not a complementary union, able to transmit life" (Standard).

      Moving towards your views of, not sexual acts, but the marriage of homosexual individuals, you believe that, "the Catholic Church is not against gay people at all. Jesus taught us to love everyone, and the Catholic Church has come out with authoritative letters saying that we must love and respect people who have same-sex attraction" (Mercier). But you believe that the issue with the marriage between two homosexuals is that marriage is a religious sacrament and therefore has been defined by the Church, and you can't redefine something that has already been defined by God (Mercier).

      I would like to bring to attention a contradiction that you, the Catholic Church, say about how you are not against homosexual individuals and we must treat all humans with respect as they are all God's creations. If we look at the Bible inLev. 20:13 we read, "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them" (Standard). The logic behind your views of homosexual marriage revolve around the idea that you can't redefine something that has already been defined. So, therefore you can't change your views on marriage but, on the other hand, you change your views on the respect of homosexual individuals. Also, the Catholic Catechism states that, "homosexual people must be treated with respect, compassion, and sensitivity." But it also describes homosexuals as "objectively disordered" and "grave depravity." Your firm stance of keeping gay marriage illegal based on consistency is ironically inconsistent.

      Now, I am not trying to convince you to change your views on gay marriage for legalization purposes because it is already legalized. But, further, I want to change your views so that people do not have to choose between love and religion, or in another form, love and virtue. I want homosexual individuals that do want to get married to not feel guilt of abandoning religious virtue.

     I will argue the stance for homosexual marriage based on logic, contemporary society, as well as God's teachings. Firstly, the book, "Building Bridges," by Robert Nugent explains ideas where, "the only time homosexual people suffer from discrimination or persecution is when they identify themselves as such." This book was written at a time that was less like our society today and more discriminatory. Nugent continues and compares this to African American or Jewish people hiding themselves to be white or Gentiles. But, in contemporary society, these issues of hiding yourself have changed. Comparatively, your views on homosexual acts do not follow in today's society. It is socially known that everyone is created equal, following that you believe that God loves all of his creations unconditionally. Further, Mark Galli in his article, "Is the Gay Marriage Debate over," says that, "we must accept the fact that American society has moved on and embraced different ways people choose to live and love." And "when you take away all the legalisms, the moral quotient, the religious implications, and the needs of society, what we are left with is nothing more than how people choose to define their relationships where they feel love for another human being" (Galli). I believe you need to consider the contemporary and inclusive society we live in today when standing by your views in which side with discrimination.

      According to Jane Fullerton in her article, "Future of Marriage," "In 2017, opposition has dropped to 32 percent, with a solid majority of people - 62 percent - saying they support the right of same-sex couples to marry" (Fullerton). This shows a dramatic change in the public's views of homosexual marriage and this goes to show how different society's views are now than ever in history. The same article states that, "Americans who identify as LGBT cite the same reasons for getting married as heterosexuals. Love topped the list for both groups, followed by companionship" (Fullerton). This statistic proves that all humans, homosexual or heterosexual, are created in God's image and loved by Him unconditionally. There is no difference between the love of a straight person or a gay person which brings up the question of what "natural" is.

       Is natural what God gave us reproductive organs for? Or is natural the way God created us?

       Your Catholic teachings that God has created every person in his image and loves them unconditionally are inconsistent with your beliefs about homosexual acts. Secondly, I personally believe, as well as is backed up by statistics, that your values discriminating against homosexuals is very outdated and should not be applied to society today. I ask you to reevaluate what I have said in this letter and to consider changing your views as they may be outdated in relation to the difference of normative societal beliefs in the world today.

Sincerely, Ian Bahr