Do Homosexuals Have a ‘Right’ to Others’ Silence?     7/22/2004
By Mark Landsbaum

U.S. Embassy’s reaction to cruise ship protest should scare us.

Commentary

From Associated Press, July 17, 2004: "Passengers on a gay cruise were greeted by more than 100 protesters as they stepped off their chartered ship Friday in the Bahamas."

When we redefine sinful behavior and make it acceptable and normative, we lose our right to complain about it. When we bestow on sinful behavior the status of a “right,” we lose our standing to protest it. But that’s not even the worst of it.

In the Bahamas, a crowd of Christians, led by their ministers, recently gathered to protest the arrival of a “gay cruise ship.” The crowd carried banners and chanted, “Gay ways are not God’s ways.” One protester held her nose to show her disapproval.

Whether you agree with the type of protest, it is frightening to see how the U.S. Embassy reacted.

According to the Associated Press, the embassy, an official U.S. government agency, proclaimed that the homosexual passengers deserved the “right” to visit the Bahamas in peace.

That sounds innocent enough at first blush. But think through what it means.

Every right that is granted to someone restricts someone else’s behavior. I have the right not to be punched in the nose; consequently you do not have the right to punch me in the nose. My right restricts your behavior. It is something that is unavoidable when it comes to the issue of “rights.”

What it means for Christians

If the homosexuals aboard that cruise ship have a “right” to visit the Bahamas “in peace,” what does that mean for the Christian residents of the Bahamas?

The Christians protesting the visit of the homosexual cruise ship clearly disturbed the homosexuals’ “peace,” at least in the view of the U.S. Embassy. To guarantee the homosexuals’ the “right” to a peaceful visit, the government unmistakably is implying that the Christians do not have the right to protest the homosexuals’ lifestyle.

This is all the more disturbing because the U.S. Embassy is an arm of the U.S. government, and it is the government’s job to enforce “rights,” and to make sure no one infringes on anyone else’s rights.

This also is a frightening, but not entirely unexpected, escalation in the effort to normalize homosexual sin at the expense of religious freedom.

According to the U.S. Embassy, homosexuals’ rights apparently include being able to go somewhere without being reminded that others find their behavior to be sinful. The unavoidable conclusion is that the previously assumed right of Christians to voice their religious beliefs in public must be infringed upon in order to protect homosexuals’ newly proclaimed right to “peace.”

If you doubt this, consider that the U.S. Embassy did not proclaim the Bahaman Christians have a right to peacefully protest and express their religious beliefs, only that the homosexuals have a right to go to the Bahamas in “peace.”

If this is our government’s position on a landing dock in a foreign country, it is likely to become our government’s position in the public square in our own country. The only question is when.

There are consequences when society rejects long-standing standards of behavior and decides that what was sinful and socially unacceptable yesterday has become normal and acceptable today. And when government enters the discussion on the side of newly proclaimed “rights,” such as homosexual behavior, the consequences are ominous.

In Canada and Europe, Christians and ministers already have been fined in their private businesses and arrested in church for doing nothing more than repeating the Bible’s condemnation of homosexual sin. In other words, preaching. In our own country, the Supreme Court has granted a new homosexual constitutional “right” to engage in sodomy, an act the Bible calls an abomination before God and an act that less than 50 years ago was illegal in 50 states. Many U.S. cities already are issuing “marriage” licenses to homosexual same-sex couples, despite laws that prohibit the practice. And now the U.S. Senate has voted 50 to 48 against limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples.

That’s today. Tomorrow, do not be surprised if you quote God from the Bible to say homosexual behavior is sinful and someone from the government knocks on your door to inform you that you have violated a homosexual’s right to “peace.”

If that doesn’t sadden you, it should. And if that doesn’t scare you, it will.

Mark Landsbaum is a Christian freelance writer, member of the Evangelical Press Association and former award-winning Los Angeles Times writer from Diamond Bar, California. He writes periodically for Concerned Women for America’s Culture & Family Institute.

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