Scripture misread by those who oppose gay-rights legislation

Last Sunday was "Referendum Sunday." That morning, in response to a request from Tim Eyman's "Let the Voters Decide" initiative, many of our state's conservative churches encouraged their members to sign petitions that would subject recently passed gay-rights legislation to a statewide vote in November.

Leaders of these churches hoped that such a vote would overturn the civil-rights guarantees Washington law now provides. After all, argued Pastor Rick Harpel of Westside Baptist Church in Yakima, "God opposes homosexuality as a morally acceptable lifestyle."

Fortunately, Eyman's efforts failed, and civil-rights protections he opposed became law a few days later.

I'm usually content to leave it to Christians to decide what Christianity says about contemporary issues. However, many Americans — Christians, Jews and others — derive their views on this particular issue from a misinterpretation of Jewish scripture, and, as a student and teacher of Torah, I feel compelled to throw in my own two shekels.

There are several passages from Jewish and Christian scripture that are often at the center of religious debates regarding homosexuality. Foremost among them tend to be two passages from the book of Leviticus.

The first, Leviticus 18:22, says, "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman, it is an abhorrence." The second, Leviticus 20:13, echoes that prohibition and adds that those who break it are subject to capital punishment.

That's it. The laws of the Jewish Bible devote only two lines to homosexual behavior.

Sadly, over the centuries countless readers of these texts have based vast condemnations of homosexuals and homosexuality on these two brief passages, ignoring the greater lessons of love and compassion that Torah teaches.

Additionally, a close look at what these two verses actually say will reveal that many who draw conclusions from them are reading the texts incorrectly.

First, note that the verses say nothing about lesbianism. Indeed, though Jewish law (mistakenly, I believe) prohibits both male and female homosexual relations, its prohibition of lesbianism isn't nearly as strong as its prohibition of male homosexuality — and the rabbis of antiquity had to turn to post-biblical literature in order to justify their prohibition of women having sex with other women.

Second, it is important to remember that the biblical world had no concept of "gay people." The Bible categorizes people in many other ways, of course — by tribe, nation, gender, age, etc. — but nowhere does it discuss gay people, as such. Thus, these two passages were most likely intended for straight people — straight men shouldn't lie with other men. In other words, in a biblical world devoid of any conception of "sexual orientation," these passages seem to prohibit not homosexuality, but promiscuity.

Finally, even if we do read the passages in question as being about homosexuality, it is important for us to realize that the texts don't actually prohibit it.

Men, the Bible says, may not lie with other men as they would with women — evidently, when a man wants to lie with a man, he needs to figure out some other way to do so! A literal reading of the text allows for a lot of leeway. Leviticus never prohibits romantic relationships between two men, nor does it prohibit men showing one another physical affection. And provided this affection is different from male-female affection, it seems to allow it to be of a sexual nature, as well.

Maybe the Bible's deeper truth here is that homosexual relationships can indeed be good and sacred and noble in ways that heterosexuals could never imagine.

Maybe the Bible was really trying to teach that there are different ways for people to connect with one another, that to presume to know how everyone else should have sex is an act of wanton disrespect, and therefore a great sin.

Reflecting upon these matters, I realize that, unlike Pastor Harpel, I don't know for sure what God thinks about this issue.

But what I've learned over the years has made me believe that God calls upon us to treat all human beings with dignity; that God has created us each the way we are for a reason; and that in this world of broken families and unfulfilled commitments, God values stable, loving and committed relationships between people of all kinds, even between those of the same sex.

Rabbi Mark S. Glickman leads Congregation Kol Shalom on Bainbridge Island. He and four other columnists — the Rev. Patricia L. Hunter, Aziz Junejo, Pastor Mark Driscoll and the Rev. Patrick J. Howell — take turns writing for the Faith & Values page. Readers may send feedback to faithpage@seattletimes.com