drug and alcohol addiction are very different creatures to homosexuality. homosexual sex is generally not something that you beat people over the head to obtain unless you are some kind of sex addict or pervert and face it, most rapists are heterosexuals. drug and alcohol addiction has negative physical, emotional and financial effects on not only the user but the users family, friends and community. my father was always drunk when he molested me. he was always drunk when he abused me or hit me.
homosexuality does not cause people to behave that way, as any one who has been with a homosexual the morning after they have had sex knows. a spring in the step, a light in the eye and smiles all round. the only way homosexual sex causes grief is when the homosexual themselves is caused to feel shame and guilt for who they are or their family is ashamed of who they are, if they are told they are "sick" or "satanic". in those cases, yes, homosexuality can cause destruction and even suicide. if left to its own devices, homosexuality can blossom into a life affirming, positive lifestyle.
sure sometimes families have trouble accepting that their loved one is gay but in my experience these days its far more common for them to, over time, come to accept and love their offspring for who they are not how or who they fuck. most people have at least enough respect, courtesy and basic common sense to let people be who they are and trust them. what are we talking about here? do what thou will and harm none. love not destruction.
my lacking in the scripture department is oh so true. i don't even have a copy of the bible in my house - which kind of shocked me when i realised. really pisses me off because i find it a useful reference. it has some great ideas and metaphors for the human condition and moving through it in a positive way. i must buy another copy soon. i had one in my old house, i think i must have lost it in the move.
as for your suggestion that i "help" homosexuals overcome their homosexuality, well, i am simply not rude enough to involve myself in business that is not mine. perhaps if they were junkies or alcoholics and it was damaging them every which way, yes, but as it stands, every single homosexual i know - and there are at least 10 - are positive, happy people who contribute much to their community and have more compassion for life's outsiders and underdogs than any heterosexual i have ever met. let's take one couple i know as an example: john and phillip. john is a doctor and phillip is an architect. they have been together 20+ years. phillip spends his spare time helping to nurse people with AIDS through their last years and john is a surgeon at a public hospital and last year spent 10 weeks in iraq with doctors without borders. john's parents are both dead and phillip's father is dead. they built a lovely, fully self contained flat in their backyard so phillip's mother could move in and wouldn't have to be alone, which she has done. so who the hell am i to walk in there and tell these two excellent, amazing, wonderful people that they should get over their homosexuality? they would smile, hand me a glass of wine and tell me to "let it all out". lol!
homosexuality is a beautiful thing, as beautiful as heterosexuality. if people would only stop casting shame and guilt on it the world and homosexuals in general would be better off and a lot happier.
drug addicts and alcoholics = negative, destructive behaviour
homosexuality without guilt or shame or fear = positive, life affirming behaviour.
big difference.