Dear ex-Facebook friend,
You shared your feelings a couple of weeks ago on Facebook. Given the timing, it was probably in response to Caitlyn Jenner’s ESPY award.

Caitlyn Jenner accepts the Arthur Ashe award for courage at the ESPY Awards at the Microsoft Theater on Wednesday, July 15, 2015, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Here are your words in their entirety:
I wrote this as a letter to the editor in the [newspaper] about 7 or 8 years ago. I still believe it to be true. Never thought I would have to add transgenderism to it.
Alcoholic, obese, homosexual
How’s that for a combination of words for an ad on a dating service.
If you are an alcoholic, you have to find a way not to drink. Many men were made with a very strong sexual appetite but they have to find a way to control it. Many of us would like to over eat at the buffet or be a chocaholic but eventually that is going to damage our bodies. For many of us it is difficult to love our neighbor as ourselves, yet a healthy society can’t have everyone only looking out for “number one.”
Please keep these things in mind as forces in our society try to justify and normalize homosexuality. We need to help those who have such urges to overcome the temptation to which they are succumbing. Politicians today are saying that homosexuality is not a choice, but many individuals who have already made a choice to abandon such a lifestyle would disagree. Let’s support those who battle with this choice to help them make the right decision for their own well-being, not make laws that say this deviant lifestyle is okay, or even entitled to legal sanction on the same level as holy matrimony.
Always remember to hate the sin but love the sinner.
You start by impliedly comparing homosexual urges to overdrinking, overeating, and RAPING. I don’t even know what to say about that. Uh, congrats on the novel argument? Because that’s one I have to admit I hadn’t heard before- that consensual gay sex is akin to having sex with someone against their will. By force.
Then you say that there are forces in society trying to “justify and normalize homosexuality.” You are right on this count! As far as I can tell, those forces are made up of: gays, people related to gays, people who are friends with gays, people who watched an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy twelve years ago, people who get up in the morning, people with children, people without children, doctors, nurses, teachers, bus drivers, Christians, Jews, teenagers, the elderly, and basically anyone who is a thinking, breathing, compassionate individual.
“We need to help those who have such urges to overcome the temptation to which they are succumbing.” Why? Have they asked for your help? Do they want to ‘overcome the temptation’? Have they told you this directly??
“Politicians today are saying that homosexuality is not a choice, but many individuals who have already made a choice to abandon such a lifestyle would disagree.” I assume you’re referring to the ‘ex-gay’ movement.
From the Wikipedia entry: There have been various scandals related to this movement, including some self-claimed ex-gays having been found in same-sex relationships despite having denied this, as well as controversies over gay minors being forced to go to ex-gay camps against their will, and overt admissions by organizations related to the movement that conversion therapy does not work.
And more from Wikipedia: A large body of research and global scientific consensus indicates that being gay, lesbian, or bisexual is compatible with normal mental health and social adjustment. Because of this, major mental health professional organizations discourage and caution individuals against attempting to change their sexual orientation to heterosexual, and warn that attempting to do so can be harmful.
“Let’s support those who battle with this choice to help them make the right decision for their own well-being, not make laws that say this deviant lifestyle is okay, or even entitled to legal sanction on the same level as holy matrimony.” “Always remember to hate the sin but love the sinner.”
Your use of the phrases “hate the sin” and “holy matrimony” makes me suspect that your views have been formed through religious education/study. In fact, it’s hard to imagine otherwise. And you are certainly entitled to whatever religious views you hold. How can I, a person who started an entire religion, possibly fault someone for following their heart in matters of worship? But you seem to have forgotten a very important point: in this country, we have SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. So your comment that we should “not make laws that say this deviant lifestyle is okay or even entitled to legal sanction on the same level as holy matrimony” is specious. It’s your chosen religion that has described homosexual behavior as “deviant” and “not okay”. However, we live in a secular country. What this means is that St. Vladimir’s House of Pizza Worship can enact a commandment that all Vladitians must eat pizza every day (hey that’s not a bad idea). But I can’t make this the law of my city, state, or country due to the aforementioned SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. Do I need to say it again? Okay. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.
Ex-friend, you probably realize that you’re on the wrong side of history. That you’ll be one of those older Americans younger people can’t fathom. And you probably believe that you hold these views partly because of the time in which you grew up – a time when there was a Bruce Jenner, not a Caitlyn Jenner. But there are millions of us your age (and older) who are thrilled to witness gay marriage become the law of the land. Who applaud the fact that transgendered people are, more and more, being allowed/encouraged to be who they are. Who accept people for who they are as long as they live by the Golden Rule. It’s too bad you don’t want to be one of us.