I ask you: "How many gays must God create before we accept that he wants them around?”

"How many gays must God create before we accept that he wants them around?”
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Minnesota State Rep. Steve Simon asked that question during a debate over a proposed vote on a same-sex marriage amendment to the Minnesota State Constitution, warning, “If this becomes part of our Constitution, history will judge us all very, very harshly,” he says.
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To his credit Rep. Simon was calm and civil in his comments, refraining from any invective or accusations of bigotry often heard in response to religious leaders asking the state to refrain from legalizing same sex marriage.  Likewise, Minnesota's religious leaders were just as calm and civil in their appeal.  They were not banner waving scare mongers railing against homosexuality.  To the contrary, one of Minnesota's best Catholic bishops addressed the issue calmly, reasonably and compassionately in his testimony before the Committee in the Minnesota Legislature.  From the Catholic Spirit:
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Bishop Paul Sirba of Duluth testified May 2 before the House Civil Law Committee in support of a bill (HF 1613) that would put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2012 to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. 
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“Based on God’s Word given in divine revelation, we believe that marriage creates a sacred bond between spouses,” said Bishop Sirba, speaking for the Catholic bishops of Minnesota. “We hold this to be true not only for ourselves, but for all humanity.”
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The church’s convictions about marriage “find ample support in principles which can be discovered by human reason and which have been reflected throughout human history,” he said.
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Bishop Sirba said “the committed relationship between one man and one woman calls forth the best of the spouses, not only for their own sake, but also for the well-being of their children and for the advancement of the common good.”
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In defending the institution of marriage, he emphasized that “persons with same-sex attractions are our sisters and brothers, and should not be deprived of their authentic human rights, including the most fundamental rights of all — the right to life and the right to love.”
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The Catholic Church opposes discrimination against any person based on a same-sex attraction, he said. “At the same time,” he added, “meeting authentic human needs does not require changing society’s definition of marriage.”
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Bishop Sirba said the bishops believe the amendment is needed because several legislative proposals in the past few years have sought to “transform marriage from an institution focused on the needs of children into a totally new legal entity centered on the happiness of adults.” - Catholic Spirit
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God created them, male and female...
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Rep. Simon's comments went 'viral' as they say, news desks around the world picked up on it.  Why?  Because many people are convinced God created human beings to be gay.  There are well meaning religious people and homosexual persons who insist that is true.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church doesn't pretend to know the cause of homosexuality, rather it asserts:
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2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,141 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."142 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
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Neither does the Church condemn homosexual persons:
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2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
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2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.
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However, the Church must proclaim the truth about sexuality and marriage and teaches:
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2360 Sexuality is ordered to the conjugal love of man and woman. In marriage the physical intimacy of the spouses becomes a sign and pledge of spiritual communion. Marriage bonds between baptized persons are sanctified by the sacrament. - CCC
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The attempt to redefine nature.
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The debate and campaign to legalize same sex marriage will go on.  In the meantime, legislators in favor of legalizing same sex marriage have been throwing out subtle challenges to religious leaders who stand in defense of traditional marriage.  The challengers seek to denigrate traditional religious teaching, marginalizing it as out of touch with contemporary social needs.  I believe that is what was behind Rep. Simon's remark, which plays to a secularized audience accustomed to dismissing religious conviction to private practice and whose moral standards are based upon popular cultural sentimentality and moral relativism.  It is part of the cultural morass Benedict XVI warned about, “Today these basic human rights (religious freedom) are again under threat from attitudes and ideologies which would impede free religious expression.”
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"Religious freedom goes to the very heart of what it means to be human."
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As Harvard law professor Mary Ann Glendon explained at the conclusion of the recent conference in Rome on religious freedom by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences:
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(Glendon) said there is a "critical challenge for religious liberty" today. "Even in countries where religious liberty has a long and apparently secure constitutional foundation, the suspicion of those religious believers who claim to know truths about the human person leads to marginalization and even outright discrimination."
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Even in countries with few restrictions, Glendon added, "the academy and public life often portray religion as a source of social division, and treat religious freedom as a second-class right to be trumped by a range of other claims and interests."
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(O)ne of the principal ways in which religious liberty is violated is by construing it so narrowly as to confine it to the private sphere." - Zenit 
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My comment:
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I was watching the local news with a friend when the video with Rep. Simon was aired, and my friend who doesn't understand the big deal about same sex marriage said to me, "How would they like it if we banned religion?  Why don't we just ban religion and religious people?"
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I laughed and said, "Yeah.  Because that worked out so well for the Soviet Union."
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Religious freedom is the big issue - and don't kid yourself, same sex marriage threatens that.
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“We see before our eyes the evil fruits of life in a society which pretends to take the place of God in making its laws and in giving its judgments, in a society in which those in power decide what is right and just, according to their desires and convenience, even at the cost of perpetrating the gravest harm upon their neighbour.” - Cardinal Burke

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Photo: Rep. Steve Simon.  He's a nice guy.