Some Thoughts on the “Coming Out” of Anderson Cooper

Earlier this week CNN News Correspondent Anderson Cooper issued a statement saying that he is and always had been gay. It’s a courageous move for Cooper, as the same-sex debate is still quite divisive in our country. I applaud Cooper for wanting to be authentic and not wanting to hide how he sees himself.

Anderson Cooper

But Cooper did a curious and perhaps strategic thing in his statement–he invoked God’s name. He didn’t do so to the degree to which he’s being quoted, but he did say, “In my opinion, the ability to love another person is one of God’s greatest gifts, and I thank God every day for enabling me to give and share love with the people in my life.” Again, I applaud the humility demonstrated by Cooper. He certainly doesn’t seem to be picking a fight.

But his comments have fueled a flurry of commentary and punch lines, including this by Paul Raushenbush, Senior Religion Editor at the Huffington Post:

Anderson Cooper thanked God for his ability to love another person of the same gender, and thanks God every day for the love he has in his life. In his easy manner, Mr. Cooper is saying his sexuality is a divine gift, and that he is thankful to God that he was so wonderfully made. That is some beautiful and powerful stuff. And it also goes to the heart of the fight for full rights for the LGBT community. Religion remains the central battleground for gay rights and most of the anti-gay rhetoric relies on the argument that being gay is ‘un-natural’ and goes against God’s design . . . . . Anderson rejects that idea with his two easy sentences — his ability to love the way he loves was given to him by God and he thanks God every day for it. Take that. (Read the whole article here.)

I’m not as convinced that Cooper’s comments are the slam dunk that Raushenbush thinks they are. In fact, if God is behind Cooper’s same-sex orientation, then many could argue that he (God) is to be booed rather than cheered or thanked. Naming gay orientation as a God-thing actually raises more questions than it answers.

Think about it: God gives Cooper a perfectly functioning anatomy that appears the be designed for heterosexual sex. It’s also an anatomy that cannot procreate with the object of Cooper’s love–another man. It’s almost as if God put a gay man in a straight body.

Why would God do that? Why would he create a group of people, wire them up to be attracted to and love people of their same sex, and not equip them to have healthy sexual relationships and to be able to share the joy of seeding and giving birth to their own children. If God is behind that, It seems more like a bad practical joke rather than something for which he should thanked.

The God of the Bible is a God of love and compassion. He is infinitely wise and infinitely good. He doesn’t play practical jokes and he doesn’t mess up something as important as anatomy. If he wanted people to be able to function in gay relationships, then he would have given them bodies that freed them, not enslaved them.

I do not believe that God is the source of Mr. Cooper’s or anyone else’s same-sex attraction. Just because a person is a certain way from birth doesn’t automatically mean that it was God’s will or design. There are many genetic conditions and predispositions that are clearly not the work of God, but rather evidence of the imperfect, pain-filled world in which we live.

Gay people aren’t blessed, they’re broken–just like the rest of us. If I were given the privilege of speaking personally to Mr. Cooper, I’d affirm his faith and humility before God and encourage him to be open to the possibility that God may in fact have a a better plan for him than the one he is currently living. And that possibility, by the way, is one that the rest of us must be open to as well.