stemelbow wrote:Anyone who self identifies as homosexual is not on my side on this issue.
So what if they self-identify as same gender attraction (SGA) folk?
Here's to hopin' this ain't just a semantics thing.
If he had said that he was "dealing with same sex attraction (SSA), or had a "homosexual orientation," that would have been one thing, but "coming out" as "gay" is perhaps indicative of deeper coming-to-terms with his SSA then might by though healthy, within a gospel context.
"Gay" is a term of accepted core self identity, acceptance or support for which the General Authorities, and especially Dallin Oaks, has counseled active LDS who deal with or counsel those with SSA to avoid when discussing such issues with others.
We should note that the words homosexual, lesbian, and gay are adjectives to describe particular thoughts, feelings, or behaviors. We should refrain from using these words as nouns to identify particular conditions or specific persons. Our religious doctrine dictates this usage. It is wrong to use these words to denote a condition, because this implies that a person is consigned by birth to a circumstance in which he or she has no choice in respect to the critically important matter of sexual behavior.
http://LDS.org/ensign/1995/10/same-gend ... osexualityIf bro. Wilcox has "come out" as "gay," then it would seem he has accepted wholly the idea of the essentialist "born that way" theory of homosexual orientation, within which homosexuality is not a complex feature of psycho-sexual development with any number of variables contributing to its ultimate manifestation, but a simple genes = homosexuality throwing up of the arms.
Homosexuality is, as Oaks correctly states, a body of "particular thoughts, feelings, or behaviors." "Gay" is a designation of core self identity; an assertion that the thoughts, and feelings attendant to SSA are primary and intrinsic.