The story of Sodom and Lot’s duty of hospitality to his guests.

According to evangelical Bible scholar William Brownlee: “‘sodomy’ (so-called) in Genesis is basically oppression of the weak and helpless; and the oppression of the stranger is the basic element of Genesis 19:1-9.” Yale’s John Boswell notes that “Sodom is used as a symbol of evil in dozens of places [in the Bible] but not in a single instance is the sin of the Sodomites specified as homosexuality.” Listen to the prophet Ezekiel (16:48-49) on the sin of Sodom: “As I live, says the Lord God, … This was the sin of your sister city of Sodom: she and her suburbs had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not help or encourage the poor and needy. They were arrogant and this was abominable in my eyes.” (Cf. Matthew 10:15) The men of Sodom tried to dominate the strangers at Lot’s house by subjecting them to sexual abuse. Such attempted gang-rape is about humiliation and violence, not same-sex affection.