Last year, the Metro Council of Nashville Tennessee narrowly defeated a proposal to prohibit employment discrimination based on "sexual orientation" in the city government. A lively debate preceeded a close vote of 18 in favor and 19 against the bill.

The Baptist Press reporting of the debate is instructive to all Bible believers who may have to deal with the deceptive arguments by homosexual activists. The standard argument comparing slavery to homosexual discrimination was presented as reason for the order.

This triggered a spirited reaction from one of the council members, an African-American named Carolyn Tucker. "Sexual orientation is not a civil right and it should not in any way ever be compared to slavery. It is not an immutable characteristic," she said.

"It is a choice and should not be confused with race or sex which occur at birth," she added. To illustrate, she pointed out: "When a child is born in a hospital, the doctors do not hold the child up and say, 'We have a sexually oriented person here and we will wait to see what it will declare itself to be.' 'No,' they say, 'We have a boy or we have a girl.'"

Since the law would apply to public school teachers, the law would create confusion for impressionable young children, Tucker argued. If a man teacher decided that he was "oriented" as a woman he could ask the children to change his name from "Mr. Bill" to "Ms. Jill" and the school administrators could do nothing about it. What would the children think if the teacher displayed a picture of her partner on her desk?

Trying to illustrate her point that homosexuality is not a condition but a behavior choice, Tucker asked the council: "What will we do when the prostitute comes in and says that he or she needs to be protected because that's their sexual orientation — to be a prostitute. What about the alcoholic?... What about the liar, who declares that lying is his orientation and (he) was born to lie?"

"The metro council does not need to get in the business of protecting life-style choices. By passing this particular legislation, we would be doing that," she concluded to spectator applause.

The council went on to reject the proposal by a slim margin of 19 to 18. If Bible believers are going to stand for righteousness in the face of the onslaught of sin in our culture, we need to be prepared to enter the debate. God's point of view must be presented in these kinds of situations where bad laws threaten our freedoms and families.