For those of you who want to quote Leviticus to justify your "biblically-based" opposition to same-sex marriage ("do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman"), allow me to share a few more verses from the very same book:
"Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material." - Leviticus 19:19
"Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard." - Leviticus 19:27
"If a man sleeps with a woman who is a slave girl promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. The man must bring a ram to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting for a guilt offering to the Lord." - Leviticus 19:20-21
"If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death." - Leviticus 20:9
"If a man lies with a woman during her monthly period and has sexual relations with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has also uncovered it. Both of them must be cut off from their people." - Leviticus 20:18
Those are just some of the many "laws" which people conveniently overlook when they throw scripture around. The reason for that, I would presume, is because most people don't actually read the Bible; they simply cherry-pick whatever verses suit their purpose in the moment or parrot the scriptures they hear from other people. I have read the Bible cover-to-cover more than once, and I have spent many years studying scripture. I don't pretend to be an expert, but what I know is this: I have no interest in a God or a book that claims that a man who rapes a slave girl gets off scot-free after sacrificing a ram in front of a tent, but two men who express their love for one another must be put to death.
Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, but if you hold people accountable to one verse in Leviticus, then you must hold people accountable to them all. Anything less is unequivocal hypocrisy.
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