What Does the Torah Say About Homosexuality: A Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Comparison

The Torah's most direct language touching on same-sex behavior appears in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, which rabbinic tradition has consistently read as prohibiting male same-sex intercourse. Deuteronomy 23:17 reinforces this by explicitly banning the qadesh (often translated 'sodomite'), a term referring to a male cult prostitute or one engaged in prohibited sexual rites Deuteronomy 23:17. The Hebrew word qadesh (Strong's 6945) is distinct from the broader category of female prostitution (qedeshah), yet both are banned for the children of Israel in the same verse Deuteronomy 23:17.

Classical rabbinic authorities — from Maimonides in the 12th century to the Shulchan Aruch compiled by Joseph Karo in 1563 — treated the Levitical prohibitions as binding halakha. The Torah's broader sexual ethics also include prohibitions on adultery Deuteronomy 5:18 Exodus 20:14, incest Deuteronomy 27:22, and intermarriage with certain nations Deuteronomy 7:3, situating the same-sex prohibition within a comprehensive framework of covenantal purity. Modern Orthodox Judaism maintains these prohibitions as non-negotiable, while Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist movements have, since the late 20th century, moved toward full inclusion of LGBTQ+ Jews, arguing that the Levitical texts are part of the Holiness Code's cultic context rather than universal moral law.

There is genuine scholarly disagreement. Rabbi Steven Greenberg, the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi, argued in his 2004 book Wrestling with God and Men that the Levitical prohibition targets a specific act of domination rather than loving same-sex relationships. Most Orthodox poskim (legal decisors) reject this reading, but it illustrates that even within Judaism the interpretive conversation is alive and contested.

Christianity inherited the Torah's sexual ethics, and historic Christian teaching — Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and most Protestant traditions — has treated the Levitical prohibitions as morally binding even where the ceremonial law was set aside. The New Testament adds passages in Romans 1:26-27 and 1 Corinthians 6:9, which early church fathers like John Chrysostom (4th century) and later Thomas Aquinas cited alongside the Torah. The Torah's prohibition on adultery, repeated verbatim in both Exodus and Deuteronomy Deuteronomy 5:18 Exodus 20:14, forms the broader sexual-ethics framework that Christian theologians applied to same-sex acts as well.

The Deuteronomy 23:17 ban on the qadesh ('sodomite') was read by patristic and medieval commentators as confirming the prohibition Deuteronomy 23:17. Augustine of Hippo in the 5th century and later John Calvin in the 16th century both argued that same-sex behavior violated natural law as well as revealed law. The Catholic Catechism (1992, paragraph 2357) still calls homosexual acts 'intrinsically disordered,' citing both natural law and scripture.

However, mainline Protestant denominations — including the Episcopal Church (2003), the Presbyterian Church USA (2015), and the United Methodist Church (2024 partial shift) — have moved toward affirming same-sex unions, arguing that the scriptural prohibitions addressed cultic prostitution or exploitative relationships rather than covenantal same-sex love. This is Christianity's sharpest internal disagreement on any sexual-ethics question in modern history. The covenantal framework of Deuteronomy Deuteronomy 7:3 is sometimes invoked by affirming theologians to argue that faithful, exclusive same-sex covenants fulfill rather than violate the Torah's spirit.

Islam does not use the Torah directly as a legal source, but the Quran and Hadith address same-sex behavior through the story of the people of Lot (Qawm Lut), found in multiple surahs. Classical Islamic jurisprudence — across the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali schools — unanimously treats male same-sex intercourse (liwat) as a major sin (kabira), with prescribed punishments varying by school. The Quran in 4:107 warns against those who 'betray themselves,' a verse classical commentators like Ibn Kathir connected to moral corruption broadly Quran 4:107, though it is not exclusively about sexuality.

Islamic ethics share with the Torah a comprehensive framework of sexual boundaries: adultery is prohibited, as in the Deuteronomic and Exodus commands Deuteronomy 5:18 Exodus 20:14, and the Quran's concept of fahisha (indecency) covers same-sex acts explicitly in Surah 7:80-81 and 26:165-166. Unlike Judaism and Christianity, there is no significant mainstream Islamic legal school that has moved toward affirmation of same-sex relationships, though progressive Muslim scholars like Amina Wadud and Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle (in his 2010 book Homosexuality in Islam) have argued for contextual rereadings of the Lot narrative.

It's worth noting that Islam's prohibition extends to female same-sex acts (sihaq) as well, a point where Islamic jurisprudence is more explicit than the Torah's text, which — at least in the passages retrieved — focuses on male behavior Deuteronomy 23:17. The shared Abrahamic concern for communal moral purity Deuteronomy 21:15 Deuteronomy 29:18 underlies all three traditions' historic stances, even as their modern trajectories diverge significantly.