Hi, Yaper! I'm a Muslim and I adore interfaith discussions, so thanks for replying! Let's get into it, shall we?
I wanted to point out that that sort of rhetoric comes up often: "love is love." "Love doesn't see gender." "Would you deny these people their right to love?" Love, love, love. All you ever need, if the Beatles are to be believed.
Statements like these appeal to emotion more than rationale. They place the LGBTQ+ community as innocents, automatically placing anyone against homosexuality as an oppressor, and imply that by opposing it, you are obstructing love. You can see how that would be very uncomfortable to say the least, especially religions like ours, which primarily preach love.
In fact, those statements imply that either God is okay with LGBTQ+ or God is obstructing and oppressing love. That's not just uncomfortable β it's downright blasphemous. To reconcile your faith, you reason that of course it must be the former, because God loves us all and wouldn't force these people to be unhappy.
I've been there, Yaper. I understand where you're coming from.
Except, Muslims like me are taught to critically think about everything before accepting it as fact β even our Qur'an, which I am proud to say has stood the test of time. I looked at those emotionally loaded statements though a rational lens; here is a sample of some of my objective, non-emotional thoughts:
1. What could be Allah's reason for saying what He said? Is it for a reason I cannot foresee?
2. Wouldn't the Creator know what's best for His creation? And since he sent humanity the scriptures to guide us, can what they say be wrong?
3. Does it make more sense to listen to As-Samad (one of Allah's 99 names, approximately translated as the Eternal Refuge), into whom I place so much trust? Or does it make more sense to listen to my fellow humans, who cannot possibly compare to Him in wisdom?
Again, I'm a Muslim. You call Him God, I call Him Allah (unless I'm talking to people who give me weird looks when I say Allah and ask 'you mean, like, God?' A Eurocentric practice, I suppose, and a silly one. If I don't call my friend Noor "light" when I'm around Anglophones, I shouldn't have to call Allah "God", right? Ah, the things I do for clarity.)
But my message should be applicable to other religions too. At the end, Yaper, it all comes down to your faith in God.
I hope that makes sense. π