Is Judaism Homophobic?

Judaism, homophobia, and masturbation. How am I going to show how all of these are connected? Sit back, read, and enjoy!

Homophobia is generally defined as having negative attitudes, dislike, or prejudice directed against LGBT people.

Judaism makes no qualms about its dislike for the gays. This is because Hashem created gay people, and then commanded them NOT to enjoy the urges he put in them in the first place.

Leviticus 18:22 seems to be the starting point. "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination." "Abomination" can also mean "off the path," or "not the way."

This is because the "point" of a man's seed is to impregnate a woman and have a baby. Hashem made this clear when he told Adam and Eve to "be fruitful and multiply." This is also why masturbation is prohibited in Judaism, since in Genesis 1:12  the rabbis learned out that just like seed goes "according to its own kind" in that verse, it somehow meant human "seed," as well, which likewise MUST be implanted into a place it can GROW. If it cannot, this is considered off the "path," and an "abomination," and thus prohibited.

It seems that Judaism is completely unconcerned with the wellbeing of the participants involved in the Torah, and only on following orders. If two gay people want to have consensual sex, what is the harm involved? But if they are not following the Torah laws, that's the only thing that matters.

Why would a loving god prohibit this? And even worse, if they are caught, they get the death penalty.

Hold on, what?! The death penalty for gays?

Yup! This is supposedly written by the most loving, moral being in existence. He just hates the gays!

The Mishnah in Sanhedrin explains that gays are to be stoned to death - considered the worst punishment possible in the Torah.

But it gets even worse. Gays are vilified throughout the Torah. Sukkah 29a  claims that god gets so angry because of gays that he actually causes eclipses, which was considered a bad omen in the time of the bible (see my other article on this here!). The general atmosphere towards gays is one of contempt or pity at best, and outright anger and bigotry at worst.

The fact that so much of the language of the Torah is packed with moral outrages show that the people writing this book seemed completely incapable of separating their own emotional biases from objective reality. Metacognition is the ability to see our own cognitive processes in action, and do our best to filter out our biases. So if you're disgusted by homosexual acts, here's a bit of advice - don't engage in them! Simple as that.

But you're not free to stop others from engaging in them.

And you're DEFINITELY not free to hurt people who do wish to engage in them.

And if there was an all-loving, all-knowing god, Hashem ... why the hell would this be written in the Torah in the first place?

The Torah is not loving. It's not concerned with the happiness or wellbeing of everyone in society, especially LGBTQ people. So to sum up: yes, Judaism is homophobic. And brutal. Baruch the no-Hashem we don't follow these laws in the 21st century in our society. Because if we did ... that would be an abomination.