Fast becoming the "moral equivalent of Klansmen"
In Maryland (a state, once a colony named after someone we all know), a Roman Catholic public employee made a huge mistake: he publically stated his (and in essence, his Church's official) opinion on the issue of homosexuality. He has since lost his job.
Article worth reading at First Things.
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Homosexual behavior, in my view, is deviant.
Speaking for myself, I know well the difference you note.
However, the issue isn't really about whether either men are martyrs. Because, I suspect that even if he had said very specifically that being a homosexual is fine, but that they ought to be celibate, that he would have still lost his job.
As this article notes:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Zjg1NDZmY2NkYmVjOWNlMzhhZGU3OTIwNzYzN2NjYzk=
The RCC catechism calls homosexual behavior "intrinsically disordered"...I'm not sure that Maryland could have suffered Smith quoting it word for word.
The linking of the two stories does show that culturally (on nearly all sides of the issue) there is no perceived difference between "Homosexuality is a sin" and "Homosexual acts are disordered".
Given our vastly different worldviews, I'm not sure its possible.
Namely, we are all sinners. Sin is a "disordered" condition that we are all highly succeptable to - in fact, emersed in.
There is an important distinction between:
a) recognizing that one is a sinner (and one may be a sinner of a particular inclination - for example homosexuality) and that one is a sinner, not by choice, but by birth.
And,
b) recognizing that it is still wrong for us to make choices that go against the Divine Nature which is so dissasterously subdued in our humanity because of the fall.
We are challenged by the Holy Apostle John: to call ourselves sinners (he who says he isn't is a liar) - and yet at the same time, challenged by the same Holy Apostle not to sin.
So, it is not a sin to be a homosexual - but it is part of the evidence of sin in human nature after the fall. But it is a sin to commit acts of homosexuality.
You can say that about any propensity a person has. We tend to get too specific about homosexuality.
It is not a sin to be a mean person - perhaps you find yourself naturally inclined toward that sort of behavior. (We all find ourselves naturally inclined toward some sort of un-natural behavior because of the fall.) But each act of meanness is a sin.
Regards,
Basil