Here's a great little article from the Philly Metro Weekend June 12-14 '09 edition:
"The rejection and fear of homosexuals is wrong, and thinking Christians everywhere should condemn it in the same way that they should condemn sexism, racism, and anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, many think that the Bible gives them easy support for their prejudice against gays and lesbians. But as the late minister of Riverside Church, William Sloan Coffin, Jr., was fond of saying, too many Christians use the Bible as a drunk uses a lamppost--for support rather than for illumination.
Actually only seven texts--four in Hebrew Scripture and three in the New Testament--mention homosexual behavior. The most common text of reference is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, commonly cited as justification for condemning homosexual relationships today. But this story does not apply. It refers to dehumanizing homosexual rape, not homosexual relationships, between two adults committed to each other in mutuality and love. Ironically, the Bible itself includes interpretation of the story that is completely void of condemning homosexuality. Instead, the guilt of Sodom is pride, greed, and failure to aid the needy (Ezekiel 16:49). Condemnation of same-sex relationships also occurs in the New Testament, but again the historical and social context is different. In the Greco-Roman world, arranged erotic relationships between adult males and boys was [sic] common. We should not compare the dehumanization of such arrangements with the reciprocal love shared between homosexual partners.
In short, biblical judgments against homosexual relations are not relevant to our modern debate. They carry wholly different social contexts than today's debate about the validity of caring, mutual relationships between consenting adults. Historically, Christians have revised morally inadequate stances found in the Bible. We do not support slavery, ethnic cleansing or putting a rebellious son to death--all in the Bible.
It is time to stop misusing the Bible to support bigotry against homosexuals as if they are sinners. Scripture does not create hostility against modern homosexuality. Rather, hostility against homosexuals prompts some Christians to find a text that seems to fit their prejudice and then lean on it like a drunk on a lamppost for support."
D. Dixon Sutherland, professor of religious studies at Stetson University in DeLand, Fla., specialist in Theology and Ethics
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