Sodom and Gomorrah has nothing to do with the LGBTQ community.

Sodom and Gomorrah has nothing to do with the LGBTQ community. It has everything to do with patriarchal power, exploitation, and greed.

As the Bible clearly tells us, Sodom and Gomorrah was about arrogance, greed, selfishness, disdain, and being inhospitable towards the poor and the needy (Ezekiel 16:49-50).

They also did detestable things, like men attempting to use sex as a weapon of violence and dominion against the strangers among them (Genesis 19; Jude 1:7). In the ancient world (as it is today) r@pe was a common tactic to dehumanize and demoralize people seen as inferior. It is not referring to individual sexual orientation or consensual same sex relationships or marriage.

Also, it is important to note, Jude 1:7-8 references sexual immorality and “pursuing other flesh.” Just before these verses, Jude is talking about angels who had abandoned their proper dwelling (verse 6) then goes right into discussing Sodom and Gomorrah, where men tried to r@pe two angels. Many scholars suggest that “pursuing other flesh” means intending to cross the divine boundary and have inappropriate relationships with angels.

Horrifically, Lot even offers his two daughters to be abused and worse by the raging mob. Yet we don’t hear this passage being used as calling attention to how men in positions of power dismiss and justify the mistreatment of women. Even those living within their own household. We only hear this passage used to condemn LGBTQ people.

As the narrative tells us, God was willing to spare the city of Sodom if as few as ten righteous people could be found, but that minimum number was not met as Abraham negotiated with God. While the text shows the city lacked ten righteous citizens, the New Testament explicitly describes Lot, Abraham’s nephew who lived there, as a "righteous man" who was deeply distressed by the lawlessness around him. Yet even he was willing to treat his daughters as expendable objects. Just as Abraham abused Hagar and treated her as an expendable object. Hence the horrific misuse of patriarchal power.

What is deeply ironic and troubling to me is that Sodom and Gomorrah is used by many as an example to suggest that our nation will come to the same ruin because of the LGBTQ community. Because they are “celebrating sin.” Yet it is never used as a warning to those who are arrogantly misusing Christianity as a justification to celebrate greedy, arrogant, and abusive people in power, hailing them as “God’s chosen leaders,” to gain dominance over our nation. It is never used as an urgent warning against mistreating the poor and the stranger among us.

In a time where those in the highest positions of power are arrogantly flaunting their wealth and status, all while having a history of abuse against women and children, while actively mistreating the poor and the immigrant through rhetoric and policies, while being hailed as “upholding Christian values” by many; it is tragically hypocritical to see Sodom and Gomorrah used as a condemnation of the LGBTQ community rather than a clear call for repentance for the kind of Christianity that celebrates arrogant, abusive, greedy, and violent people in power for the sake of political and religious dominance.

Instead of reading sodom and Gomorrah as a condemnation against the LGBTQ community, it would be wise for American Christianity to read it towards itself.

“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.” -Ezekiel 16:49-50