Is homosexuality a sin?

Is homosexuality a sin? No.

I didn't always believe this to be true.

For the first twenty years after my 'born again' conversion, based on my reading of the New Testament and the prevailing teaching in the churches I attended, I believed homosexuality to be a sin, right up there with greed and self-righteousness.

I did have to acknowledge to the gay people I knew, who asked me why Evangelicals were so hard on LBGTQ people and so silent on the sins of greed and self-righteousness, that our talk and behaviour towards them was unloving, in contradiction to the love of God. They were having trouble reconciling the 'GOD HATES FAGS' placards they'd see Christians holding up at Gay Pride events, with the love of Jesus had for prostitutes, swindlers and tax collectors.

Jesus never spoke about homosexuality, whereas his indictments against greed and self-righteousness were relentless, as though religious pride and material greed are where the real evil resides.

The prevailing wisdom from evangelical churches has been: 'to love the sinner and hate the sin' which as Austen Hartke noted in a remarkable sermon on Reconciliation is like saying, “I love the you I think you should be, but I hate the you you are.”

So what changed me? And how could I articulate it to those within evangelical circles who see this as the great betrayal? It was like my own 'coming out' where I'd not only have to answer to my fellow evangelicals, but answer as well that great Christian, The Apostle Paul, who wrote that "those who ... practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive... —none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God." (1 Corinthians 6:9,10)
To disagree with the Apostle here, was more than a small whimper of dissension. I mean we are talking about the guy credited with writing nearly half of what constitutes the New Testament! What's an insurance agent like me doing taking on a saint whose writings will outlive by generations any word I write! It is quite plainly preposterous!

Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right? Luke 12:57

What helped was to realize there were other passages of Paul's writing which troubled me. They weren't the parts having to do with the efficacy of the Cross or the power of Christ's resurrection to rescue anyone who looked to God for help. They were the other parts, albeit few, such as Paul's discouraging women from either speaking or assuming leadership roles in the church. (see 1 Timothy 2:11 and 1 Corinthians 14:34,35)
If Paul was wrong about women, could he be wrong about gays as well?

Some people have speculated that Paul in condemning gays was condemning the practice of older men having sex with young male adolescents, which I'd agree is sinful. Any sexual relationship driven by aggression and not love on the part of one and resignation and passivity on the part of the other, is wrong regardless of who is involved. But if Paul is referring to consensual sex involving two people of the same gender where love and not coercion is the glue, I think Paul is wrong.

Surprisingly enough, one of the scriptures that had me re-thinking this issue was likewise written by Paul.
For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:27,28

Here is the Apostle, who in his other writings had reinforced a hierarchy where women were subservient to men and where slaves served their masters without complaint, throw that same hierarchy out the window, in this one amazing revelation.
'In Christ,' he wrote, 'there is no longer male nor female, slave nor free'... 'that putting on Christ was like putting on new clothes', where all the usual dividing lines and prejudices between male and female, slave and master, no longer applied.
Could this also apply to the line between 'gay and straight?"
I concluded it did.

So sometime after 1986 when the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder, and before 2005 when the Federal Government's Bill C-38 made gay marriage legal in Canada, I started believing that not only was homosexuality not a sin, but a gift from God to be celebrated. As though God has made us, whether gay or straight, the way we are.

What helped me alongside my scriptural wrestling were the gay Christians I knew. Not only was their faith genuine, I was overwhelmed with the courage it had taken many of them to come out, in many instances paying dearly for it. They were an inspiration given the ridicule they'd endure, especially those who remained committed to God despite the lack of welcome they'd get in many churches.

Two such examples are Austin Hartke and Cassidy Hall whose stories are accessible via the links below:
http://austenhartke.com/blog-1/2017/2/12/reconciling-a-sermon-on-matthew-521-37
https://17spaces.org/2017/09/10/dear-nashville-statement/

Also there is the story of a 'mega-evangelical' church in Nashville who decided to become an inclusive evangelical church. See http://time.com/3687368/gracepointe-church-nashville-marriage-equality/