To the editor:

One popular argument against gay marriage found in the Journal-World letters column is based on the claim that homosexual activity is wrong.

Is homosexual activity wrong for reasons that clearly would make it wrong? Homosexuals do not, because they are homosexuals, harm their sexual partners or treat their sexual partners without their consent.

Is it wrong because it violates tradition? When I was young, there was a tradition in this country of treating African-Americans as inferior beings and women as second-class citizens. This suggests that tradition is not a reliable guide to morality.

Is it wrong because it does not accord with the Bible? Deuteronomy recommends that one stone to death one’s repeatedly disobedient male children (21:18-21). Accordingly, although the Scriptures undoubtedly contain much moral wisdom, they are not morally authoritative throughout.

Is it wrong because it is unnatural? Homosexuals find homosexual activity as natural as left-handed people find writing with their left hands. Both activities deviate from the norm, of course, but clearly deviation from the norm is not immoral.

Accordingly, homosexual sexual activity is not wrong because it is homosexual.

Don Marquis,

Lawrence