Student writes 127-page report in defence of ‘fabulous’ gay marriage
A 17-year-old student at a Catholic school in Missouri has written a 127-page academic paper titled Gay Marriage is Fabulous, arguing that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality.
The original task was to write a paper in the style of philosopher Thomas Aquinas’s influential Summa Theologiæ on a moral dilemma, concluding with why the church’s position was correct.
The student, who goes by averagesmurf on Reddit, described the assignment before posting the full paper online alongside their reasons for writing it.
The class had a discussion about moral issues where the teacher “corrected” the students’ views if they conflicted with that of the church.
When the issue of same-sex marriage was raised, the student gave a speech explaining that the Bible did not, in fact, condemn homosexuality.
The teacher countered the argument by quoting Aquinas’s “natural law” and in the following class, instead of facilitating a proper discussion, showed the class an anti-LGBT video.
Related: Students angry at anti marriage equality leaflet in school library
At over 30,000 words in length, averagesmurf’s paper is framed as proper piece of academia, including 52 footnotes and 174 references.
The 17-year-old revealed that they worked on it for several months.
The paper consists of several paragraphs presenting an overview of the issue and includes the views and arguments of the church.
It then deconstructs each of these arguments in turn with direct reference to the Bible and other holy texts.
“Now that we have sufficiently presented the view of the Church, we can… dissect the severe issues and flaws concerning the Church’s opposition to homosexuality and the recognition of gay marriage,” the paper reads.
The paper concludes: “It has become evident, through laborious and rigorous study, work, and reflection, that Christ never condemned homosexuality, God never condemned homosexuality, and nor does the Bible condemn homosexuality.
“There is no evidence that the Bible condemns loving relationships, but rather lust, violence, and greed. The very notion that … the Bible even remotely condemns loving, gay individuals or their right to marry, is ridiculous and unsupported.”
The paper states that God created us equal and made no mistakes.
“Marriage is not between man and woman, marriage is between love and love. Love is not wrong, love is not a mistake, love is not an abomination, love is just love.”
The student did not name their school or teacher.
