help my unbelief

Today all the newspapers showed pictures of Jim Loney happily arrived at the Toronto airport, surrounded by his siblings and partner. It's the "partner" thing kind of kicked me in the gut. Honestly, I still don't know how to reconcile the Christian faith with homosexuality (or bisexuality, transgenderedness, other-spiritedness, autosexuality or whatever other orientations have popped up since I last checked the politically correct encyclopaedia).

On the one hand, I believe homosexuals are the same as straight people. They can be promiscuous or chaste, sick and twisted or kind and wise, Christian or agnostic or whatever else, and they are certainly sinners in need of God's grace (just like the rest of us). I don't think anyone's sexual orientation has ever gotten in the way of my enjoying being friends, colleagues or family with any of them. And yet, something about the non-heterosexual options out there just doesn't ring true in my ears. Heterosexuality just makes so much sense! God made two different kinds of people, woman and man, and they fit together so well. I think if it didn't matter which genders of people fall in love with each other, then God wouldn't have bothered with gender and just made us all able to procreate with any other mature adult.

Take this one example: I worked with a lesbian woman, and I went to a party she hosted at her house for all of our colleagues. She has four daughters of her own and a female partner. While it seemed to me like they were a happy and loving family, I also got really sad at the thought that they don't have any significant men in their lives. It seemed weird that one could theoretically fulfill all one's relational needs (family, love, sex, support, companionship etc.) without ever contacting a member of the opposite sex.

Here's an alternate example: A mentor and member of my home congregation came out of the closet and declared herself a lesbian. She said that through much prayer and struggling with God, she had heard God say to her that he created her just as she was (a lesbian) and that he loved her that way. You know what? I have never been able to look her in the face and say, "Well, you heard God wrong," and I don't think I ever will be able to. Her faith seemed to be alive and well and growing for all I could tell, and I didn't understand how that could be if she was ignoring God.

As for the Bible, I can't see anywhere that it supports homosexual (and other non-heterosexual) relationships. Of course the Bible emphasizes love, but that's all in heterosexual or non-sexual terms. Yes, there was that bit about David and Jonathan, but I think that's a pretty weak argument for a God-blessed sexual union between the two of them.

From prayer, reading the Bible, observing the world around me, and speaking with others of all sorts of persuasions, homosexuality still does not ring true with me as something that God intends or blesses. And yet, I cannot deny the faith of my non-heterosexual brothers and sisters in Christ. So, where does that leave me? Still confused. I am reminded of the man who cried out to Jesus, "Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!" I just can't figure out which part is the belief and which is the unbelief.