Chapter 62

"It doesn't," McKayla replied. "That's what makes gay people a threat to the church, not civilization. What's the one thing straight people can do that gay people can't?"

"Have babies."

"Exactly," she smiled, seeing that I was catching on. "The Catholic church believes that the sole purpose of sex is to make more babies. That's why they oppose abortion, birth control and homosexuality. All of their arguments revolve around making more Catholic babies to perpetuate the church. In the sixties, there were a handful of 'churches' that advocated celibacy for all their members. They died out ... literally. Not only did they not make more members, but who wants to go to a church where you have to give up sex?"

We both shared another laugh.

"So why do some Catholics not mind homosexuals?" I asked.

"I guess they feel that the world is already over-populated," McKayla replied with a smirk. "God made us in His image. That includes people who are black, people who are white, people who like dogs and people who don't like sushi. And it includes gays and lesbians. God loves me, despite all my flaws and no matter who I have in my bed."

She squeezed my hand.

"When you hear people say, 'God hates fags' and other shit like that, they're not speaking for God," my lover said, "They're speaking for themselves. They've read His Word and have interpreted it one way, but you can use the Bible to justify just about anything."

"Like what?" I said. Not only was McKayla beautiful, but she was smart, too.

"People have used the Bible to justify slavery, misogyny, you name it. And lately, homophobia." Our breakfast was forgotten. She took my hand and led me to the back of her house, past her bedroom.

In one of the spare rooms, she had set up a small private office. In another, there were stacks and stacks of books. McKayla is a neat person. Think of every anal-retentive accountant stereotype you know and that's her.

But this room was unlike any other in her house. Along one wall, a set of mahogany bookshelves stretched from the floor to the ceiling. The shelves were filled with books of all types, but that wasn't all. On the floor, on tables, in boxes. Books were everywhere. They weren't messy; everything was in an ordered pile, but it seemed to me that she was reading books faster than she could find space on the shelves for them.

She went straight to the desk and picked up a book with a well-worn leather cover and pages that had been read through over and over. McKayla flipped through the first part of the Bible and then handed it to me, pointing to a spot on the page. "Read this. Leviticus, chapter 18, verse 22."

"Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." My spine shivered as I realised what she was showing me.

I looked up from the page at McKayla, wondering why she would be showing me a verse that seemed to tell me quite clearly that what I had spent the night (and next morning) doing was wrong.

"There it is, in black and white," my lover said. "God has spoken and given us His word. Homosexuality is wrong."

She smiled, as if to let me in on a secret, and then took the book from my hands.

"Now read this," she flipped to a couple pages earlier then handed it back to me. "Leviticus, chapter 11, verses 9 and 10."

"These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat," I wondered where this was going. "And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you."