While I was with family in Canada I had a chance to read a conservative Christian publication (the name of which is escaping me right now) and it drew an interesting distinction between what I'd call compassionate condemnation and hatred. The author of the article was arguing that real Christians can do as the aphorism says and "love the sinner but hate the sin." The author believed that a real Christian would love his gay son, or brother, or neighbor, and would work hard at showing him love not by accepting him but by trying to draw him back to the Church through openness and "forgiveness" while never letting go of the fact that the behavior of same sex sexual activity is sinful. The author was careful to point out how different this is from the hateful actions or words of those like the Rev. Simons quoted above. Yet I compassionate condemnation is still condemnation, and whether loving in its motivation or not still results in the same rejection of those who would accept their full sexuality.
__________________________

...because public space really matters!

Elizabeth