First off, this post is inspired by this Tumblr post and this YouTube video, so check those out before reading.

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I am a 19-year old female member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Some call us Mormons.  I am attending Brigham Young University.  And I have a problem with something.

As my first BYU semester comes to a close, I want to share some thoughts with you all.  I took a Sociology class this semester, called Multicultural America.  The curriculum dealt primarily with racism and issues connected to race in the United States, but at the end of the semester we did group presentations, and we got to pick any social issue we wanted to talk about.  One group picked "Gays at BYU", and did what I felt was a wonderful job of showing how as a group, homosexual students at the university have an incredibly hard time feeling loved and accepted, and that we as their peers need to be kinder and more supportive of them.
But.
But.
I have a problem with the way that this issue of accepting homosexuals and reconciling that with the gospel is usually addressed.
Please note that I have many friends who identify as being homosexual, and I don't think any less of them.  They are all wonderful, lovely people who enrich my life as much as any of my other friends do.  But that does in no way mean that I agree with their choices.
AND IT IS A CHOICE.

When God created us as His children, He gave us a plan.  He told us that we would be able to come to earth, gain a body, live a brief mortal experience that would test us, and then if we proved faithful to the things that He asked us to do, we would be able to come home to Him and live an exalted life for the rest of eternity.  The crux of that mortal existence is that we are removed from God's presence and are unable to talk directly with Him.  We must rely on the Holy Spirit, who is the tool that God uses to communicate with us here on earth, the scriptures, which are the inspired written word of God Himself, and the continuing revelation that comes from God's modern prophets in order to know what He would have us do.  We knew before choosing to come to earth that we would be tried and tested, but that with these previously mentioned tools and gifts that we would have all the means necessary to pass those tests and be able to return to Him.  Because we are removed from God, it is easier to make the wrong choice.  God also allows us to be tempted by Satan, who I know is a very real being, and who wants nothing more than for us to not return to our Heavenly Father.  Satan knows all of the things that are weaknesses for us; particular commandments that we naturally have a harder time following and that when we don't follow make it harder for us to be in tune with God, which makes Satan's job easier, and the cycle goes on.  I know that I struggle with not swearing.  That's something that makes it more difficult to feel the Spirit, which means that Satan can use other things that might not be as weak of a spot for me but that aren't as strong when I can't feel the Spirit.

Hopefully you are with me so far.

Switching tracks for a moment, when people talk about LGBT rights, they most often compare them to other social issues like slavery, women's and black rights to vote.  That makes sense; after all, civil rights are civil rights, right?  But I would argue that homosexuality is not a "preexisting condition" the same way being black or being a woman is.  Instead, it is something that God gives us to struggle with in this life, to see which way we will choose to live, and if we resist the temptation, we can return to Him.
I know this might sound a little naive, but hear me out.

As a Mormon, my natural reaction is to say homosexuality is a sin because it is a perversion of the natural feelings God gave us to create families, which are central to His plan for us to be happy (for more on that, see The Family: A Proclamation to the World).  And yes, homosexual couples are not able to have biological children because God didn't design our bodies to procreate that way.  He designed us so that a man needs a woman and a woman needs a man if they are to fulfill the commandment to have children (it is a commandment, by the way).

I think, though, given my experience in this generation and watching people throughout middle and high school who have struggled with sexuality, that we as a society have created a way for the attention not to be focused on our choices, but on something we can't control.  As Lady Gaga would say, "you were born that way."  We have allowed a God-given trial to become a social condition.  How much of a disservice it is to those individuals who seriously struggle with their sexuality to make this the common conception of the trials that they have been given in their lives!  I really wish that we could have a redo on this whole social issue.  I think that as a society we created an excuse for the behavior because we stopped fearing God, and now people should be allowed to do whatever feels right to them.

I do believe that if I am to honestly and whole-heartedly profess to be a Christian (one who follows Jesus Christ), and I do, that I have to try to love everyone as He does.  Christ didn't look down on anyone in disgust because of the choices they made.  Instead, when the harlot was cast at His feet, He told her accusers, "he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." (John 8:7)  It is important to realize that we are all imperfect, and that I have no right to judge someone because they choose differently than I do.  I do, however, believe with every fiber of my being that choosing to live a homosexual lifestyle is a choice.  If my God-given trial was that I struggled with alcoholism, let's say, I wouldn't say "oh, well.  God made me this way/my genetics are to blame, so there is nothing I can do but drink my life away." I would try to resist that temptation and make choices that were less physically and spiritually harmful.  I think that in a very real sense, homosexuality is the same way.  If we see it not as a "race" but as a temptation, it will be easier for those who struggle in this respect to overcome that struggle.

