וַתִּרְאוּ אֶת שִׁקּוּצֵיהֶם וְאֵת גִּלֻּלֵיהֶם עֵץ וָאֶבֶן כֶּסֶף וְזָהָב אֲשֶׁר עִמָּהֶם.
Avoda Zara starts out being "שקוציהם וגלליהם" - disgusting. גלל is feces. The brown smelly stuff. Then it becomes עץ ואבן. Not so exciting but not so bad. THEN it becomes כסף וזהב. Gold and silver. EXCITING AND ATTRACTIVE!! [Brisker Rov]
Homosexuality. It used to be considered a disease. When we were kids and wanted to put someone down we would call him a "homo" or other synonymous terms of endearment. It was a mark of shame. People who were homosexual would hide it. שקוציהם וגלליהם.
Then it became not so bad. This is how they were born. It is not their fault. It is consensual and the Torah wasn't talking about that. תועבה is not translated as "abomination" [as Jastrow renders it and has been the traditional translation] but rather "detestable" [as on one frum website] or "abhorrent" [as on sefaria]. Hey - arrogance is also called a תועבה [as in תועבת ה' כל גבה לב] and we aren't repulsed by that so we should be repulsed by this either. YU doesn't allow clubs that help make "shidduchim" for their homosexual students? OK - lets take them to court, sue them to death and seriously damage their donor base [made of up many people sympathetic to liberal ideas]. עץ ואבן.
THEEEENNN it became a source of "pride" and "courage". Soooooo special!! You have sexual relations with other men? You mean you get naked in bed and ejaculate over each other?? WOW!!! So lovely!!! Have parades all over the world celebrating this monumentous event!! Let me hire you! You are marrying your boyfriend? Two men [or ladies] under a chuppah? So emotional!! You have found the love of your lives!!! Soooo romantic! I prefer girls, you prefer boys. That is like me preferring vanilla and you chocolate. A matter of preference. I will be there and dance to words taken from the Torah and chazal to be mesameach chosson vi-chosson [or kallah vi-kallah]. If you are against same sex "marriage", then you lack "Ahavat Yisrael" [as they say it]. כסף וזהב.
That is EXACTLY what has happened in our woke generation. To profess traditional values makes one a "homophobe". Now it is the normal people who are the "homos".
No. I am not saying that homosexuals aren't Jewish or that people attracted to their own gender are at fault or that we shouldn't be sensitive to their suffering. I AM saying that it is not holy and not OK and like every other יצר הרע should be battled and not celebrated. Just like heterosexuals battle their own יצר הרע for other women forbidden to them.
