First of all, apologies in advance to any of the Daily Kos GLBTQ community who might be offended by the title of this diary. I mean no disrespect to you by bringing up such a hateful epithet. A search of my past comments will show that this middle-aged, married heterosexual is fully in support of marriage equality.
It's prompted instead by one of my daughter's rants against homophobes who try to proof-text the Bible, both Hebrew and Christian Scriptures to justify their bigotry. They often cite the story from Genesis where the men of Sodom wanted to rape the two angels who visited Lot and his family to warn them of Sodom's imminent destruction. English has appropriated the name sodomy for that "sin" of homosexual rape, and has generalized it to any homosexual activity. My daughter cites Bible passages to show they are wrong.
Which leads me to a mew framing of the current debates in Congress.
There's extensive language in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures to explain the "sin of Sodom". The classic Hebrew scripture is Ezekiel 16:46 - 60
Your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. You not only followed their ways, and acted according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. As I live, says the Lord GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it.
Ezekiel 16:46-50
This passage is very clear. It is excessive wealth and lack of charity that is the true sin. This interpretation has been held ever since, in the writings of the Talmud Here's a link to a number of Talmudic writings and elaborations on this theme.
In the Christian Scriptures, Jesus has the same understanding. In Matthew's Gospel he sends the apostles out to preach His Gospel:
Chapter 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[a] drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
9 “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— 10 no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. 11 Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. 12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
In short, those people that do not accept Jesus' Gospel, which is full of references to justice to the poor will be judged to be the same or worse as the men of Sodom and Gomorrah.
End of Biblical rant, almost. My daughter claims that this argument is very effective against Biblical literalists.
Start of political framing.
I would argue that those who refuse to raise taxes on the rich and on corporations, who want to cu their taxes further, and who want to cut spending on the poor, the sick, the needy, the young have managed to outdo the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah. They ought to be called out on it. Therefore, let's try this framing.
At any Tea Party rally or town hall meeting or campaign appearance, show up with a sign saying "(Your choice of a Republican) is a Sodomite" or (Republican) is committing sodomy. Add the Ezekiel and/or Matthew references at the bottom of the sign. be prepared to argue that they are not just wrog economically, but that they are sinners, who will be judged by the God they claim to follow.
Republicans - not just wrong, SODOMITES!