Our godless society has made endless escape routes for behavior that is base and immoral.  Homosexuality is one of those behaviors, and I don't think there is any way around that.  However, that does not mean that I believe in any way that we should go around shunning and shaming people for the things they struggle with.  If someone were to spit on me and call me names because I have a hard time not swearing, I would be really offended.  Because in our society sexuality is so much bigger of a deal than everyday language, homosexuality as a trial is seen as a bigger deal.  If we could see this as not a social issue, but a spiritual one, then maybe we would be able to un-hardwire people from thinking that who they are is defined by who they are attracted to.  And maybe that is at the root of the issue.  We as humans put a lot of stock into who we are physically attracted to, and I think it is because those attractions, in the right place and at the right time, can allow us to create something that God holds most precious: us.  The feelings and interactions that allow us to procreate are to be used in the way that God has told us to, because it is one of His powers as our Creator that He has given to us.  When those feelings and attractions lead us into interactions that try to use that power in any other way, it is morally wrong.  But we have also been given the power to choose whether we will use that power in the way that God has asked us to, the same way that we can choose anything else.
If we can start taking responsibility for our choices in general and make that the societal norm, then maybe it won't be too far of a stretch to realize that homosexual feelings don't have to define those who feel them, the
same way that heterosexual feelings don't.

I feel nothing but love and acceptance of those who choose to live a homosexual lifestyle, the same way I choose to love and accept people who choose to steal or who choose to use drugs, all of which are physically and spiritually destructive.  And I hope that this doesn't read as something unkind or bigoted, which is the farthest thing from my intent.  I simply wish to express that while I believe that acting on the feelings of homosexual attraction is a choice, that the impulses behind that choice are ones that God know certain people struggle with, just like any other struggle; He hopes that we can overcome whatever challenges we may face in mortality so that we can keep the guidelines and commandments He has given us, so that we may return to His presence one day.  Because society as a whole does not promote or believe these things, a culture of excusing immoral behavior has arisen and we have come up with some pretty clever biological excuses that cut God out of the picture.  And because of that, those of us who know that God cares for and loves each of us and wants to see us return to Him are put in an awkward position where we have to defend not just the idea that homosexuality is immoral, but one where the entire premise of the situation is incorrect.

For more information about the beliefs of the LDS church and its stance on this issue, please go to http://www.mormonsandgays.org/

Edit: 
There has been some concern that I am not clear about what I mean when I say homosexuality is a sin.  Let me clarify: same-sex attraction is not what I consider to be homosexuality.  Those attractions are very real and very difficult to deal with in today's society, because we are imperfect people who choose to judge others based on their choices (which, by the way, is also not ok).  However, acting on same-sex attraction, what I consider to be homosexuality, is not ok because, as already stated, it defies the natural, procreative power that God has given to His children.  The official church doctrine is that anything that abuses this power, whether it is homosexual relations or premarital sex, is immoral.

Let me be a little more clear for you: no one deserves hate or different treatment regardless of the choices they make.  I cannot stress that enough.  It breaks my heart to see people tearing people down in such vicious ways.  We need to love each other and accept that we can't make choices for each other.  We can, however, choose to disagree with each others choices and make different ones for ourselves.  
And there are other things (tattoos, piercings, divorce, etc.) that shouldn't be as ok as they are in our society because they go against God's commandments.  But like I said in the post, sexuality is a very big deal to our society, and it is also a big deal to God because the fundamental power of intimacy is that of procreation.  That is a divine power that God gave us-the ability to create life.  My stand is that because He gave us this power, there is an enormous responsibility to use it only in the ways that He has said are appropriate: between a man and a woman, legally and lawfully married.  Do some people have messed up marriages that they shouldn't bring kids into? Sure.  Are there unmarried couples who make wonderful parents? Of course.  But we get to make our own choices, and no one is able to perfectly follow all of God's commandments.I hope that this clears up the rest of the post!