The Sin of Sodom Was Cruelty, Not Queer Love

One of the most commonly misused stories in the Bible is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. For generations, many of us were taught that this story was about homosexuality. It was handed to us as a warning against LGBTQIA+ people, same-sex relationships, and queer love.

But that is not what the story says.

When Sodom is mentioned in other parts of Scripture, the focus is not loving relationships between people of the same gender. The focus is pride, excess, injustice, inhospitality, violence, and the refusal to care for the vulnerable. In other words, the sin of Sodom was not queer love. The sin of Sodom was cruelty.

The story is not about two people loving one another. It is about a crowd attempting to dominate, humiliate, and violate strangers. That matters. Because when we confuse violence with love, we do serious damage. And when we use a story about inhospitality and abuse to condemn LGBTQIA+ people, we become guilty of the very thing the story is warning us about.

This is especially important during Pride month, because so many LGBTQIA+ people have been handed this story as proof that God rejects them. But faith is not supposed to be a weapon used to convince people they are unloved. As Rev. Candace Chellew-Hodge writes, “Faith is a divine guarantee that we are worthy of God’s love, care, and blessing. The messages telling us that we are unworthy or rejected are simply lies.”

The better question is not, “How can we use this story to condemn someone?” The better question is, “Where are we failing to offer hospitality, protection, justice, and care?”

Because the warning of Sodom still speaks. Not against LGBTQIA+ people, but against communities that close their doors to strangers, ignore the poor, protect systems of violence, and mistake domination for righteousness.

So maybe the faithful lesson is this: stop using Scripture to harm people God already loves. Open the door. Set the table. Protect the vulnerable. Welcome the stranger. Defend the dignity of every person.

That sounds a lot more like Jesus anyway.