I'm here to tell you that I do not know. I do not know for sure, at least, because I do not know the mind of God. But I do have my reasons to think that it's not a sin, and I'm even more sure it is something I should not condemn. That, if anything, it's against my own beliefs to do such a thing.
So let's look at the Bible again. Forget Leviticus for now. Let's take it as given that the Old Testament, while important to understand as the events leading up to Christ's time on Earth, is not law of Christianity. I like my cheeseburgers, so I prefer it that way.
But what about what Paul wrote to the Corinthians?
Well, Paul wrote a lot of things, but he was just a man. A preacher. Not Christ himself (as even he wrote), but one who was called to preach what he believed was the proper way for Christians to behave. And, not to put too fine a point on it, but I think he was a bit hung up about sex:
Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.—I Cornithians 7:1-5
Or, to sum up: "Sex is dirty, but since you obviously don't have the self-control I have, at least do it with your spouse." I mean, I realize there are still some people who believe that, but I'm pretty sure that's not really what God had in mind. I could be wrong. I just don't happen to think I am.
More to the point, we don't follow all those rules he laid down, for those people, in that time. We don't. Because aside from condemning drink and adultery and homosexuality, he also condemned men who prayed without hats, women who prayed without hats, women speaking in church, and Christians mingling with unbelievers. We live in this world, in this time, where those things are considered more or less normal. Why is that? Because we recognize that societies change, and therefore how we have to interact with the world can change, too. That doesn't change God's laws, but these weren't God's laws. They were Paul's interpretation of what he believed Christians ought to do.
And Paul himself said that all people could and would have revelations from God. We tend to put it as being guided by the Holy Spirit, but it all boils down to the same thing. Paul believed his words, to the Corinthians, were appropriate for them, at that time, in that place, because he felt he was being guided by the voice of the Lord. So who's to say that those Christians who speak out against discrimination against homosexuality, who speak for gay rights and gay love, are not also being guided by that voice?
I realize this also means that people who are against those things might be following the prompt of the Holy Spirit (it's not like I have some way to tell), but I have more reason to believe they're not. Why?
Because Paul, in the same book that people use to condemn homosexuality, said something else important, something I think sometimes a lot of Christians forget:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. [...] And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.—I Corinthians 13:1-3, 13
While Paul is probably talking about love for God here, love for mankind as a whole is something Jesus preached, and Paul may've had that in mind as well. Love is important. It is the most important thing. Love for God, yes, but also love for your neighbor, and even for your enemy. You cannot love God if you love no one else.
And while some people may not be willing to admit it, gay relationships and marriage are about love.
Paul saw them, I think, as about sex. He talked about homosexual behavior, not homosexual people. And when the Bible speaks of homosexual behavior, it's generally in terms of a substitute. A body thing, not a heart thing. But that's not what most people—gay or straight— are looking for. They're looking for a partner. A person to share their lives with. Love.
I think denying them that love, or the right to express that love, is distinctly anti-Christian.
In fact, I posit you this: As Paul believed that passion between two people who love should only be expressed by those who took vows of marriage, then Christians should be among the first to support gay marriage.
For people who can't wrap their head around the idea that attraction between two people of the same gender is also love, this won't make much sense. But for them, I say this: if homosexuality was truly a choice to simply enjoy an act of the body, who would make it? Who would choose something that leaves them likely to be shunned by many, lose the respect of people they thought loved them, be told their love is wrong and that it will send them to Hell, or be beaten or even killed for their choice? And yet despite all those things, things that gays have to deal with every day, still they feel that way. If it were just about their physical desires, scratching that itch, don't you think they'd stick to self-gratification, so as to not be exposed to the consequences? The only answer to why they persist is that it really, truly is love... a love so strong that such things can't shake it.
That sort of love should be rejoiced in, not condemned. It should be not only allowed, but celebrated. And even if the act is a sin, surely the love is not.
And if the act is a sin, like all sins, it's forgiven. Washed away by the blood of the lamb, just like all the other sins we commit.
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