Steele's Aim Off on Social Issues     3/13/2009
By Ken Ervin

According to Ron Gunzburger over at Politics 1, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele seems to be steering the party ship to the left. In a GQ magazine interview, the newly minted chairman dubs abortion "an individual choice," directly opposing his own party platform, which labels abortion "a fundamental assault on the sanctity of innocent human life."

He also demonstrates a woefully misinformed view of the homosexual lifestyle. "I don't think I've ever really subscribed to that view that you can turn it on and off like a water tap," says Steele. "You just can't simply say, oh, like, 'Tomorrow morning I'm gonna stop being gay.' It's like saying 'Tomorrow morning I'm gonna stop being black.'"

What an unfortunate comparison. I don't believe anyone's ever said that leaving homosexuality is as easy as turning it "on and off like a water tap." That's a deeply oversimplified view of the process - and a process it is. The ex-gay movement (a la Exodus International, et. al.) is more like Alcoholics Anonymous. They recognize that same-sex attractions are more easily broken one day at a time.

Where Mr. Steele errs, obviously, is in comparing sexual attractions to skin color. Mr. Steele rightly says that he will never be able to "stop being black." However, he can't say that about homosexuality because it's not about genetics, it's about temptation. No white man has ever been tempted to become black (or vice versa). And even if one has, there is no way to act upon it. The same is not true in regards to a sexually broken person dealing with same-sex attractions. And that's where Mr. Steele's argument breaks down.

I think former homosexual Tim Wilkins said it best: "One of life's mysteries is that we don't get to choose what we are tempted by. But we do choose how we respond to those temptations." The power of the cross is not that we cease to be tempted, but that sin no longer has such a strangle hold on our lives as to force us to yield to our temptations. By His death and resurrection, Jesus became the Victor over sin. Those who are under His blood have access to that victory and, by virtue of that Power, can successfully stand against those temptations.

In reality, Mr. Steele's views on homosexuality are like his views on abortion. It's an individual choice. But just like abortion, it's a bad choice. Always. Every single time.

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