I started to write, “People are upset about homosexuality”, but that is not as accurate as it is to say, “People are upset by homosexual people”. The first is a subject over which we can debate, and we can even get pretty heated and not feel bad about it, because “homosexuality” is just an idea a thing. We don’t hurt anyone if we beat that thing to death. However, homosexual people, or those who would huddle in the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (GLBTQ) tent, get hurt consistently when people troubled about the concept of homosexuality treat them as things. Then they must organise to fight for equal rights.On Sunday evening a week ago I participated in an on-the-air discussion at Khomeini Taalib-Din’s community talk show, called M.I.N.D.S TALK RADIO, hosted at HOTT 107.5FM. It was a discussion of the issue of gay rights being included as one of the human rights people should expect for everyone in Bermuda.I am not an expert on GLBTQ issues. As a psychologist, I have worked with people from the gay community, and I’ve done so successfully; however, there is a great deal to learn if one hopes to understand the various issues in this complex subject area.Sexual, or Gender identity, for instance, is not homosexuality. What it means is what I feel like inside. My physical body might say I’m a boy, but if inside everything tells me I’m a girl, that is a matter of gender identity. It works commonly that one’s physical body matches one’s inner sense of gender, but it does not have to. And when it doesn’t, and people are so bothered by the conflict, they often choose to dress like they feel inside, or to undertake a transgender process, going so far as to have surgery to make the physical body match the inner sense of gender identity. These issues are related to trans-gendered people. Can you imagine how difficult it might be to navigate such waters, and how basically unhappy a person could be in the process?Sexual preference pertains to which gender one is attracted to sexually. So, a person can be attracted to the opposite sex, and that is called heterosexuality, or a person can be attracted to the same sex, and that is called homosexuality.Homosexual men are described as being “gay”, and homosexual women are “lesbian”. Homosexual people are often troubled and suffer from depression or anxiety because they must hide who they are, not directly because they are who they are.Sometimes this gets even more mixed up when gender identity and sexual preference cross paths. What do you call it when a woman who feels like a man inside is attracted to another woman? Is this really still homosexuality? Such is the case with Sonny and Cher’s child, who was born a girl, named “Chastity”, but later admitted feeling like a male inside, changed her name to “Chaz”, and is undergoing hormone treatment while still in a relationship with a woman.Is this all just a matter of choice? Lady Gaga has a new album titled, “I was born this way”, suggesting that homosexuality is not a matter of choice at all. Current theories for the origins of homosexuality involve some combination of genetic, hormonal/biological, and environmental influences. Homosexuality may not be a choice with regard to origins, but homosexuality involves many choices with regards to personal authenticity, relationships with others, and overall lifestyle, and all these choices take place in the context of the societies and cultures in which homosexual people live.Where is God in all of this?The church comes out strongly stating that homosexuality is a sin. It is a sad reality that the church, generally speaking, has stepped all over homosexual people and committed atrocities against them while attempting to deal with homosexuality as a concept or a social problem mistaking persons for things.I understand the need to stand up for the values and truths expressed in the Bible. Still, I cannot recall having seen people marching with placards announcing that overweight, gluttonous preachers are going to hell or that gossip is an abomination. I have to say that adultery is common in Bermuda and that fornication (sex outside of marriage) is a sin; yet, I’ve met leaders in the church who are, or have been, guilty of both. I sometimes feel that homosexuality is a convenient scapegoat. If we lead a charge against that, we don’t have to face how personally uncomfortable we feel about it.Homophobia is simply the fear of homosexuality or homosexual people. It’s a feeling. A person can be unsure of his or her own sexual preference but unable to work through that; thus, this person fights against the homosexuals “out there” as the best defence against the homosexual he or she fears might be lurking “in here”. That’s the classic sense of homophobia, but the fear of homosexuals can simply be that it’s too strange, too threatening to the structure of what seems normal.It can also mean that homosexuality represents all that is wrong in the cultural wars between those who believe in God and those who don’t, between those who want the church to thrive and those who want the church out of their lives in every way possible.To me God gave government in an expression of common grace so that people can live equitably and in peace. The Old Testament prophets brought God’s case against the people for their injustices toward one another. In the New Testament we’re told to pray for our governmental leaders so that we might live in peace. So, regardless of whether homosexuality is a sin or not, it seems to me that there is ample Biblical reason to treat homosexual people justly and that people should establish a just society.When Jesus met with people, he did not haul out the Old Testament and beat them over the head with their failure to keep the law. When he confronted the woman caught in adultery, He told her that he did not condemn her.When He met with the woman at the well, who had had several husbands and was living with someone outside of marriage, he simply sat down to talk with her, one person to another. This is how I want to be. I am a follower of Jesus. I want to be accepting towards others in order that I might establish real relationships characterised by warmth and respect. Let’s face it, none of us is without sin. All of us need a saviour. Everyone benefits from common grace.